Commercial & Industrial PV

An international research team has investigated how solar could be combined with thermoelectric coolers (TECs), which are small solid-state heat pumps used either for heating or for cooling. A system was built with six solar panels, an air duct system, four batteries, a charge controller, TECs, an inverter, heat sinks, a test chamber, and condenser fans.

Gold developer Calidus Resources has become the latest miner to decarbonise its Western Australian operations by installing a 19 MW hybrid solar PV-gas power system which in future could be up to a quarter fuelled by hydrogen.

Humes, a division of concrete company Holcim Australia, is making moves on its emissions reductions targets with the installation of rooftop solar on 10 of its sites across Australia. With a number of the projects already completed, Humes expects to finish the large-scale layout by the end of March 2022.

Victoria’s Bowens has invested $1.2 million in a large scale rooftop solar installation along with power factor correction units in order to cut its carbon emissions and promote sustainable practices in the construction sector. With new home builds and renovations surging across Australia, it is not just residential rooftops that can make an impact on the nations’ carbon footprint, but commercial rooftops as well.

Solar PV is helping power the world’s largest zircon mine with Western Australian-based independent power producer KPS Power Generation announcing it has completed the conversion of miner Iluka Resources’ 10 MW diesel-fuelled power station at the Jacinth-Ambrosia mineral sands operation in South Australia into a hybrid facility.

The Sun Rock building is owned by Taiwan’s power utility Taipower. It was covered with 4,000 square meters of PV panels deployed by Dutch architectural firm MVRDV.

The Philippines arm of Australian renewable developer Maoneng has completed a 202.4 kWp installation on the rooftop of the Wesleyan University Philippines.

Compiled by an international research group, the best practices were collected from all available guidelines published by national agencies, regulatory bodies, and trade associations.

Sydney-based solar pioneer 5B has launched a $33.4 million tech innovation program, including a $14 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, designed to accelerate the delivery of ultra low cost solar. While a majority of the investment is portioned off for an advanced manufacturing pilot line, approximately a third of the available funds will be used to deliver GPS-guided solar deployment robots.

Oil and gas giant Woodside Energy has submitted the proposal for its 500MW Solar Facility to the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority. The proposal sees Woodside looking to install up to one million solar panels to help power industrial customers in the region, including its own Pluto LNG export facility.