The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) agreed this week to enhance collaboration with Singapore’s energy market regulator on electricity and gas market regulation, as well as low-carbon technologies.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) reported a 24% rise in new generation and storage capacity across the National Electricity Market (NEM), reaching 56.6 GW, as grid-scale batteries and hybrid solar projects drive growth.

Global electricity demand is set to rise more than 3% per year through 2026, driven by growth in Asia and greater use across industry, data centres, and transport, with renewables, gas, and nuclear meeting most of the increase, says the International Energy Agency.

The Philippines government has kicked off its fourth green energy auction (GEA-4), targeting more than 10 GW of solar and wind capacity.

The Taiwanese government has proposed new rules requiring PV installations on most new, expanded, or renovated buildings. The draft standards aim to boost renewable energy and decarbonisation by setting minimum solar capacity requirements, with potential exemptions for insufficient sunlight or technical issues.

Octopus Energy and RES have announced a new partnership under which they plan to invest GBP 3 billion (AU$5.5 billion) in the construction of green hydrogen plants throughout the United Kingdom by 2030.

Could a single installation define a brief but explosive period of ambitious PV deployment? The massive 500 MW Dau Tieng solar array – among Southeast Asia’s largest PV installations – makes a strong case for being the most impressive project of Vietnam’s recent solar boom. But the allure of Dau Tieng is about much more than size – it’s about what’s beneath the PV modules.

Hanoi has set new feed-in tariff rates for utility-scale, rooftop and floating PV projects, ending a long period of policy uncertainty. The government has announced the new rates, which are broadly in line with industry expectations, roughly 10 months after the expiration of its old tariffs.

Trade body SolarPower Europe’s preliminary statistics suggest this could be the continent’s best year for PV since 2010, with capacity additions set to soar 104% year on year. Spain is leading the way with an expected 4.7 GW of new solar, followed by Germany, with 4 GW.

Solar-plus-storage could be competitive against gas peaking power plants in Australia within the next five years, as the average solar-plus-storage LCOE across the Asia-Pacific region is set to fall from $133/MWh this year to $101/MWh by 2023, according to a newly released research report.