Installations

Australia federal Labor government has approved 11 new renewable energy and transmission projects in since the election in May 2022. There are currently another 95 renewable projects under assessment.

The structured bidding trajectory of India’s tenders will provide sufficient time for renewables developers to plan their finances, develop business plans, and manage the supply chain more efficiently, says Indian Power Minister R.K. Singh.

Community opposition to renewable projects tends to be dismissed as NIMBY-ism, an attitude of not-in-my-back-yard. To do so fails to recognise the character and potential claws of the globally growing movement, as well as the renewable sectors’ own role in rearing resentments. Australian reporter Bella Peacock investigates the emotional thread that ties the particularities of opposition movements together, and ways developers can defuse the charge.

A South Australian racecourse has now become a fully operational DC-coupled solar and battery farm. The Berri Energy Project, owned by retailer Flow Power, is part of the company’s strategy to build up to 50 MW of mid-scale (sub 5 MW) projects to supplement its offtake portfolio, Flow Power COO Byron Serjeanston told pv magazine Australia.

Sun Cable’s troubled $30-plus billion (USD 20 billion) mega solar and storage project has received a welcome boost with resources company Tivan announcing it has penned a deal with the developer for the potential offtake of up to 300 MW of renewable electricity to support a planned critical minerals processing facility in the Northern Territory.

A Victorian solar installer that ignored a seven-metre fall risk on a job site in Geelong has been convicted and ordered to pay almost $40,000 after pleading guilty to three charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Three years after French renewable energy developer Neoen first broke ground at the site of its Western Downs Green Energy Hub in Queensland’s Western Downs region, the last of the more than one million panels has been installed as the 400 MW solar farm nears 100% completion.

Western Australia will now offer rural and metro-area residents in its main grid the same electricity supply. The move comes after a seemingly innocuous rule change saw regional customers unable to run their air conditioning at the same time as their cooktops – a drama pv magazine Australia first reported in July 2022 which led to sustained community pressure.

Sandbox Solar, a solar developer and US federal grant recipient, has released a beta version of its software modelling tool for agrivoltaic power plants. It supports the design and optimisation of solar panels, as well as the crops underneath.

Annual investment in renewable energy construction in Australia is forecast to jump almost 50% this year and continue to climb to a peak in 2026 with historically high levels of activity to follow as the country continues its transition away from fossil fuel-fired power generation.