Installations

Spanish tracker giant STI Norland has expanded to Australia with a new subsidiary office in Melbourne. The company is arriving on our shores with a keenness to compete with tracker suppliers who already have their foot in the door. With no solar farm too big or too small, STI Norland Australia CEO Alan Atchison sat down with pv magazine Australia to talk about how the company plans to make tracks Down Under.

The Sumitomo Corporation has reported a stunning ¥26bn (US$251m) loss on its Western Australian Bluewaters coal fired power investment. The loss assures the company’s worst ever annual performance and comes as a result of international and financial pressure against coal funding.

Neoen announced last month that it had completed the financing of its 460 MW Western Downs Green Power Hub, but today it has been revealed that said green finance came about through a wide reaching international effort, including seven global banks, a salutary sign that green finance is accelerating as fossil fuel divestment continues.

The University of New England is now well on the way to being 100% powered by solar after switching on its very own 3.2 MW solar farm. However, the university is not quite done yet, with Phase 2 already planned and including an energy storage system.

Community group Solar Citizens is calling for the Queensland government to expand its solar for renters trial following the release of results which found participating tenants were, on average, $600 a year better off after solar was installed on their rooftops.

The choice of battery storage technologies in support of solar energy supply is broadening to suit a variety of emerging applications. VSUN has just made its first power play for vanadium-redox-flow batteries in the off-grid residential market.

For a company that has its own big sunny solar farm and is developing a companion green-hydrogen production plant, the next step must be to formalise its commitment to go 100% renewable.

South Australian design and manufacturing company PVDymanics has unveiled a unique ‘slide in’ solar canopy system which it believes can revolutionise the micro-grid market.

The Australian rooftop PV market is expected to eclipse all previous records in 2020 but a new report has raised serious questions about the fire safety standards associated with small-scale solar installations.

Australian renewable energy company ClearVue continues to push ahead with the development of its transparent solar glass technology with construction beginning on a commercial-scale trial project.