Labor MPs together with three crossbench MPs have voted down an inquiry in the Upper House on how the Victorian government’s Solar Homes program was put together and is being implemented. The push for an inquiry was promised to the solar industry by Opposition leader Michael O’Brien at a protest held in late July.

Toulouse-based startup Sunbirds has set up an office, assembly workshop and maintenance centre in Brisbane. The company is providing solar-powered drones and drone-as-a-service solutions to surveyors, cattle stations and environmental monitoring companies.

AC Renewables, the energy arm of Philippines’ Ayala Corp, and Australia’s UPC Renewables have agreed to buy 51% in a 250 MW pumped hydro project and a neighboring 300 MW solar project, both located in South Australia.

Stage 1 or an equivalent of 85 MW has been installed and tested at the Finley Solar Farm, one of the many large-scale solar developments in the Riverina region.

The Brisbane-based energy storage manufacturer has raised $4.75 million in Series A funding from the Queensland Government Business Development Fund and Australian institutional and family investors.

The Andrews Labor Government is delivering on last year’s election promise to boost renewable energy in Victoria and is seeking to legislate increasing its renewable energy target to 50% by 2030.

A 1.6 MW community solar farm will support the Victorian town of Natimuk to reach its target of being 100% powered by renewable energy. The project is underpinned by state government funding.

A technology to manufacture “honeycomb” materials for energy storage applications from priority Australian mineral resources and AI-based hybrid of lithium batteries and hydrogen fuel cells with DC loss detection system are among the winners of the funding granted in the Cooperative Research Center Program (CRC-P) latest round.

The German developer and EPC contractor has reached the final development milestone on a solar and battery project in the Riverina region and moved into construction phase.

Touted as the first green bond issued by a retail property landlord globally, the $300 million instrument will fund initiatives to enhance the environmental performance for three of the retail assets within the QIC Shopping Centre Fund portfolio. The green bond was five times oversubscribed and attracted new investors from across Asia and Australia, as well as a cornerstone investment from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).