Australian software company OpenSolar has teamed with renewable energy engineering consultancy, education and training provider Global Sustainable Energy Solutions to launch an online “academy” that offers solar installers a one-stop shop for running their business while securing and maintaining Clean Energy Council accreditations.

Australian power producer AGL Energy has abandoned its plan to split the company into two, conceding defeat in the face of “opposition from a small number of investors” including major investor Mike Cannon-Brookes.

Community solar developer Komo Energy is describing it as an “Australian first” after launching a crowd equity funding campaign to help finance the construction of the planned 1.7MW battery ready Grong Grong Solar Farm being developed in the Riverina region of New South Wales.

United States-based data company Global Energy Monitor has launched a new open-source tool that lists Australia’s large-scale solar plants alongside those from another 147 countries.

A parliamentary committee has recommended the Victorian government explore options to allow greater integration of distributed energy resources, including rooftop solar PV into the grid as climate activists urge the state to ramp up its renewable energy ambitions.

For much of the past three decades, Australia has been viewed internationally as a laggard on climate change – and with good reason. Australia was the last of the G20 economies that ratified the Kyoto Protocol and the first to dismantle a national carbon pricing scheme, and often sits near the bottom on global rankings of climate action.

One of Australia’s largest regional cities has signed a long-term power purchase agreement with Victorian network operator AusNet Services’ independent subsidiary Mondo Power as part of plans to install solar PV arrays on 90% of city-owned buildings in less than four years.

Australian renewable energy project developer Frontier Energy has identified its preferred electrolysis technology as it advances plans to produce green hydrogen powered by renewable energy sourced from the potential 500MW Bristol Springs Solar project it is developing in Western Australia.

Western Australian energy storage company VSUN Energy has inked a deal with aspiring renewables developer North Harbour Clean Energy which will see the two companies collaborate on the development and installation of vanadium redox flow battery projects and vanadium electrolyte supply.

Australian liquor supermarket chain Dan Murphy’s has continued its deployment of rooftop solar PV as parent company Endeavour Group pursues its ambition to power all the of retailer’s more than 250 stores across the country with 100% renewable electricity by 2030.