The 204 MW Edenvale Solar Park near Chinchilla, in the Western Downs region of Queensland, has officially been opened by joint owners Eneos, Japan’s biggest oil refiner, and Sojitz, a Tokyo-based trading house. According to the pair, Edenvale is the largest solar project in Australia to be undertaken by Japanese companies.

The “first sod” has been turned in the construction of the 93 MW Girgarre Solar Farm in Victoria. The project, initially developed by Peter Leeson, is an interesting case study in community engagement.

Australia’s solar market and pricing has been shaken up in recent months with the entrance of Tongwei Solar. Compounding this is the global free fall in panel pricing, which solar analyst Warwick Johnston says is yet to properly hit Australia. “There’s super cheap panels that are coming through and everyone will have to adjust their prices accordingly,” he says.

A fire that erupted on Tuesday night in one of the Tesla Megapack 2.0 battery units of the Bouldercombe battery facility in Queensland continues to burn under the supervision of emergency services.

Queensland’s CleanCo has opened expressions of interest to renewables projects wanting to participate in the transformation of its former coal-fired Swanbank power precinct to a clean energy hub.

With the regulatory scaffolding around natural hydrogen starting to be erected across the country, the Western Australian government has confirmed it will charge a royalty on hydrogen extracted from underground geological formations, otherwise known as natural or gold hydrogen.

A major jump in small-scale air source heat pump installations has been illustrated by the Clean Energy Regulator’s latest Carbon Market Report. Australia’s large-scale renewables segment, however, is languishing with the Regulator knocking its 2023 final investment decision (FID) forecasts down from 3.5 GW to 2.5 GW. Just a 0.5 GW has reach FID in 2023 so far.

Chinese company GoodWe will now be offering specialised carport solar panels to the Australian market, which it says are designed to overcome issues around water drainage and wiring.

Australia’s National Reconstruction Fund is up and running, with the federal government transferring the first $5 billion (USD 3.26 billion). The fund has already received around 100 proposals, with climate ventures and advanced technology reportedly dominating.

Mytilineos’ 75 MW Wyalong Solar Farm in the New South Wales Riverina region has now begun feeding into the grid, with almost two thirds of its generation contracted to NBN Australia, the national broadband network.