Installations

The lights are on for Queensland’s Solar for Renters program, but nobody’s home. In a state where solar should be selling faster than hotcakes, landlords and tenants are slow to take up the government’s solar rebate.

The Boonanarring Mineral Sands Project in the North Perth Basin is set to receive a behind-the-meter installation to complement its existing grid-connected power supply. The project is the first significant investment by Climate Capital after its first-round capital raise 18-months ago.

A 6 MW solar plant and 5 MW/2.5 MWh storage system are set to increase the share of renewable electricity on the Pacific island of Nauru from 3% to 47%. The $27 million project is being supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

As part of a broader push to develop a domestic hydrogen industry, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is providing $2.9 million for two studies into using solar and wind-powered hydrogen for ammonia. Both project are located in Queensland and presently use natural gas as feedstock.

The Sydney-based developer has raised funding for the development of a 30 MW CSP project which will be collocated with a 20 MW PV plant. The company’s innovative technology, which uses sodium as a heat transfer fluid to capture concentrated solar energy that can then be stored and used on-demand on the utility-scale, has earned Vast Solar an international award for dispatchable renewable energy technology.

U.S. research corporation MITRE and the new Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre will partner to take on cybersecurity threats, with an initial focus on protecting South Australia’s smart grid.

Western Australia’s biggest generator and retailer Synergy has blamed rooftop solar for bleeding red ink in the past financial year.

The New South Wales is looking to update its environmental planning policy to respond to energy technology change, removing thresholds and limits for rooftop PV and introducing clear approval pathways for battery storage installations.

Despite a lack of initiative for the residential battery uptake on the federal level, action on the state and territorial level has been vigorous. In the run-up to the launch of the NSW subsidy scheme, sonnen CEO of APAC Nathan Dunn is talking about the manufacturer’s experience with other subsidy schemes in Australia and what it takes for a successful program.

Australian tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder of Atlassian Corp, has used the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York to announce plans to help fund the ambitious 10 GW, $20 billion, Sun Cable Project in the Northern Territory (NT).