Highlights

Modelling from a new report backed by ARENA has found that on-site solar electrolysis is not only the most cost-effective way of reaching Australia’s ambitions of both a domestic and export hydrogen economy, but perhaps the only way.

Australia’s leader, Scott Morrison, and several of his ministers, including the Minister for Emissions Reduction, Angus Taylor, try at every opportunity to push more homegrown gas into the country’s energy mix. With global gas at rock-bottom prices, they’re now touting a gas-led recovery. What’s right and wrong with this picture?

The New South Wales government has amended legislation to allow for larger-scale solar systems to be installed on homes and commercial buildings without council approval and to facilitate the installation of utility-scale batteries.

In a major feat for the energy sector, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has provisionally lifted generation constraints imposed on five solar farms in the West Murray Zone, following the successful testing of new tuned inverter settings this week.

Earlier this month, the Western Australian government released its Distributed Energy Resources (DER) roadmap. Another report focused on the threats posed to grid stability by accelerating solar uptake? Not so, says Bill Johnston, the WA Minister for Mines and Petroleum, Energy and Industrial Relations; it’s about opportunities.

The COAG Energy Council’s plan to unlock Australia’s potential to reindustrialise its energy system has taken another step forward with the publishing of an Energy Security Board consultation paper. The paper discusses what the two-sided market required to free up the potential of household energy technology will look like.

With more than half of its electricity already supplied by wind and solar, South Australia is setting the bar high for how to efficiently decarbonize the grid. As it moves toward its 2030 target of “net” 100% renewables, the speed of the state’s energy transition will depend on a host of factors.

Analyzing its fleet of solar sites, Solar Analytics has found that energy consumption in households due to Covid-19 confinement is up only slightly, if at all. While this is good news, the great news is that the onsite consumption of free solar power in these households is up significantly.

The Covid-19 pandemic will create a “perfect storm” for the wholesale electricity market as lower demand comes together with lower gas prices and large-scale solar and wind being commissioned to depress power prices, finds a report by Melbourne-based consultancy RepuTex.

The pandemic will postpone or cancel the financial close of some 3 GW of solar and wind in Australia, according to Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy, as the falling Australian dollar renders projects uneconomical. The biggest loser among the states will be New South Wales.