Installations

Queensland businesses can now apply for up to $10 million funding for large-scale recycling projects that tackle commercial and industrial waste and provide recovery solutions for renewable energy technologies, including end-of-life solar panels and batteries.

United Kingdom-based solar and energy storage developer Elements Green is seeking to develop one of Australia’s largest renewables projects with its application for a 696 MW solar farm and 1,332 MWh battery energy storage system lodged with the federal government for assessment.

International beverage company Suntory Oceania has started work on a 3.2 MW rooftop solar install that will help power its new $400 million manufacturing and distribution facility in Queensland.

Australia’s first large-scale solar and big battery storage installation – the Lakeland project in far north Queensland – has been placed on the sales block with MPower announcing it will use the proceeds to further expand its portfolio of PV and battery storage projects.

Social licence commitments have been prioritised over commercial operation dates in the guidelines for Australia’s first national renewable electricity generation tender that is seeking to deliver 6 GW of renewable capacity across the National Electricity Market.

Australian infrastructure asset manager Palisade Investment Partners has secured $258 million in new debt financing to back the further expansion of its gigawatt-scale renewable energy platform.

Scientists in China have tested the influence of panel row spacing in increasing a PV system performance in a full-scale outdoor PV array experimental platform. They found that larger row spacing plays a limited role in improving thermal convection, observing that solar irradiance and wind speed are the key parameters for optimal PV system design.

A solar-powered microgrid has been launched in the Victorian town of Monbulk as part of a $7.5 million state government program designed to better protect communities in fire and storm-prone areas against prolonged blackouts caused by extreme weather events.

The federal government has been urged to pick up the pace after the Clean Energy Finance Corporation opened the purse strings on a $1 billion fund that is to support cheaper finance for rooftop solar, home batteries and other energy efficiency upgrades for Australian homes.

The deployment of community batteries rolls on in New South Wales with network operators Endeavour Energy and Ausgrid both launching new energy storage systems on their networks.