Installations

With solar panels already installed on dozens of its buildings, the City of Sydney has upped the ante with the goal to source 100% of its electricity needs from solar PV and wind. The commitment has been endorsed by Council this week, and a new 100% renewable electricity contract will be negotiated in the coming months.

Solar has grown so much that its output exceeded brown coal and gas over the summer months, between 9am to 5pm. New analysis by Green Energy Markets shows that across the whole of summer, renewable energy produced 128% more megawatt-hours of electricity than gas and 23% more than brown coal.

The Coalition government has announced funding to support up to 50 off-grid and fringe-of-grid feasibility studies investigating whether building a microgrid can be a cost-effective solution. The studies will also look at whether existing off-grid capabilities can be upgraded with more up-to-date technology.

New polling from The Australia Institute shows that almost 70% of South Australian voters regardless of political leanings want to see the state transition to 100% renewable energy by the year 2030.

A 1.2 MW solar array has been powered up at Western Australian “spy station” near Geraldton. The array aims to take pressure off the region’s ageing power grid.

Proposed marginal loss factors (MLFs) will result in six utility scale solar projects receiving a 10% or more reduction in revenues, at current prices and if imposed as proposed by AEMO. Worsening MLFs add to mounting pressures for large scale PV project developers in 2019.

In what is described as Australian first climate bond, which gives investors access to new ways to invest in solar and storage, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has contributed $10 million towards the latest of FlexiGroup’s green bond issuances. The inclusion of energy storage in the underlying asset base is viewed as an important market development.

While renewables continue to do their bit on decarbonizing the energy sector, national emissions, especially in the transport sector, continue to rise amid a lack of any federal or state government limits, The Australia Institute warns. Total renewable supply, including rooftop solar, is at 21.2% of generation from all sources across the NEM, eating into the share once firmly held by coal and gas.

One of the Gold Coast’s most iconic pieces of infrastructure, the Sand Bypass System, will soon welcome a 100 kW solar array as part of a pilot project aimed at reducing operational costs.

The Victorian government is giving smaller solar installers eight months to sign up to the Clean Energy Council’s Solar Retailer Code of Conduct if they want to qualify for the Solar Homes program. For larger retailers, the deadline to become Approved Solar Retailers is July.