Residential PV

Western Australia will today introduce new curtailment rules which will allow for all new and upgraded solar PV and battery energy storage installations with an inverter capacity of 5 kW or less to be remotely turned down or switched off in emergency situations.

Renewable energy production reached record highs in Australia in 2021 with new data from the Climate Council revealing clean technologies including rooftop solar and utility scale PV supplied five times more power into the nation’s largest electricity grid than gas.

Researchers in Italy are combining PV with latent heat thermal storage (LHTM) and other renewable energy sources to maximize clean energy consumption in buildings. The 47kW PV array and LHTM system work independently, but the scientists said that a heat pump could be used to link them.

The Western Australian coastal town of Kalbarri can now be powered by an entirely renewable energy solution utilising rooftop solar and wind generation coupled with battery storage with state government-owned utility Western Power confirming the state’s largest renewable energy microgrid has been commissioned.

U.S. researchers have investigated how rooftop PV systems may affect air and building temperature in urban environments and, conversely, how the urban heat island (UHI) effect may have a negative impact on PV system performance. Their work considered urban air temperature, urban air pollution, the partial shading of the PV system, soiling, building heating and cooling loads, and outdoor shade.

An international research team has investigated how solar could be combined with thermoelectric coolers (TECs), which are small solid-state heat pumps used either for heating or for cooling. A system was built with six solar panels, an air duct system, four batteries, a charge controller, TECs, an inverter, heat sinks, a test chamber, and condenser fans.

A 100kW/1.5MWh zinc-air battery will be installed in Queens, New York, in combination with a combined heat and power system and a PV array. The pilot project is intended to demonstrate the long-duration energy storage capability of the zinc-air battery.

The debate around what’s become known as Australia’s “solar tax” has rounded a new corner, with the Australian Energy Regulator publishing its draft guidelines for solar export tariffs.

For just shy of a week leading up to December 29, South Australia sourced an average of 101% of its electricity demand from renewable energy.

Compiled by an international research group, the best practices were collected from all available guidelines published by national agencies, regulatory bodies, and trade associations.