Residential PV

Rugby League legend Johnathan Thurston signed on to become Australia’s first solar ambassador last year. The former Kangaroo’s half-back represents the joy, strength and peace of mind residential solar is bringing to Aussie families.

As utilities, networks and governments get their distributed-resource ducks in a row, the time is ripe for VPPs and microgrids to play a more powerful role in Australia’s energy system. The latest? SwitchDin, a DER innovator with globally acknowledged capabilities has attracted investment from Q Cells a PV manufacturer with chops and channels.

The federal government’s new A$688 million HomeBuilder package might protect residential construction jobs but it’s a missed opportunity to deliver sustainability benefits that would save owners money in the long run.

Welcome to the rarest kind of pleasure, a sustainable one. Australian designer Chuck Anderson’s Lilypad is a 100% solar powered villa floating off Palm Beach in Sydney’s north.

A new report from the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) shows that the renewable energy sector in Australia has exhibited resilience with 1.3 GW of new installed capacity despite the economic challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. While rooftop PV continued to thrive in the first three months of this year, the construction of large-scale projects was generally on track with minimal delays.

The levelized cost of energy generated by large scale solar plants is around $0.068/kWh, compared to $0.378 ten years ago and the price fell 13.1% between 2018 and last year alone, according to figures released by the International Renewable Energy Agency.

Ever stood outside looking up at your rooftop solar PV system and wondered: “Are those panels giving me their best?” Well, Solcast has a free solar PV performance checking tool that can give you a solid estimate of your PV system’s performance. After all, if something is amiss, you don’t want to wait until you receive an engorged electricity bill to find out.

The continuing dominance of the small-scale solar sector and the great potential for regional and rural jobs are just some of the findings in the Clean Energy Council’s “Clean Energy At Work”, a first-of-its-kind extensive report into the current renewable energy workforce and its potential over the next 10-15 years.

Australia’s rooftop PV fleet continues to grow in the face of uncertainty surrounding the outbreak of the pandemic, posting another big month above 200 MW. Mega-household solar systems are growing in popularity, but retailers and installers can see the storm clouds gathering.

Okra Solar, the Aussie startup we last saw delivering solar mini-grids to remote communities via a shared ping-pong table, is emerging from Covid-19 lockdown with new investors and two new pieces of tech that will better enable solar energy access to the 900 million people around the world still lacking power.