Installations

Spanish power and gas provider Naturgy has acquired its first PV project in Australia – the Cunderdin hybrid solar + storage project east of Perth in WA. The project is set to be the country’s largest DC-coupled project to date.

The Australian Energy Market Operator warns every Australian jurisdiction in the national grid could see electricity demand outstripping supply within the decade – though only if anticipated renewable projects do not come to fruition.

The 225 MW Oxley Solar Farm, proposed in northern NSW, has agreed to pay $5.9 million as a “community benefit contribution.” The payment links to a recent list of demands from councils within the New England Renewable Energy Zone fed up large-scale projects deliver “significant financial and social costs with little tangible benefit to our regions.”

A former car manufacturing site turn “innovation precinct” in Tonsely Adelaide is now home to one of Australia’s largest rooftop arrays at 4.83 MW. Completed by CleanPeak Energy, the system will supply around 75% of the energy needs of the 56 hectare site, with batteries set to arrive before summer.

Renewable energy investors have proposed more than 40 new clean energy projects totalling more than 17 GW of generation and storage capacity for a coordinated renewable energy zone to be established in the Illawarra region on the New South Wales south coast.

A team of Australian researchers have developed a way to use rooftop solar PV to run air conditioners to pre-cool residential and commercial buildings. They have identified several factors that could help reduce a building’s energy costs.

Construction has commenced on a $45 million grid-scale battery storage system that will support further uptake of solar PV among households and businesses in the Northern Territory and help the government achieve 50% penetration of renewables into its energy supply by 2030.

The University of Technology Sydney has outlined details of a solar PV project it says demonstrates the potential of commercial and industrial rooftop space for use as solar farms with benefits beyond satisfying the host building’s energy needs.

The 4.95 MW Kerta Solar farm in South Australia has this week been energised, with owners Green Gold Energy saying its commissioning is “coming soon.”


The Energy Information Administration projects renewable energy to reach a record share of generation mix this year.