Installations

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis has estimated the effect on the payback period of PV systems when adding EVs and storage in Germany and Britain. In both cases, system owners are likely to reduce their payback period by significant margins as increased self-consumption can offset the incremental phase out of government incentives.

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.

Tweed Shire councillors voted last week for the installation of a 604 kW ground-mount solar power system at the Banora Point Wastewater Treatment Plant. This announcement follows last month’s addition of a 165 kW solar array atop the Tweed Regional Aquatic Centre (TRAC) in Murwillumbah. 

At the Clean Energy Council Large-scale Solar Forum yesterday, principal sponsor Longi launched its new Hi-MO 4 range of solar panels in Australia and spoke with pv magazine about its intention to better serve the local industry by opening a fully fledged sales and service office in Australia.

With the annual cost of energy per bed across the aged care sector on the rise, C&I PV and energy efficiency specialist Verdia says that a major energy transformation is underway across Australia.

The Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority is seeking public submissions on the massive Asian Renewable Energy Hub proposed for the Pilbara region.

American EPC Signal Energy has entered the Australian large scale solar marketplace, opening regional headquarters in Sydney. The U.S. firm, which has already won two construction contracts for major solar projects in western NSW, is a long term Canadian Solar project partner.

Solar-plus-storage could be competitive against gas peaking power plants in Australia within the next five years, as the average solar-plus-storage LCOE across the Asia-Pacific region is set to fall from $133/MWh this year to $101/MWh by 2023, according to a newly released research report.