Residential PV

The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) released its Affordability in Retail Energy Markets report today. The findings show a disproportionate energy cost burden on low-income households and its impact in driving uptake of rooftop PV.

Even with the boosted solar rebate offering, this month’s first round quota was taken up in minutes. Another 3,250 rebates are due to be released on Tuesday, September 17.

“The Sapphire” is one of the first passive houses in New South Wales (NSW). Located in the Blue Mountains’ village of Foulconbridge, “The Sapphire” is a carbon zero house utilising an SMA Energy System consisting of a Sunny Boy solar inverter and a Sunny Boy Storage battery inverter providing clean solar power.

Only hours after the release of the boosted September allocation of rooftop PV rebates, Solar Victoria’s application portal crashed, leaving applicants frustrated.

Mathematicians at Canada’s University of Waterloo who turned their attention to solar power have developed an algorithm they say offers better control over PV plant output. The researchers estimate the algorithm could improve the output of a 100 MW power plant by almost a million kilowatt-hours per year.

The Victorian Government has heeded solar industry and customer concerns and wrought substantial changes to the Solar Homes Rebate Program, including a significant increase in rebate allocations and a streamlining of the laborious online application portal.

Two reports have described how the world’s largest renewable energy market is moving towards maturity. According to the Brookings Institution, the Chinese clean energy market could become more open to Western investors and tech. A report by Fitch claims projects are moving back to inland provinces from coastal regions.

Byron Bay’s Smart Energy has expanded rapidly across Australia from its base in the Northern Rivers on the back of a high-quality workmanship and a business model that allows customers to pay for their solar with the savings it provides.

Following up suspicions raised by the state’s solar installer community, Solar Victoria launched an investigation into whether artificial intelligence (AI) had been deployed to exploit registrations for the rooftop PV subsidy. The investigation has concluded that there was no AI interference in the Solar Homes portal.

Ovida provides PPAs to businesses and multi-tenanted buildings, but the company is also working hard on a Community Energy Microgrid Hub and Victoria’s largest concentration of on-grid microgrids in the heart of Victorian coal country, the Latrobe Valley