Highlights

Energy Minister Angus Taylor has confirmed that Australia is on its way to hit nearly 50% renewables share by 2030, the target deemed economically suicidal by the Coalition during the last election. With no mention of the widely-reported massive drop in renewable energy investment, Taylor hailed 2019 as a new record year for renewables in Australia.

The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has given its tick of approval to the proposed $1.53 billion electricity interconnector between Robertstown in South Australia and Wagga Wagga in New South Wales. The new transmission line holds the promise of reducing power bills in both states by unlocking gigawatts of planned renewable energy projects in its close proximity.

The 25MW/52MWh battery at the Lake Bonney wind farm is in the final stages of testing and close to full commercial operation. Once operational, the big Tesla battery will supply the electric car maker’s Australia EV supercharger network with renewable electricity.

Australia’s utility-scale renewable energy sector is set for a record year with 3.6 GW of projects expected to complete commissioning in 2020, Rystad Energy finds. This comprises 1.96 GW in utility PV projects and 1.57 GW in wind developments, with the remaining 0.1 GW coming from batteries.

Investment in Australian renewable energy capacity fell 40% in 2019 down from record-breaking levels seen in the year before, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). Spending on large-scale renewables dropped dramatically due to network woes and long-term policy uncertainty but was ameliorated by the rooftop solar segment’s record growth.

The final tally was 2.13 GW of sub-100kW systems registered in 2019 following a record installation surge in December, according to solar analyst SunWiz. This represents a jump of a 35% year-on-year and puts the grand total at 10 GW.

Spanish utility Iberdrola is investing $500 million in a massive hybrid renewable energy project in South Australia. The funding will pave the way for the landmark project developed by DP Energy to proceed following a significant delay.

The global transition to a low-carbon energy future hinges upon the sustainable supply of green-tech minerals and metals, says researchers. Australia’s reserves and export capabilities in nickel, cobalt, lithium and other rare earths mean our next mining boom could be of global existential importance.

University of Sydney researchers have found evidence of how hydrogen causes embrittlement of steels, the discovery that can potentially pave the way to hydrogen-fueled future. The groundbreaking research also reveled a technique to address this challenge.

As the world strives to arrest the climate crisis and increases its investment in solar energy, the industry must address its own sustainability. A new report produced by Arup in Australia looks at how to apply principles of the circular economy to current and future PV waste management.