Highlights

The Queensland government has laid down regulations for solar farms that will allow only licensed electricians to install or remove PV panels. But the new rules will put hundreds of local jobs at risk and could bring some projects to a standstill, the Clean Energy Council (CEC) has warned.

The Port Augusta concentrated solar power project billed as the world’s biggest has ground to a halt. Although it was granted additional time, U.S. firm SolarReserve failed to achieve financial close and proposed selling the 150 MW project to a third party.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) will underpin two innovative distributed energy projects – a trial to integrate a virtual power plant into the National Energy Market and a digital marketplace for grid services provided by rooftop solar arrays, batteries and EVs owned by Australian homes and businesses.

A new report from the Clean Energy Council confirms 2018 shattered all records in terms of investment in renewables and capacity additions. The CEC finds that more than 2.3 GW of new renewable energy projects were completed in 2018. Both large-scale and rooftop solar experienced their best ever year.

Following the decision to require retailers taking part in the Solar Homes program to be signatories to the Clean Energy Council’s Solar Retailer Code of Conduct, the Victorian government has set specific requirements for inverters that will be installed under the program.

One of the two largest managers of Australian retail property, Vicinity Centres, has invested $73 million in a solar program set to provide 31 MW of clean energy to 22 shopping centres and their retailers by end 2019. An early-stage trial of Trina bifacial panels will see Vicinity increase its solar yield mid-rollout.

With solar panels already installed on dozens of its buildings, the City of Sydney has upped the ante with the goal to source 100% of its electricity needs from solar PV and wind. The commitment has been endorsed by Council this week, and a new 100% renewable electricity contract will be negotiated in the coming months.

The Norwegian solar panel manufacturer says Hanwha Q Cells did not provide full particulars of its allegations despite REC Group’s requests and went ahead to commence proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia.

Solar has grown so much that its output exceeded brown coal and gas over the summer months, between 9am to 5pm. New analysis by Green Energy Markets shows that across the whole of summer, renewable energy produced 128% more megawatt-hours of electricity than gas and 23% more than brown coal.

Green hydrogen has been exported from Australia to Japan, under a trial executed by researchers from JXTG, Japan’s largest petroleum conglomerate, using Queensland University of Technology’s cutting-edge solar cell facility at the Redlands Research Facility on the Gold Coast. On top of that, the Queensland government has announced $250,000 in funding towards the establishment a renewable hydrogen production pilot plant.