Installations

The Clean Energy Council (CEC) is pushing for the COAG Energy Council to address the dramatic slowdown in investment in large-scale renewable energy when it meets this Friday, 22 November. The CEC believes the slowdown is the industry’s highest priority.

The California-based energy technology company has integrated with GreenSync’s Decentralized Energy Exchange (deX), making it possible for its customers to get more value out of their distributed energy assets and help the grid manage the challenges associated with the rapid penetration of intermittent renewables.

Distributed energy producer EDL has officially opened a 23 MW power station that integrates solar with gas and diesel generation to power Gold Fields’ Agnew Gold Mine in Western Australia. The project is part of an innovative hybrid microgrid, which will later add a wind array and battery storage.

Two of Australia’s richest people, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, have jointly invested “tens of millions of dollars” in the ambitious Sun Cable projects, which would export solar energy from the Outback to power Singapore. The capital raising will enable developers Sun Cable to pay for development work for the undersea power link.

In a classic example of nominative determinism, like Usain Bolt running as fast as a bolt of lightning or Bulgaria’s ill-fated 400m hurdler Vania Stambolova, the Golden family of Clifton Hill take advantage of golden sunlight to power their home.

In late 2016, Queensland’s Labor Government revealed a plan for 50% of the State’s electricity to be renewably sourced by 2030, and the state has made significant steps toward that goal.

Over the last two years, corporate renewable power purchase agreements have become a major force in Australia’s large-scale renewable energy market. In hard figures, 70 leading Australian organizations have made the switch to renewable energy and procured nearly 2.3 GW of mostly solar and wind electricity and supported 5.2 GW of projects, finds the Business Renewables Centre of Australia.

Photon Energy Australia has won the developers race to the long-awaited Lord Howe Island integrated solar and storage project. The Netherlands-based company’s microgrid solution is perfectly suited to remote islands looking to relieve themselves of diesel dependency.

From an energy-hungry importer to a frontrunner in the decarbonization race, South Australia has set the bar high for how to efficiently transition to a low-emissions grid dominated by renewables. With wind and solar already supplying more than a half of its electricity, the state’s energy transition shows no sign of letting up. In fact, South Australia is gearing up to accelerate the pace of its clean energy transition and expand its big PV fleet as it moves toward its 2030 target of “net” 100% renewables.

No man is an island, but solar PV can at least allow us to live on one without having to rely on the expensive logistical nightmare of diesel fuel supply. More islands around the Asia Pacific are turning to solar PV systems combined with storage to meet their needs.