EVERY HOME A GRID:

A 100 per cent renewable stand-alone power system made up of solar PV and an innovative hydrogen storage solution is being trialled on the fringes of the Essential Energy grid, after being installed by Tempo Australia.

Tempo said on Monday that it had been awarded "Practical Completion" on the Stand-Alone Power Supply (SAPS), that includes the company's greenHy2 system based on GKN hydrogen storage technology.

The heart of the system, installed in a remote location a three-hour drive north of Sydney, is solid-state metal hydride hydrogen storage that can store almost half a megawatt-hour of electricity and more than 40 days of forecast storage for the facility.

Essential Energy began investigating the use of SAPS - usually solar with battery storage and back-up diesel - on its New South Wales and south Queensland grid back in 2018, and then ramped up the process after the Black Summer of bushfires in 2019-20.

Originally, the distribution network company looked into SAPS as a way to provide temporary power while restoring poles and wires, but these days they are seen as a long-term off-grid power solution for customers whose properties are located on long powerlines, at the grid's edge.

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