Residential PV

Soon 2020 will only be a worry to future high-school history students. But when they ask us if anything good at all happened in 2020, remember this review and tell them that solar PV shone in the darkness. Despite the mess of it all, 2020 has been another good year for Australian solar. The industry has demonstrated resilience, and significant progress has been made in the fields of energy storage, green hydrogen and others.

How Australia deals with its solar grid integration, for industry veteran Wilf Johnston, 2021’s most consequential issue. Revamping the way the industry proposes battery storage to Aussie customers and safety are also key areas to watch, he says.

Guarantees and warranties may be thought to deliver peace of mind, but when underperformance on rooftop systems is detected, diagnosing and demonstrating failures is no simple task. pv magazine’s Virtual Insight on Quality event in November tackled this issue from all angles – and what it means for Australia’s burgeoning rooftop segment.

Australia is teetering on the upper limit of solar installation expectations for 2020, but this remarkable growth pattern continuing into next year would defy logic, says Tristan Edis.

As part of the Western Australian Government’s WA Recovery Plan, $6 million in funding was provided for a Smart Energy for Social Housing program. The program, which should see 500 properties fitted out with solar systems, got underway recently with the first 10 homes already basking in summer savings.

Allume Energy’s SolShare technology equitably spreads the solar love among residents of community housing and apartment buildings that can install PV on top. It has just achieved the certification that will let residents of “multi family units” across America enjoy the benefits of renewable energy.

It was still daytime when thick smoke plunged the Kangaroo Valley into complete darkness. Inside Nick Turner’s house, pets and neighbours crowded the lounge room, shrill smoke alarms ringing in the background while black ash rained down and coated the landscape.

Spanish tracker giant STI Norland has expanded to Australia with a new subsidiary office in Melbourne. The company is arriving on our shores with a keenness to compete with tracker suppliers who already have their foot in the door. With no solar farm too big or too small, STI Norland Australia CEO Alan Atchison sat down with pv magazine Australia to talk about how the company plans to make tracks Down Under.

Community group Solar Citizens is calling for the Queensland government to expand its solar for renters trial following the release of results which found participating tenants were, on average, $600 a year better off after solar was installed on their rooftops.

The choice of battery storage technologies in support of solar energy supply is broadening to suit a variety of emerging applications. VSUN has just made its first power play for vanadium-redox-flow batteries in the off-grid residential market.