A Victorian-based startup which claims to have developed a hydrogen enhancement kit that injects hydrogen into existing diesel engines to reduce diesel use, has begun the production of 10 commercial-ready systems. It will do field testing with the systems on sites of potential customers.

Sun Cable, the company behind the world’s largest solar and storage project, has officially gone up for sale after entering voluntary administration in January. Its administrator, FTI Consulting, is seeking binding offers of acquisition or recapitalisation by the end of April with a deal to be finalised by May’s end.

Last year was a tricky one for solar, with each segment from residential to commercial to utility behaving quite differently. The industry trends have been laid out in Sunwiz’s latest Australian PV Report and pv magazine Australia takes a dive into what happened and what there is to learn.

Australian renewable energy developer MPower has acquired the shovel-ready 5 MW Faraday solar project in Victoria. The purchase is part of the company’s broad mid-scale strategy.

Chinese manufacturer Longi has increased the product warranty for its Hi-MO 5m modules to 25 years in Australia and New Zealand. The company says the ten year boost comes “after identifying how important it has become for consumers to have full confidence and peace of mind at the time of choosing their solar system components.”

Commercial and industrial energy retailer SmartestEnergy Australia have signed a power purchasing agreement with Octopus Australia to offtake 25% of generation from its Darlington Point Solar Farm in New South Wales.

Researchers from the University of Adelaide, along with international partners, have successfully used seawater with no pre-treatment to produce green hydrogen. The team did this by introducing an acid layer over the catalysts in situ. “We have split natural seawater into oxygen and hydrogen with nearly 100% efficiency… using a non-precious and cheap catalyst in a commercial electrolyser,” University of Adelaide’s Professor Shizhang Qiao said.

Australian climate tech platform Acacia will launch a new solar feature enabling customers to get a digital solar quote, as well as estimated financial and carbon savings, without speaking to any sales people. The company says the tool is in response to what are often poor buying experiences in the solar sector.

The Queensland government will invest $75 million (USD 53 million) to expand a critical minerals demonstration facility in Townsville – a project it claims will be an Australian first. The facility, slated for operations in 2025, is part of a growing push in Australia to develop battery materials industries beyond simply mining.

Construction has now begun on the 93 MW Girgarre Solar Farm in central Victoria, about 70 kilometres west of Shepparton. The project has been in development for at least five years, and was initiated by Leeson Group’s founder and director, Peter Leeson, before being sold to Enel Green Power in 2019.