Commercial & Industrial PV

PV demand grew 68% year-on-year from the level seen in 2017 as Germany’s cumulative installed solar generation capacity reached 45.92 GW.

Queensland is in line for its first community-scale battery to be installed on Townsville’s outskirts because of the high number of rooftop solar systems and close proximity to electricity infrastructure. The energy storage system should be operating by the end of the year.

Late 2018 saw the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and Community Power Agency publish a comprehensive plan to power New South Wales and Victorian high schools with 100% renewable energy. Tomorrow, Australian high-school students in most states return to their classrooms with extreme summer weather fresh in their memories. Many will have climate change and energy transition on their minds.

As scorching heatwave drove up air conditioning power demand, faults at coal-fired power plants were directly responsible for blackouts across Victoria and South Australia. Extreme weather is debunking arguments for new fossil fuel generation, and signaling Australia’s energy security lies in renewables.

The Australia Institute’s first emissions audit of 2019 shows renewables pushing coal aside to reduce Australia’s emissions 20% below the peak recorded in 2008; and the load that January’s high temperatures would normally exert on the grid has been mitigated by high uptake of rooftop solar.

As part of a scientific research focusing on agriculture on exhausted mining areas, a seed cleaning shed on Christmas Island is being powered by solar+storage. The switch from polluting diesel has not only brought a low maintenance, silent and environmentally friendly solution to this remote location, but also lowered operational costs nearly fivefold.

Having welcomed Sol Distribution on board, Norwegian solar manufacturer REC Group hopes to expand its presence in Australia, which it sees as its key market in the APAC region.

Wood Mackenzie’s number-crunchers are the latest analysts queueing up to predict a bumper year ahead for PV, with falling prices, rising efficiency rates and booming markets outside China all on the cards. And it could be a make-or-break year for mega-projects, says Wood Mac.

German discount supermarket chain Aldi is set to roll out solar PV across 30 stores and distribution centers in New South Wales and Queensland. Netherlands-based renewables developer Photon Energy will deliver the rooftop PV arrays.

Singapore-based solar developer Sunseap has taken a minority stake in Todae Solar, one of Australia’s largest solar commercial and industrial EPC companies.