“Australians should be able to choose the type of car they drive,” said the Federal Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, Angus Taylor on Friday when he released a national plan to reduce carbon emissions from Australia’s road transport sector — a plan without a target, without incentives, and with relatively meagre investment in bringing about essential change.

New Zealand’s Climate Change Commission today released its long-anticipated advice to the government on how to reshape the economy to meet the country’s domestic and international climate change obligations. The document sets out three emissions budgets, covering 15 years to 2035 in five-yearly plans. It also provides advice on the direction policy should take to achieve the country’s 2050 net-zero goal.

For the transport sector, which is responsible for half of New Zealand’s energy-related emissions, the commission suggests a sweeping set of changes to electrify the country’s car fleet and to replace imported fuels with local renewable electricity. It’s exciting to see a national-level plan that actually cuts emissions. But it raises two questions: is it feasible, and is it the best or only option?

Moves by Japan’s trading houses to de-risk their upstream portfolios make sense. Faced with falling domestic oil and gas demand and an accelerating energy transition, future E&P investment is far less certain. Strategy reviews are switching focus to new growth areas – covering everything from fintech to pork bellies – with the increasingly diverse businesses of Japan’s trading houses challenging upstream for future capital.   

An aggressive US climate policy rollout could provide a much needed dose of reality to the climate discourse in Canberra. It may also prompt Australia’s major parties to acknowledge the inevitability of a transition to a zero carbon economy.

Soon 2020 will only be a worry to future high-school history students. But when they ask us if anything good at all happened in 2020, remember this review and tell them that solar PV shone in the darkness. Despite the mess of it all, 2020 has been another good year for Australian solar. The industry has demonstrated resilience, and significant progress has been made in the fields of energy storage, green hydrogen and others.

The performance and warrantable 10-year capacity of LG Energy Solution’s third-generation Prime series are among features designed to turn homeowners’ heads.

The development lender has followed up a $600 million loan for distribution infrastructure in eastern Indonesia with a $430 million credit line for installations in India.

GRS has passed the 550 MW mark in its Australian portfolio with the energisation of its 39 MW Molong Solar Farm in Central West New South Wales. The project is now on the verge of grid connection tests and thereby closing in on full-fledged generation.

Spanish tracker giant STI Norland has expanded to Australia with a new subsidiary office in Melbourne. The company is arriving on our shores with a keenness to compete with tracker suppliers who already have their foot in the door. With no solar farm too big or too small, STI Norland Australia CEO Alan Atchison sat down with pv magazine Australia to talk about how the company plans to make tracks Down Under.

Blue NRG, a business-only electricity retailer, has decided to partner with Melbourne-based energy management platform carbontrack in a union that Spiros Livadaras, carbontrack’s Managing Director, admits is somewhat surprising. “Obviously people are saying, why would a retailer join forces with an energy management technology company that helps them reduce their energy consumption – it’s kind of counterintuitive,” he told pv magazine Australia.

The Queensland Government-owned energy company, Stanwell Corporation, has announced it is from today seeking expressions of interest from renewable energy projects to incorporate into its fossil-fuel heavy portfolio.

On the same day as Bluescope Steel announced massive profits and the creation of a new Chief Executive Climate Change, the steel giant also conceded that it was not fully committed to investing in ‘green steel’ solutions in the near future.

A new report from the U.S.-based analyst predicts that new PV additions for 2021 may range from 163 to 221 GW next year and from 179 to 240 GW in 2023. According to BloombergNEF, the current supply bottlenecks for glass and polysilicon will unlikely halt the global PV market.

Western Australia has officially extended the reach of its new darling: stand-alone power systems, or SAPS. In a state first, Government-owned network services provider Western Power has deployed units at two Perth Hills properties following bushfires earlier this month.

Faulty or failing rooftop solar systems are behind one in five enquiries made to Sydney-based retailer Solaray Energy, according to the company’s co-founder and director, Jonathan Fisk. “And it’s going to continue to accelerate,” Fisk told pv magazine Australia.

