Community

Chinese scientists have developed a PV floor tile they say is suitable for pavements and cycling tracks. The devices were tested on a ‘green deck’ in Hong Kong. The developers say the tiles have demonstrated satisfactory solar energy conversion, anti-slip performance, heat-resistance and strength.

Located on a disused landfill that was once part of a coal mine, the newly completed solar farm will save ratepayers around $9 million over its 25-year lifespan.

University of New South Wales students have travelled to remote communities in Fiji in order to troubleshoot the challenges of renewable energy integration and come up with technical and design-based solutions to community needs.

Under the business-as-usual scenario, Western Australia could use up its Paris-Agreement 1.5°C compatible carbon budget within 12 years but a massive ramping up of renewable energy capacity would unlock significant economic opportunities for the state, finds a report by Berlin-based science and policy institute Climate Analytics.

The coastal town of Onslow in the Pilbara has had its much-anticipated standalone solar farm and battery completed this week, making it one of Australia’s largest distributed energy resource microgrids.

Photon Energy Australia has won the developers race to the long-awaited Lord Howe Island integrated solar and storage project. The Netherlands-based company’s microgrid solution is perfectly suited to remote islands looking to relieve themselves of diesel dependency.

Abundant sunshine, favorable policy settings and high power prices have long placed Australia at the cutting edge of rooftop solar uptake. The more recent utility-scale boom has further enhanced its status as a PV leader. Battery adoption, microgrids, EVs and green hydrogen are all taking shape, yet what should be an Aussie smart energy no-brainer continues to be dogged by mounting investment uncertainty and a toxic debate on the national level.

The New Zealand Rural Connectivity Group will use Redflow zinc-bromine flow batteries to store energy in off-grid telecommunication sites.

The Philippines is desperately hungry for rooftop solar PV as it seeks to alleviate itself of energy poverty. Pathways are finally opening up for the vast Southeast Asian nation with investors readying US$20 million to fund four new renewable projects.

A result of a collaboration between global accounting and financial services firm KPMG, Canadian gas giant ATCO, Australia’s national science agency CSIRO and Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), H2City can be used to assess the costs and benefits of regional town or municipality switching to hydrogen.