Installations

Solar glass developer ClearVue Technologies has once again looked beyond the Western Australia horizon by inking a distribution agreement with Japanese company Tomita Technologies which will see its building integrated PV (BIPV) glazing products sold in Japan.

Complaints including a lack of women’s hygiene facilities and a precariously dangling shipping container are being taken up by the NSW and ACT Electrical Trades Union after workers say they’ve been met with deaf ears by the company managing the site of the Suntop Solar Farm in NSW’s Central West.

Australia’s transition to renewable energy continues with developer ARP Australian Solar pushing ahead with plans to establish a 70 MW solar PV and battery energy storage project on the outskirts of Morwell in the heart of Victoria’s coal country.

Construction is set to commence on the 250 MW Kidston Pumped Hydro Storage Project later this month after developer Genex Power announced it had secured all the financing required to progress the $775 million project.

South Australia’s electricity distributor SA Power Networks has announced plans to introduce new ‘flexible’ export limits for rooftop solar PV in some areas of the state in a bid to manage the growing amount of distributed energy resources and associated network congestion.

Greek energy company Mytilineos and its subsidiary Metka EGN continue to put down roots in the Australian market, signing a Power Purchasing Agreement which will allow construction to commence on its 23 MW extension to Wagga Wagga North Solar Farm. The extension comes after the company was fined in January for breaching its Aboriginal Heritage Impact Permit by commencing works without first notifying Heritage NSW, leading to the destruction of Indigenous artefacts.

Greater dispatchability will be required from solar as it becomes increasingly mainstream worldwide, or investors could experience diminishing returns as a victim of the technology’s success at bearing down on electricity prices.

Energy giant AGL has signed a memorandum of understanding with Finnish technology company Wärtsilä, to develop large-scale hybrid energy systems for AGL’s commercial and industrial customers.

India had installed 6.8 GW of cumulative rooftop PV capacity by the end of 2020, with consumer-owned systems accounting for about 72% of the total, according to Bridge to India.

Pandemic uncertainties have concentrated key solar players and “heightened competition for ‘survival of the fittest'”, says JinkoSolar Chairman and CEO Xiande Li. The company’s latest figures show it is well placed in Australia and in the global arena.