In 2020, Anson Zhang, the CEO of Australia’s largest solar distributor, One Stop Warehouse, launched Discover Energy – entering the electricity retail space. The decision, Zhang told pv magazine Australia, confused many. Why would a company dominating solar supplies pivot to retailing. The simple answer: data.

Evidence of Australia’s energy transition and the force with which renewables are pushing fossil fuel generators out of the mix are now glaring, with a raft of new reports highlighting different records and trends testament to the seismic shift.

Chinese giant Huawei has entered Australia’s residential solar battery market with its home energy storage system, the Luna2000. The lithium-iron phosphate 5kWh cells have a modular design and are scalable to 30kWh. Huawei is banking on 10 kWh system capacities being most popular, telling pv magazine Australia they will retail for under AU$10,000.

The Clean Energy Regulator has adopted the whistle-blower platform Whispli to allow Australians to report any potential fraudulent or non-compliant behaviour anonymously online. The move comes just after the Regulator joined forces with the Clean Energy Council to launch a taskforce targeting dodgy installers.

South Australian concession holders can now opt to switch their payments for a brand new solar system as part of the state government’s Switch for Solar pilot program which kicked off on Monday.

Queensland flow battery company, Redflow, has unveiled the product it’s hoping will launch its lucrative high-voltage, high-capacity, grid-scale future: the Energy Pod Z module.

Tindo Solar, Australia’s only solar panel manufacturer, has teamed up with a group of engineering students from the Australian National University to help them construct a solar race car.

While suburban Australian rooftops have become coated in solar panels, the roofs of our commercial and industrial buildings have remained conspicuously bare. Our shopping centres, however, seem to be slowly be moving in the direction ordinary Australian’s have paved, with Australia’s largest privately-owned shopping centre yesterday announcing plans for a sizeable microgrid. Likewise, Vicinity, one of the country’s largest shopping centre managers, has managed to increase its sustainability rating largely through its extensive solar program.

Government-owned water utility, SA Water, has completed its extensive solar installation project, which involved installing more than 350,000 PV panels across 33 water treatment plants and pump stations across metropolitan and regional areas of South Australia.

Last November, the NSW government announced its Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap which is expected to attract up to $32 billion in private investment for renewable energy infrastructure by 2030. The Roadmap aims to unlock 12GW of new renewable energy capacity from selected Renewable Energy Zones (REZs) with an additional 2GW in storage. Last month, the state government progressed its plans as it opened consultations on “specific urgent and mechanical policy details” on regulations needed to implement the Roadmap.