Utility Scale PV

The Clean Energy Council (CEC) is pushing for the COAG Energy Council to address the dramatic slowdown in investment in large-scale renewable energy when it meets this Friday, 22 November. The CEC believes the slowdown is the industry’s highest priority.

Two of Australia’s richest people, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, have jointly invested “tens of millions of dollars” in the ambitious Sun Cable projects, which would export solar energy from the Outback to power Singapore. The capital raising will enable developers Sun Cable to pay for development work for the undersea power link.

In late 2016, Queensland’s Labor Government revealed a plan for 50% of the State’s electricity to be renewably sourced by 2030, and the state has made significant steps toward that goal.

Over the last two years, corporate renewable power purchase agreements have become a major force in Australia’s large-scale renewable energy market. In hard figures, 70 leading Australian organizations have made the switch to renewable energy and procured nearly 2.3 GW of mostly solar and wind electricity and supported 5.2 GW of projects, finds the Business Renewables Centre of Australia.

From an energy-hungry importer to a frontrunner in the decarbonization race, South Australia has set the bar high for how to efficiently transition to a low-emissions grid dominated by renewables. With wind and solar already supplying more than a half of its electricity, the state’s energy transition shows no sign of letting up. In fact, South Australia is gearing up to accelerate the pace of its clean energy transition and expand its big PV fleet as it moves toward its 2030 target of “net” 100% renewables.

Spanish renewables giant Iberdrola expands its reach into Australia with a planned 650 MW pipeline of projects just as it also pledges to “relaunch clean energies in Spain”.

Abundant sunshine, favorable policy settings and high power prices have long placed Australia at the cutting edge of rooftop solar uptake. The more recent utility-scale boom has further enhanced its status as a PV leader. Battery adoption, microgrids, EVs and green hydrogen are all taking shape, yet what should be an Aussie smart energy no-brainer continues to be dogged by mounting investment uncertainty and a toxic debate on the national level.

A number of massive PV projects have been proposed for Australia’s north, with the concept built around clean power exports to Southeast Asia. Is it Desertec Down Under? Proponents are certainly hoping for more success.

A researcher has proposed a new approach to apply maximum power point tracking techniques to optimize electricity production in wind-solar power projects. The permanent magnetic synchronous generator hybrid model used in the study is based on a multi-input rectifier stage which is said to be able to eradicate current harmonics and eliminate the need for extra input filters.

French renewables developer and big Australian energy player Neoen has reported strong revenue growth over the first nine months of 2019, driven in no small part by Australian successes.