Installations

In a deal that can only improve the appeal of renewable energy to the mining industry, Siemens and renewable energy developer juwi have joined forces in a strategic technology partnership set to bring renewable microgrids to the off-grid mine sites.

New research by the World Gold Council identifies greenhouse gas emissions across the whole supply chain of gold mining and sets out a plan to aureate the industry’s carbon footprint with solar PV and other renewables.

French renewables developer and big Australian energy player Neoen has reported strong revenue growth over the first nine months of 2019, driven in no small part by Australian successes.

After Genex Power’s offtake agreement with EnergyAustralia fell through earlier this month its concessional federal funding lapsed. However, the Project has secured an extension into 2020, hopefully allowing it enough time to restructure and reach financial close.

One of Australia’s largest solar farms, APA Group’s 110 MW (AC) Darling Downs Solar Farm has officially opened after significant delays resulting from grid connection issues and last-minute changes of engineering and construction partners.

Australia made its first moves to open up its energy industry in the 1990s, when the National Electricity Market (NEM) was first created, and many of the rules and regulations from back then are still in place today. But the rise of renewables in the 21st century, argues Clean Energy Investor Group Chair Rob Grant, necessitates a rethink of this market structure.

The Australian Energy Market Commission’s proposed transmission access model has come under fierce criticism from the clean energy industry for being unnecessarily complex and likely to increase the cost of capital for future generation and storage investment.

The New Zealand Rural Connectivity Group will use Redflow zinc-bromine flow batteries to store energy in off-grid telecommunication sites.

Utility-scale solar is booming in Australia. Quality assurance, especially solar panel testing, helps achieve better performance and lower costs. Best-practice testing is key, writes Michelle McCann, managing partner at PV Lab Australia, but must be planned and fully integrated into a project from an early stage. This integration ensures flow-through from panel manufacturers to commercial buyers and large project owners.

Market intelligence company Navigant Research has developed a country forecast of the global market. Incentives and pricing will be the main driver of installations, though the market will continue to be concentrated in certain key regions for now.