Highlights

Owing to its state-based renewable energy initiatives, Victoria is in the box seat to create more than 6,000 jobs annually, shows a new analysis released by Green Energy Markets. Overall, renewable energy generation managed to exceed 25% of power supply for the first time across Australia’s main grids.   

Rooftop solar is popular in the Australian community. But it may not always be the case. If solar and, in particular, battery storage systems are sold with inflated claims, or are non-code compliant, public support could be undermined – delivering momentum to politicians keen to scrap the SRES. An important message from BayWa r.e. Solar Solutions Managing Director Durmus Yildiz.

As the deployment of renewable energy continues to expand around the world, driven by various inputs, such as capital allocation and investment, falling capital costs, competitive LCOE and various policy mechanisms, we are now moving towards a new era for renewable energy. ‘Renewables 2.0’ will have significant, wide-ranging consequences for all market players, as regulators reduce their support and power producers seek new revenue models. In this article, Duncan Ritchie, partner at Apricum – The Cleantech Advisory, will look at the key market developments for renewables, explode the myth of grid parity, highlight the need for flexibility and explain the importance of new financing solutions that are capable of meeting the new complexities brought about by ‘Renewables 2.0’.

Germany’s innogy is all set to deliver its first utility-scale solar PV project in Australia. Preparation works and pre-pilling tests are currently underway, and main works are expected to commence this October.

What problems are being encountered and how to avoid them by learning from past mistakes? With booming installation rates across all segments of the Australian solar market, quality issues have been pushed into the forefront, and quality assurance has become instrumental in shaping further uptake.

Four years ago a viral campaign wooed the world with a promise of fighting climate change and jump-starting the economy by replacing tarmac on the world’s roads with solar panels. The bold idea has undergone some road testing since then. The first results from preliminary studies have recently come out, and they’re a bit underwhelming.

Energy Minister Angus Taylor has announced there will be no replacement for the renewables target beyond the 2020 target, casting a long shadow over investment predictability in the Australian renewable energy sector.

Solar battery systems should maintain power supply when the grid goes down. Right? Well, it’s not always that simple. A recent pv magazine Australia webinar, hosted in partnership with SMA, was looking into different homeowner needs and ways to install an emergency power or ‘full home backup’ system. Here are the answers to some of the webinar attendee’s questions.

With enough large-scale projects under construction or already built to meet the 2020 Renewable Energy Target, the Clean Energy Regulator keeps tracking the progress across the market, as the development pipeline nears the 9 GW threshold.

Renewable energy set a new record level in August with 25.6% of electricity supplied across the NEM, according to a new report by a progressive think-tank, The Australia Institute. This volume of new generation is likely to significantly increase competition in the wholesale market, thereby putting downward pressure on prices, the report finds.