Australians install record 3 million small-scale renewable energy systems – CER
The Clean Energy Regulator (CER) has released figures showing that the number of small-scale renewable energy installs has passed the 3 million milestone, with rooftop solar accounting for 63% of the total.
“New wave” of PPAs breaks, Flow Power signs Kiamal Solar Farm offtake agreement
Commercial electricity retailer Flow Power has signed an offtake deal through to 2030 for a quarter of the production from the Kiamal Solar Farm, in Victoria. Total Eren – developer of the $90 million, 200 MW project – has now signed three bilateral PPAs with offtakers – pointing the way for project developers as large-scale solar’s competiveness continues to grow.
CEC: Clean energy industry sees banner year in 2017, major breakthrough to come in next two years
With an unprecedented rollout of rooftop solar reaching 1.1 GW and around 700 MW of large-scale renewable energy projects completed and connected to the grid, last year was an important turning point for Australia’s clean energy industry, shows the Clean Energy Council in its latest report. However, seven times bigger capacity of utility-scale projects with financial support or under construction at the year’s end is poised to eclipse 2017.
Landis+Gyr and PEP buy smart meter business from Origin Energy
The newly founded joint venture raised $500 million in capital investments realize a large scale smart meter roll out in Australia. Origin Energy previously contracted Acumen for this sector. The Acumen brand will be retained and managed together with intelliHUB
Interview: “We played a huge role in large scale solar becoming commercially viable”
The booming large scale and rooftop PV market in 2018 is providing many reasons to be optimistic about the future of solar under the Australian sun. In reflecting on his six-year tenure as CEO at ARENA, ahead of his departure in August, Ivor Frischknecht points to the role the agency has placed in bringing down the costs of large scale solar in Australia as ARENA’s greatest achievement.
US: Huawei and Locus to monitor residential solar power from Amazon’s cloud
The three companies are coming together to monitor Huawei’s FusionHome Smart Energy Solution. Customer data security system robustness drives move.
CER launches quarterly tracker, finds over 50,000 rooftop PV systems installed Q1 2018
With small scale solar being installed throughout most states at record clip, the Clean Energy Regulator has developed a tracker to provide a more indicative view of the path the small-scale segment is taking.
100 MW months emerge as new normal for small-scale PV installs
Green Energy Markets’ small-scale solar figures for April reveal that above 100 MW is emerging as the new normal for the segment in 2018. While the month was below the record-setting 127 MW in March, April’s 109 MW indicates that installations north of 100 MW can be expected from the residential and small commercial sector for some time into the future.
Fronius introduces Ohmpilot – water heating with excess PV power
Fronius is introducing its Ohmpilot solution to the Australian market. The Ohmpilot is a consumption regulator that can utilize solar electricity not used in the home to heat water in boilers or buffer storage tanks.
March rooftop solar installs sets new record, exceeding NEG modelling by 50%
Rooftop PV installation rates in Australia are breaking all previous records. March saw the highest number of rooftop systems ever installed in the country, worth a capacity of some 127 MW.
