Utility Scale PV

The risks posed to renewable-energy projects by Australia’s uncertain climate change policies and hamstrung regulators, have become a concerning brake on investment. Adjusting settings to reduce those risks would revitalise investor sentiment and vastly reduce the cost of implementing the country’s switch to renewables, says the Clean Energy Investor Group.

Imperatives meet opportunity. Corporate and utility goals for sustainability are driving a new group of investors to pick up the Australian renewable-energy resource and run with it. A new PwC report outlines how the new investor-developer partnerships could work.

China’s efforts to shift electricity generation from a coal-dominated system to a greener mix of renewables is not only centred on wind, solar and other technologies – the country is also rapidly pursuing energy storage. Vincent Shaw reports from Shanghai.

With large-scale battery developments emerging as an increasingly important component of Australia’s energy mix, India-headquartered multinational Sterling and Wilson Solar has revealed plans to expand its renewable energy offerings to include providing engineering, procurement and construction solutions for energy storage projects.

In a campaign style speech, Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest, founder of Fortescue Metals and one of Australia’s richest men, outlined his ambition of producing mammoth quantities of green hydrogen, a task he sees as imperative to stop the “planet cooking” while also cornering a market he believes will soon be worth trillions.

Solar’s share in the installed 100 GW renewable energy capacity stands at around 44%, and wind at 40% as per the data available from India’s Central Electricity Authority.

Australia’s proposed 26 GW Asian Renewable Energy Hub has encountered what appears to be a governmental double standard, as the country’s environment minister has rejected an expanded proposal. Thankfully, the project’s proponents have not become discouraged in the face of this double standard; in fact, they’re doubling down.

The operators of Australia’s largest solar farm have turned to a software-based bidding solution as they seek to optimise dispatch and manage the facility’s market trading and power purchase commitments amid increasingly market volatility.

Queensland’s transition to a renewable energy future is set to progress with the state government calling for tenders for the proposed 1 GW Borumba Dam pumped hydro energy storage project while work on a nearby 176 MW solar farm has also reached a new milestone.

Photon Energy’s Leeton and Fivebough Solar Plants have been commissioned after just under a year of construction. The two plants’ 14.6 MWp combined output is a positive sign for the Riverina region with its strategic importance to the renewable energy transition, and an achievement for Amsterdam-based Photon Energy.