Helen Haines, MP for the Victorian electorate of Indi, will today put a Bill before Parliament that would underwrite and provide technical support to community renewable energy projects in regional areas, and mandate the opportunity for community to buy in to large-scale projects.

Negotiation, community consultation, and ultimately an IPC approval that clearly addresses local concerns, gives the green light to this RES Australia development in southern New South Wales.

In the middle of Australia’s most iconic natural landscape, the township of Jabiru has begun its transition from uranium-mine support community, to Indigenous cultural hub and tourism centre. The local arm of German renewable energy pioneer, juwi brings its deep experience in off-grid power systems to the project.

Hybrid energy systems are blooming in Australia’s remote locations, as renewables are increasingly partnered with gas or diesel to advance the greening of desert industries and communities that operate far from the grid.

The Australian Energy Market Operator’s second State of the System update, a sort of ‘Around-the-Grounds’ of the National Energy Market, has revealed that 2020 set new records for both number of new projects connected and new megawatts of generation.

January normally sees a spike in the average wholesale electricity price. This year, however, increased solar PV and wind generation have seen this traditional trend bucked.

The University of New South Wales along with several other universities and the CSIRO are embarking on a feasibility study into how New South Wales can utilise excess renewable energy to make fuel, chemicals and feedstocks for industry. The aim is to develop a plan for how fuels and chemicals such as green hydrogen and ammonia produced from renewables can decarbonise industry and grow manufacturing.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency is funding Jemena to the tune of $1.6 million toward a new trial in which various electricity networks in Victoria, ACT, and Tasmania will manage residential EV charging to better prepare the grid for a time when mass charging will take place at peak periods.

Australia’s record-breaking uptake of small-scale rooftop solar and growing interest in home battery systems almost guarantee virtual power plants (VPP) will play a key role in the nation’s energy system into the future and Energy Networks Australia (ENA) has identified the “blueprint” for their successful integration into the grid.

Long-standing solar PV manufacturer Suntech is set to expand its offerings in the Australian market with the imminent release of sister company Sunways’ range of single-phase inverters.

The tide of clean energy facilities planned under the city’s next five-year strategy was revealed by Hong Kong-listed polysilicon maker Xinte Energy, which has signed a framework agreement to construct 200,000 tons of manufacturing capacity near Inner Mongolia’s largest city.

Energy consultancy DNV GL has published new results comparing the performance of modules based on 166mm, 182mm and 210mm silicon cells. The assessment compares Trina Solar’s Vertex modules, which use the largest cell dimension, with unnamed competitors utilising the other two sizes. Results from system simulations show a clear advantage for the two larger sizes, with 210mm edging ahead in terms of levelised cost of electricity.

Chinese solar inverter giant Sungrow has taken the first step towards increasing its Australian market share in 2021 with the launch of its second generation three-phase residential inverters.

The Australian arm of South Korean solar technology giant Hanwha Q-Cells has extended its reach, launching into the New Zealand energy market.

Renewables developer Neoen has released its 2020 results, announcing an 18% increase in revenue from 2019, a significant portion of which materialised from its Australian assets including the Hornsdale big battery.

The Australian Energy Regulator has released its Default Market Offer for 2021-2022, and it is another fall in electricity prices, especially if you live in South Australia, New South Wales or south-east Queensland. The regulator says one of the main factors driving the now continuous fall in electricity prices is the investment in renewables, in particular the estimated uptake of rooftop solar.

The Ranger Uranium Mine, completely enclosed within the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park, ceased production in January 2021 after years of financial losses. Now, as part of a multi-million dollar rejuvenation of the Park, a solar and battery storage hybrid project is set for development at the town of Jabiru, a project which will help the town replenish itself as a tourist hub for one of Australia’s greatest treasures.

New South Wales network operator Ausgrid yesterday launched its first community battery in Beacon Hill, north of Sydney. It is one of three community batteries being installed across Sydney allowing solar customers to store their extra energy at no additional cost.

With 7,600 residents and many more travellers recharging at its holiday properties each year, Ingenia Communities Group is set to lead the retirement and affordable-travel-accommodation sectors towards solar uptake following a major investment by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.