In this time of residential confinement, it seems appropriate that governments and agencies are advancing plans to enable the uptake of distributed rooftop solar resources and their integration with grid operations. A part of this much awaited movement the Western Australian Government this weekend published its DER Roadmap.

A hot energy topic with little coordinated analysis, green hydrogen has attracted the nous and number crunching of BloombergNEF. And what numbers! The investment! The required renewable capacity! The potential for emissions reduction! 

Since 2015, Kidston Clean Energy Hub has inspired renewable developers with the potential for hybrid projects. Its envisaged re-use of old gold mining pits for pumped-hydro storage that would concentrate the benefits of colocated solar and wind resources hit a snag in 2019, but today Genex Power executives are celebrating a milestone deal that will enable more than their own ambitions…

The Australian Youth Climate Coalition intends to utilise the fact that many of its constituents are at home and online due to COVID-19, and train young climate-concerned Australians to effectively organise against the influence of the fossil-fuel lobby.

“This has been one of the most challenging summers on record …” begins the communique from Friday’s meeting of the COAG Energy Council. The Coronavirus could achieve what drought and bushfires failed to bring about — a coordinated governmental and industry response to ensuring that our energy system — irrevocably in transition towards renewables — becomes more secure, reliable and fit for purpose along the way.

A legend of rock music and persistence, Brigalow Solar Farm has begun exporting energy to the grid in Queensland’s Darling Downs.

Powering production of solar and wind infrastructure — panels, trackers, turbines, inverters — seems a gap just waiting to be filled in the clean-energy supply chain. Longi, the Chinese mega-manufacturer of solar wafers, cells and panels, has just joined RE100, a steadily growing list of companies committed to powering their operations with 100% renewable energy.

NSW has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 18% from 2005 levels, but mitigation has stabilised. This weekend, NSW Energy and Environment Minister Matthew Kean released the state plan for accelerating emissions reduction to 35% by 2030. It seeks to bring existing and new initiatives; Commonwealth and State funding; the Federal focus on technology and the undeniable benefits of solar and wind generation under a single umbrella.

A consortium of partners led by the University of Technology Sydney has been successful in its bid for funding of a Cooperative Research Centre dedicated to enhancing energy consumers’ access to and efficient deployment of distributed renewable resources — primarily rooftop PV.

The Federal Government Government on Friday told participants in the research engine, known as the Energy Transition Hub, that funding of the five-year initiative had been curtailed.