The 2018 NSW Smart Energy Summit was crowded with attendees eager to hear former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, unfettered by party politics, address the state’s solar and renewables sector.

After around 1200 applications were lodged for the original 1500 packages in as little as two weeks, the Queensland government has introduced an additional 1000 battery grant packages to help households and small businesses cut their energy bills with the help of solar and storage.

The deal to merge solar hybrid developer Energy Made Clean (EMC), a Carnegie subsidiary, with M-Power is off. Carnegie Clean Energy Chairman Terry Stinson made the announcement at the company’s AGM last week, citing M-Power’s owner TAG’s inability to raise “$4 million required to fund the combined businesses.”

If maintained, Australia’s current rate of installs would deliver 78% renewables by 2030, find Green Energy Markets in its latest edition of RE Index. The 50% renewables target proposed by the the Federal Labor Party and several state Labor governments would thus deliver a sharp market decline, with installations falling to a third of recent rates and workforce shrinking by three quarters.

The Australia aged care specialist has embarked on an energy efficiency program, which will see over 10,600 solar panels and more than 28,000 LED lights installed at 54 of its properties.

Pernod Ricard Winemakers will source 100% of its electricity from renewables by mid-2019. The company, responsible for wine brands Jacob’s Creek and Brancott Estate, will install 2.8 MW of PV at its Barossa Valley winery, and source the remainder of its power from renewable energy, under a Virtual Generation Agreement with retailer Flow Power.

One of the nation’s largest vineyard owners, Australian Vintage, has announced a major hybrid renewable corporate PPA, based on which it will ensure 90% of its power at its Buronga Hill Winery is met by solar and wind for the next 10 years.

Australian mining company Resolute Mining has inked a JDA and PPA with Ignite Energy, to construct what it says is the world’s largest off-grid solar hybrid plant, at one of its gold mines in Mali.

With the Australian solar market booming across all three market segments, the first pv magazine Quality Roundtable at All Energy Australia discussed how time constraints for installers is threatening quality in the rooftop sectors. And for the utility scale, a more sophisticated approach to modelling project output can hasten grid connection and AEMO acceptance.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia will source 65% of its power from renewable energy by next year and will go completely green by 2030, as Australia’s first business to join 154 international companies that signed up to the global initiative RE100.