February 2022

Queensland will soon be home to two solar recycling and materials recovery plants after Solar Recovery Corporation announced its partnership with La Mia Energia, an Italian consortium which has developed a panel recycling process it claims can recover up to 99% of raw materials. The partnering companies are planning to expand across Australia in the next two years.

AGL has this morning rejected an “unsolicited” $8 billion takeover bid from software billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures and Canadian fund manager Brookfield. Cannon-Brookes described the consortium as “disappointed” by AGL’s decision, saying it will continue to “move forward” with the bid which would dramatically accelerate coal retirements in Australia.

ARENA has opened round two of its Future Fuels Program, allocating $127.9 million in funding to support fleets to shift to new zero emissions vehicles over the next four years, be that electric, hydrogen, or biofuels.

The Green Hydrogen Policy is designed to promote green hydrogen and green ammonia projects with provisions like a 25-year waiver of inter-state transmission system (ISTS) charges and ISTS connectivity priority for renewable energy capacity set up for the purpose.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar have developed a solar power system that can be easily moved between farms to pump water for irrigation. The kit comprises solar panels and an inverter to power a surface-mounted pump.

The wide-open spaces of the Australian outback make it ripe for solar development, but doing so without the true inclusion of Indigenous communities may repeat the mistakes made by resource extraction companies in the past. However, Indigenous-led companies and an innovative new initiative are looking to put power and ownership into the hands of the land’s traditional owners, reports pv magazine Australia’s Bella Peacock.

Origin Energy’s announcement that it is accelerating the closure of Australia’s largest coal-fired power station has triggered calls for the Federal Government to develop a nationally co-ordinated approach to manage the retirement of fossil fuel generation as well as support investment in new clean energy generation.

The Australian arm of UK-based global fund manager Octopus Group has announced it will partner with Indigenous communities on plans for renewable energy projects it says could attract investments of as much as $50 billion over the next decade.

The Australian government’s green bank has announced the launch of its first specialist fund manager as it looks to increase the amount of investment capital available for clean energy start-ups that can help achieve net zero emissions.

The stadium of German football club SC Freiburg will host a 2.4MW rooftop solar array that will be built with heterojunction modules provided by Swiss manufacturer Meyer Burger.