Marubeni Enters Solar PPA With PAG In Australia

Commercial and industrial (C&I) energy retailer SmartestEnergy Australia will procure solar power from 30 community-based solar farms in Australia from clean energy investor Providence Asset Group (PAG), under a multi-year power purchase agreement (PPA). On completion, all these projects will generate around 500 GWh annually.

To start with, SmartestEnergy will purchase energy from these projects in Victoria and New South Wales (NSW) for 30 months, with potential to extend the PPA for 10 years.

What’s interesting about these projects, explained PAG, is that each of these solar farms will incorporate the world’s ‘1^st’ dual technology, providing an integration between Li-ion batteries and green hydrogen energy production and storage units.

Explaining LAVO I HEOS technology that will be deployed at the respective regional solar farm location, the partners said it comprises a containerized metal hydride hydrogen storage and production facility. It was developed by Australia’s University of New South Wales (UNSW), and LAVO, supported by a seed investment from PAG. In Australia, LAVO has been offering this integrated hybrid hydrogen battery to store rooftop solar energy.

This flagship project, according to PAG Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer Alan Yu, will demonstrate the technical and commercial benefits of this dual technology—commercial scale solar farms with LAVO I HEOS—and also highlight the importance of grid-connected fuel cells and projects of this kind.

Project partners also see it offering an opportunity to develop a green hydrogen export roadmap to Japan under which LAVO I HEOS will store and transport green hydrogen to Japan and other markets inside a standard shipping container.