Residential PV

Germany’s Home Power Solutions has developed a hydrogen storage solution with a capacity of up to 15,000 kWh. The Picea system stores excess electricity from rooftop PV systems in the form of green hydrogen.

Scientists have developed a new model based on fault tree analysis to evaluate the frequency of fires caused by rooftop PV systems and assess system safety and reliability. They claim that the new tool has the potential to identify fault linkages in systems, highlight failure patterns before they arise, and compare multiple designs for safety.

Simply Energy on Thursday announced it will be extending its Virtual Power Plant program across the eastern seaboard and opening it up to five different battery brands. Simply Energy will continue its technology partnership with SwitchDin to do so, with Ryan Wavish, Simply’s General Manager, and Andrew Mears, CEO and founder of SwitchDin, telling pv magazine Australia they plan to introduce a whole range of new, more advanced features into the VPP as the relationship between the two companies evolves.

Western Australia has today announced the launch of its $35.5 million Virtual Power Plant trial, Project Symphony, which will examine the ways in which residents, utilities, and network operators can join forces to centrally orchestrate the output of rooftop solar, batteries and other distributed resources to best serve both customers and the grid at large.

Western Australia has become the second state to give network operators the capacity to remotely switch off residential solar systems as an emergency grid stability mechanism.

The new plan would require the deployment of around 15 GW of new PV capacity each year to 2030. The agreement also includes the gradual phasing out of all coal power plants by the end of the decade.

Independent battery performance and reliability tester ITP Renewables has been running its trial of solar storage batteries since 2016. Over the years one of the broad conclusions to be drawn is that home storage systems are by no means reliable across the board. However, some few systems stand out, including Fimer’s hybrid solar inverter and storage solution, the React 2.

Members of both the upper and lower houses of Parliament are moving to ban the importation of goods made with forced labour by introducing a bill which, if passed, would have profound repercussions for Australia’s solar industry.

Following years of lobbying, the Standards Australia Committee has removed the requirement for rooftop solar installations to include a DC isolator.

Rooftop solar drove two negative demand events in South Australia on Sunday, November 21, events which analysts are describing as a world-first for a gigawatt-scale power system.