Commercial & Industrial PV

Two Western Australian mines will be powered by renewable energy hybrid microgrids echoing a global shift away from fossil fuels in the mining sector.

Melbourne-based Presbyterian Ladies’ College will be powered solely by wind and solar with the help of a power purchase agreement inked with electricity retailer Flow Power and on-site PV.

Some commercial and industrial (C&I) rooftops remain shut off to solar installers. Weight constraints and roofs that cannot be penetrated by mourning structures can make a building unsuitable for PV. However, the major constraint for many enterprise owners or tenants is that they may no be able to benefit from the full 25-30 year lifetime of the system. The good news: it’s a challenge that can be overcome, says James Larratt, the CEO at Australian PV startup Solpod.

Mildura Rural City Council reports a milestone in helping businesses to upgrade their buildings with solar and become more energy efficient and sustainable, while Greater Shepparton sees great results from going solar.

As Australians seek to control rising energy costs and tackle the damaging impacts of climate change, rooftop solar has boomed. To manage the variability of rooftop solar – broadly, the “no power at night” problem – we will also see a rapid increase in battery storage.

With Australia amongst the world leaders in solar uptake, a new study finds the nation is currently using less than 5% of the potential capacity for rooftop solar.

UNSW Sydney will start procuring all of its electricity from a NSW solar farm by next year and gradually expand onsite solar energy generation by 2022, as well as improve energy and water efficiency to reduce its environmental footprint.

The race is on to process applications for central payments across the world’s biggest solar market, particularly as qualifying projects must reportedly be grid connected this year. The final electricity price will be a major competitive factor considered by the Beijing authorities.

With clean energy being generated at lower and lower prices around the world, solar power is playing a leading role in bringing the curtain down on coal, and will help the decarbonization of transport and space heating too.

Renewable energy investment in the APAC region, excluding China, will overtake spending on oil and gas exploration and production spending by 2020, finds Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy. And Australia is set to emerge as one of the leading investment destinations.