Highlights

The Queensland government will attempt to reverse a Supreme Court of Queensland ruling to invalidate recently introduced regulations relating to solar farms larger than 100 kW and apply for a stay of the controversial safety measures.

The Supreme Court of Queensland has ruled that a state government regulation requiring licensed electrical workers to mount and fix unplugged solar panels is invalid.

Rebates and zero-interest loans for solar panels, solar hot water systems and batteries account for one of the major spends in Victoria’s 2019/20 budget and come at a cost of $1.3 billion.

Australian mining giant BHP has announced its intentions to move away from thermal coal production and refocus its attentions on oil, nickel and copper, the latter two supplying fast-growing EV and renewables sectors.

There’s nothing high tech about resistance heating in the form of an immersion hot water element. But when added to rooftop solar PV, it can be a powerful way to maximise self consumption – when coupled with a smart control system. 

Western Australia’s government says nearly a third of successful applicants in the latest round of the state-backed commodity exploration scheme hopes to discover battery materials. In other news, the state government has established the Energy Transformation Taskforce in response to the energy sector’s transition from coal to renewables and distributed energy resources. 

The Victorian Government has taken the decision to pay rebates, under its Solar Homes package, to some 600 otherwise eligible households who installed solar PV systems but failed to follow the program’s procedure. 

The developers of the 35 MW Brigalow Solar Farm are challenging the new solar installation rules introduced by the Queensland government.

Australian miner GBM Gold is planning to repurpose the Woodvale evaporation ponds near Bendigo in central Victoria and build a utility-scale solar farm. One part of the project will be a floating solar array.

Defying election predictions, the right-wing Liberal-National coalition celebrated a “miracle” victory on Saturday evening. But, the Australian solar sector has little reason to rejoice.