Falling module prices could very well dramatically enhance the competitiveness of large scale solar in Australia – pushing the price at which PV can be produced below the wholesale curve. Rystad Energy believes that with a 20-30% module price decline, as has been forecast, $60MWh utility scale solar could become the new reality.

The Beryl Solar Farm, under development in New South Wales, has been purchased by PV asset fund New Energy Solar. 87 MW Beryl is the second Australian First Solar project to be purchased by New, with its 15-year PPA in place attractive to the asset owner.

Chinese module maker Risen Energy has begun major earthworks and site preparation before mounting system installation at the 121.5 MW Yarranlea project in Queensland. While Risen has not tapped local financing for the project, indeed any outside finance at all, the company has highlighted its local contractor workforce, in a statement today.

Installer Natural Solar is equipping 12 homes in Sydney with rooftop PV and sonnen batteries, and will utilize blockchain technology to facilitate P2P trading of electricity between households. The mini virtual power plant (VPP) project will allow the homes to reduce their electricity demand from the grid by 90%.

The extent of the rapid growth underway in the Australian PV market has been laid out in the latest report by the APVI. Pointing to 2018 representing “another record year for Australian PV” the outstanding growth of the utility scale segment is a particular highlight – with 1.1 GW commissioned and 1.9 GW under development.

In a wide ranging report released on Tuesday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has recommended scrapping the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) – which provides a sizeable capital subsidy to small scale rooftop PV. The Smart Energy Council has criticised the proposal and called for the Federal Government to “rule out abolishing the SRES.”

This year, more than 200,000 small-scale solar systems are set to be installed in Australia. The extraordinary expansion in rooftop solar deployment has been revealed in the latest figures from Green Energy Markets, which points to more than 1.4 GW of sub-100kW PV being added throughout the year.

Brisbane-based redox-flow supplier Redflow has begun shipping batteries from its new Thai manufacturing facility to Fiji, under a $1.6 million telecommunications supply deal. The batteries will be deployed by New Zealand’s Hitech Solutions to power Fiji’s new digital television network over the next six months.

DNV GL, Deakin University, the CSIRO, and the Smart Energy Council have come together to collaborate on a two-year project to develop a new performance standard for distributed energy storage systems. The work behind the proposed Australian Battery Performance Standard is being funded $1.9 million from ARENA and the Victoria state government.

German inverter giant SMA has partnered with Melbourne’s Wilson Transformer Company (WTC) to develop a central inverter solution specifically for Australian utility scale projects. The new Power Skid will be assembled in Australia, with WTC providing the medium and low voltage switchgear – among other componentry.