Installations

Debate on independent MP Dr Helen Haines’ Australian Local Power Agency Bill 2021, which seeks to anchor the benefits of renewables projects in their hosting regions, will be informed by Friday’s parliamentary committee hearing of submissions on the proposed legislation. A number of valid discussion points have been raised.

Photon Energy reported raised revenue from sales of electricity in the second quarter of the year, compared with 12 months earlier, but said grid hold-ups at 14.6 MW of solar projects Down Under had affected performance.

The world’s biggest solar PV and storage project is set to get even larger with the Singapore-based Sun Cable announcing it plans to increase the renewable energy generation and storage capacity of the $26 billion Australia-ASEAN Power Link being developed in northern Australia.

A German research team has developed a photovoltaic-electrochemical device for alkaline water electrolysis that can be linked to battery storage. The proposed system configuration can not only smoothen out the PV power fluctuations and facilitate power coupling, but also improve solar to hydrogen efficiency.

For the first time in the history of our national energy market, solar generated more electricity than coal, providing 41.4% of the national market on Sunday, while coal accounted for 41.2%.

The comparison of two solar cladded roofs in Sydney, one bare beneath its panels and the other adorned with native grasses and plants, has found the panels on the green roof were, on average, 3.63% more efficient, producing an average daily output 13% greater than the conventional roof. The improvements are believed to stem from the lower temperatures on the green roof, thanks to its plants – which also provided a plethora of additional benefits.

The state-run energy company has commissioned a 25 MW plant on the reservoir at its Simhadri thermal power station, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The installation features more than 100,000 solar modules.

The risks posed to renewable-energy projects by Australia’s uncertain climate change policies and hamstrung regulators, have become a concerning brake on investment. Adjusting settings to reduce those risks would revitalise investor sentiment and vastly reduce the cost of implementing the country’s switch to renewables, says the Clean Energy Investor Group.

Imperatives meet opportunity. Corporate and utility goals for sustainability are driving a new group of investors to pick up the Australian renewable-energy resource and run with it. A new PwC report outlines how the new investor-developer partnerships could work.

China’s efforts to shift electricity generation from a coal-dominated system to a greener mix of renewables is not only centred on wind, solar and other technologies – the country is also rapidly pursuing energy storage. Vincent Shaw reports from Shanghai.