Employment

Complaints including a lack of women’s hygiene facilities and a precariously dangling shipping container are being taken up by the NSW and ACT Electrical Trades Union after workers say they’ve been met with deaf ears by the company managing the site of the Suntop Solar Farm in NSW’s Central West.

Former prime minister Malcom Turnbull has been dumped from his role as chair of the New South Wales climate change advisory body by the Berejiklian government.

The $2 trillion package includes a proposed 10-year extension of the ITC and PTC and calls for further incentives to add transmission capacity. Most solar advocates liked it, but one nonprofit panned it as being too industry-friendly.

An independent exhibition brought to Melbourne Design Week by a group of 15 of the city’s top architectural firms demonstrates the blueprint for Melbourne’s transformation to “A New Normal”. “A New Normal” is a plan to transform Greater Melbourne into a self-sufficient city by 2030.

A $50,000 development grant will be awarded to the winner of this year’s national ClimateLaunchpad competition, which aims launch early-stage cleantech startups into the market.

The Clean Energy Council has released its annual Clean Energy Australia report, revealing a string of smashed records, as states, territories and businesses continue to ramp up renewable ambitions.

“Imagine what we could achieve if we had a government that wasn’t backed by the fossil fuel industry,” said Australian Greens party leader Adam Bandt on the weekend as he launched his next Federal Election policies centred on arresting climate change.

The solar industry typically sees itself as being supportive of the environment, humanity, and human rights. Even large Chinese PV manufacturers publish statements to this effect, particularly if they are listed on Western stock exchanges. But what do human rights have to do with the solar industry? What connections exist, asks Martin Schachinger of pvXchange, and how are they important to the future success of the European PV market?

Tensions are heating up throughout the world over the issue of forced labor. Calls are increasing for supply chain transparency, and recently published EU draft legislation on corporate due diligence and accountability should improve upon the currently available voluntary measures, which have been described as largely ineffective. With this in mind, pv magazine’s UP Initiative will spend the second quarter of 2021 looking at what solar and energy storage companies can do to lead by positive example when it comes to the workers who are involved in the production of their products and services.

The first stage of Neoen’s gigantic $3bn Goyder South Project in South Australia has received planning approval on the same day the French renewables company set out ambitions to exceed 10 GW in capacity by 2025, expansion largely planned in leading markets such as Australia.