2023

TrendForce has ranked the top six module manufacturers by shipment volume in 2022, with Longi topping the list, followed by Trina Solar and JinkoSolar. JA Solar, Canadian Solar, and Risen Energy rounded out the top six, in a year dominated by large-format modules.

Indonesia’s state-owned utility PLN says it has started operating a 561 kW floating solar plant on the island of Java. The floating array, which is part of a larger 920 kW PV project under construction at the company’s Gas and Steam Power Generation Complex, is expected to generate 1.4 million kWh a year.

After more than five decades, the last operating units of the Liddell coal-fired power station will close this month. The station’s owner, AGL, is Australia’s largest carbon polluter. Liddell’s closure will reduce the company’s emissions by 17%.

Australia’s biggest electricity ‘gen-tailer’ AGL is one step closer to energising its 250 MW/250 MWh grid-scale battery at South Australia’s Torrens Island after receiving the tick of approval from the Australian Energy Market Operator.

New Zealand renewables developer Lodestone Energy’s plans to develop an initial suite of five large-scale solar farms with a combined generation capacity of more than 365 GWh per annum has reached another milestone with construction beginning on the second of the projects.

Venture capital fund Macquarie Group’s new battery storage platform Eku Energy has been tapped by the Australian Capital Territory government to deliver the next stage of the Big Canberra Battery ‘ecosystem’ which will support the ongoing rollout of large-scale renewables and rooftop solar.

In a strongly-worded submission, two experts claim AEMO’s backbone interconnector proposed between Victoria and New South Wales is a “monumental mistake” and relies on analysis that is “biased, flawed and in parts dishonest.”

The China Academy of Metrology and Science has certified Jolywood’s 26.7% efficiency rating for an n-type tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cell, which the company claims is a world record. In November 2022, it announced a 26.1% efficiency rating for a similar cell.

The Australian Energy Regulator has handed down its final decision on when electricity networks are permitted to impose zero export limits on rooftop solar systems. The answer: almost never.

Over the Easter weekend there were a number of different tasks to work through – including sorting out what to do about electricity supply at home. Understandably I drew the short straw on that task.