Residential PV

Solax claims its new hybrid inverters can oversize PV systems by 200%, making them an ideal solution for commercial rooftop installations. There are five versions, featuring rated power outputs ranging from 15 kW to 30 kW.

RMIT University in Australia has developed new software that integrates product, regulation, technical, economic, and construction data. It helps architects and engineers to estimate the cost of building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) during the conceptual design phase.

South Korean electronics manufacturer LG has updated the recall of its solar batteries with Australia’s consumer watchdog warning owners of LG-branded batteries to “immediately” switch off their solar storage systems amid concerns the battery may overheat and ignite.

New South Wales electricity distributor Endeavour Energy will upgrade the meters of thousands of customers throughout the state as part of a trial that aims to manage peak energy demand, provide participants with access to innovative energy services, and lower network costs for consumers.

Off the back of recent legislative changes leading to ‘spurred’ solar PV development, combined with an extremely liberal market, a senior solar analyst from cleantech advisory company Apricum told pv magazine that the Philippines is ‘the place’ to rollout solar projects in Southeast Asia.

With utility scale solar installations accelerating, Philip Wolfe, founder of PV data consultancy Wiki-Solar, drills into the data to highlight some interesting variations in relative progress around the world.

Solar payback periods worsened in Australia between 2020 and 2022, but have now turned a corner, data from analyst Sunwiz illustrates. Queensland has seen the most remarkable journey, with payback periods for residential solar and storage falling from 10 to 6.6 years within 12 months.

Australia’s solar market and pricing has been shaken up in recent months with the entrance of Tongwei Solar. Compounding this is the global free fall in panel pricing, which solar analyst Warwick Johnston says is yet to properly hit Australia. “There’s super cheap panels that are coming through and everyone will have to adjust their prices accordingly,” he says.

A major jump in small-scale air source heat pump installations has been illustrated by the Clean Energy Regulator’s latest Carbon Market Report. Australia’s large-scale renewables segment, however, is languishing with the Regulator knocking its 2023 final investment decision (FID) forecasts down from 3.5 GW to 2.5 GW. Just a 0.5 GW has reach FID in 2023 so far.

A new $10 million (USD 6.42 million) grants initiative that eliminates the need for Victorian companies that install solar panels, solar hot water systems and heat pumps at scale to apply for individual rebates is now open for expressions of interest.