Sustainable Melbourne Fund takes its mission, and rooftop PV, Australia wide
A new $200 million partnership with Bank Australia has boosted the capability of Sustainable Melbourne Fund to help all Australian commercial and agricultural enterprises become more sustainable. For many businesses, reducing electricity costs and emissions through solar PV installation has been the first project on their list.
Clean Energy Council convenes “emergency roundtable” over Queensland installer rules
The Clean Energy Council is continuing to push back against new laws in Queensland that will compel solar installation work to be carrier out by a licensed electrician for arrays larger than 100 kW. It convened an “emergency roundtable” in Brisbane today to address the new rules.
Solar transforms NEM supply mix displacing coal
The latest figures from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) show that solar continues to eat into the share once firmly held by coal on the back of a dramatic increase in installations over the past 12 months. The trend was backed by energy storage facilities which continued to gain foothold as providers of frequency control and ancillary services, lowering overall costs in the first quarter of 2019.
Australia’s first solar to hydrogen-based microgrid gets nearly $1 million in federal funding
A grant of nearly $1 million has been announced for a 100% renewable energy project which will see the World Heritage-listed Daintree Rainforest reduce its reliance on diesel fuel to generate power.
How to profitably up-cycle 80 million tonnes of PV waste by 2050
New research by UNSW examines the economic barriers, the technologies and opportunities in recycling end-of-life silicon photovoltaic modules for profit.
Gas boss backs PV to hydrogen
Outgoing APA Group CEO Mick McCormack has pointed to a bright future for power-to-gas in Australia in an address to a Macquarie Group conference this week. The long-serving gas infrastructure head said that excess PV generation, particularly when generation is at remote sections of the grid, could be utilised to produce green hydrogen.
Labor to connect 4,000 schools into VPPs in $1 billion solar program
Federal Labor has pledged to roll out solar PV and batteries at schools across Australia and create virtual power plants supporting up to 365 MW of capacity.
Mining of battery resources to get funding boost, WA’s South West to become REZ under Labor
As part of its Future Mines and Jobs Plan, Labor has pledged to revive the Exploring for the Future funding and invest $75 million in developing the future mining of resources such as lithium. If elected in the upcoming federal election, the party will also make the south-west of Western Australia a renewable energy zone, meaning the region will be able to access funding through the party’s planned $5 billion Energy Security and Modernisation Fund.
Small businesses to access 3-year renewable-energy PPAs
Long-term power purchase agreements in Australia are helping large-scale energy consumers reduce costs and green their energy supply, but for smaller or more conservative businesses that have found the PPA landscape hard to navigate ERM Power is introducing a more flexible, short-term option to the market.
Dramatic increase in grid solar generation as medium to large-scale rooftop PV takes off
Due to a jump in medium (+15kW) to large (+100kW) rooftop solar installations, there has been a dramatic increase in grid scale solar generation. This has contributed to renewables supplying monthly 14-15% of total generation since last November, an increase from 10-11% share this time last year, new research from The Australia Institute finds.
