Installations

Despite a sizable pipeline of big PV projects, many EPCs have found it difficult to escape the pitfalls of Australia’s notoriously competitive market. The turmoil in the solar construction sector became evident with the collapse of the nation’s leading contractor RCR Tomlinson. It was further emphasized by Tempo Australia’s problems and last month’s withdrawal of Sydney-based contractor Downer Group. As the survival of the fittest continues, Mumbai-based EPC juggernaut Sterling and Wilson Solar (SWSL) is confident it has found a way to adapt and thrive.

UK-based infrastructure investor John Laing will make no further investments in standalone solar and wind, following the write-downs taken on its European and Australian projects.

Horizon Power has launched its Reconciliation Action Plan to strengthen relationships with Indigenous peoples. Among the many-faceted mandates in the Plan is a recognition of the utility of solar in remote communities.

The developer has confirmed a nearly $30 million write-down on its troubled Kennedy Energy Park and entered into a binding agreement on a $1 a share takeover bid from a consortium that includes Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest’s Squadron Energy.

Perhaps an app could streamline the workload of roof-top PV installers and accelerate the renewable energy transition … “Snap!” said a number of industry like-thinkers who are partnering with the founders of a powerful new digital tool to help the worldwide roof-top sector scale.

With a Commonwealth MoU in hand and a ‘flexible’ attitude to the regulatory processes governing transmission build in Australia’s National Electricity Market, the NSW Department of Planning and Environment is revving up its plans to develop a demonstrator Renewable Energy Zone.

The Berejiklian government has launched a pilot program that will allow eligible Hunter residents to access interest-free loans for battery and solar-battery systems.

South Australia is seeing a surge of small-scale utility solar as the niche, particularly around the 5MW mark, can fly under the radar of much of the electricity network’s congestion woes. The newly completed Mannum Solar Farm Project is one such example.

The 16-greenhouse Focola project has been developed by French renewables developer Akuo and local utility company Enercal Energies Nouvelles on the Pacific Ocean territory.

The Australian network rule maker has ignored the plea of some of the biggest solar and wind project owners in Australia to change the way marginal loss factors (MLFs) are calculated. While it has acknowledged that transmission has failed to keep up the pace with renewable energy investment, it did not come up with any suggestion on what should be done to ameliorate the problem.