Lyon, Mitsubishi to build 1 GW solar, 500 MWh storage in Australia

Lyon Group in Australia will partner with Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp (TYO:8058) to build 1 GW of solar power generation capacity and 500 MWh of storage at home by the end of the decade.

The plan is to use batteries by AES Energy Storage, a subsidiary of US-based AES Corp (NYSE:AES). The Australian Financial Review (AFR) said a deal to form a joint venture has been signed on Wednesday in Tokyo.

Apart from the solar-plus-storage plan, Lyon and Mitsubishi will pursue an additional 500 MWh of storage for the grid by 2020. Such projects will allow for an increased renewable energy share in the Australian energy mix.

This week Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called for a single renewable energy target across and said that energy security should be the key priority. Already, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) aims to be 100% renewable by 2020, and several states have set targets of 40% and 50%. Batteries are seen as a solution to the grid stability challenge resulting from the increased penetration of intermittent sources globally.

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