Highlights

The NSW government has announced a $15 million solar scheme, which will put free solar PV systems on up to 3,400 low-income households provided they forgo their energy rebate.

Peer-to-peer lender RateSetter has been named the exclusive administrator of the South Australian government’s Home Battery Scheme. Based on a funding deal with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, RateSetter will offer $100 million in loans in cases when the upfront costs of the home battery system installations are not met by the South Australia government subsidies.

With a combined capacity of 667 MW, September has set a new record high for the number of accredited projects in a single month, show the latest data released by the Clean Energy Regulator. Almost all of the new capacity comes from large scale solar.

Belectric has awarded a contract to Downer to build the 349 MWp Limondale Solar Park located in New South Wales.

Australia’s first community battery trial will see a bulk Tesla battery integrated into existing grid and owned and operated by Western Power and Synergy.

After addressing grid connection challenges, the French renewables giant has launched construction on the 256.5 MWp Kiamal Solar Farm. It is now looking to add a second stage of up to 194 MWp, and is exploring commercial options for the approved 380 MWh of energy storage.

According to a new scorecard released by the Climate Council, Tasmania, the ACT and SA are leading the nation in renewable energy adoption, while WA and the NT are lagging at the back of the pack.

According to the Gold Member Solar Report by EnergyTrend (Q3 2018), monocrystalline module prices have fallen almost 20% this year, while those for polycrystalline modules have dropped by more than 25%. Increased consolidation among manufacturers and developers is expected to occur in China and the global solar market, with more merger deals, plans for capacity reductions and even factory closures.

In addition to securing debt financing from a consortium of banks, the Australian-Chinese renewables developer has entered into a long-term equity partnership with global infrastructure investor John Laing for the investment and development of the Sunraysia Solar Farm. John Laing confirmed it will invest $108.6 million in the project, taking a 90.1% stake.

The Asian Renewable Energy Hub’s generation capacity has been boosted from 9 GW to 11 GW, as Macquarie Group has pledged to invest in the project that aims to export power to South East Asia, as well as supply big miners and green hydrogen projects in the Pilbara region, Western Australia.