Melbourne developer unveils Australia’s ‘largest’ vertical solar PV system
Victorian-based property developer Beulah has announced its soon-to-be-completed Paragon tower in the heart of Melbourne will be home to the nation’s largest and most efficient vertical solar PV system.
Tasmanian Labor installs solar at the top of its campaign promises
Tasmanian Labor believes Premier Peter Gutwein and his Liberal Party have dropped the ball on solar in a big way. Tasmanian Labor Leader Rebecca White is therefore promising $20 million to fund loans for residential and commercial solar and battery storage installations, as well as solar for state schools and social housing.
Solar and wind together overhaul global hydro capacity
The latest set of clean energy statistics compiled by the International Renewable Energy Agency signal a changing of the guard when it comes to clean power, with legacy hydropower facilities overtaken by new intermittent renewables.
Digital substations learn how to reliably work with variable renewables
“If I only had a brain …” Smart digital technology enables electricity substations to deliver greater reliability of operation and more consistent grid stability with increasing integration of renewable energy sources.
Sunday read: Building PV for the future
Financiers and investors have always understood that PV power plants play a more prominent role than just generating profits – they also produce electricity without emitting carbon. Lately, the sector is discovering that PV can fulfill a much larger range of environmental functions – improving biodiversity, removing carbon from enriched soils, and producing food in an environmentally sustainable way. Everoze Partner Ragna Schmidt-Haupt argues that putting ecological sustainability at the heart of PV project planning and operation should become the new standard.
Here’s what Biden’s infrastructure bill offers solar and cleantech
The $2 trillion package includes a proposed 10-year extension of the ITC and PTC and calls for further incentives to add transmission capacity. Most solar advocates liked it, but one nonprofit panned it as being too industry-friendly.
Researchers target rooftop solar in hunt for grid security
A new research project being led by the University of New South Wales will investigate how rooftop solar PV and other distributed energy resources (DER), including small-scale batteries can be best integrated into Australia’s power grid.
Solar steals the show at Melbourne Design Week
An independent exhibition brought to Melbourne Design Week by a group of 15 of the city’s top architectural firms demonstrates the blueprint for Melbourne’s transformation to “A New Normal”. “A New Normal” is a plan to transform Greater Melbourne into a self-sufficient city by 2030.
Solar earns the thirst, you drink the beer – new platform lets you trade PV for VB
Iconic Australian beer Victoria Bitter has partnered with Diamond Energy and Power Ledger to develop Solar Exchange, a blockchain-enabled platform that allows residential PV owners to exchange their excess solar for cases of beer. This is not an April Fool’s prank, miracles do happen, stay calm and exchange your excess solar for slabs!
Solar still largely underestimated
Two recent studies have separately shown that many scenarios assessing global decarbonization pathways are still predicting too-low future PV capacity and too-high LCOEs for the solar technology. The researchers analyzed scenarios provided by scientific researchers, government bodies and non-governmental organizations, including the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the European Commission, the Indian government, the International Energy Agency (IEA), and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), among others.
