Fortescue proposes 644 MW solar farm for Pilbara iron ore mining operations
Fortescue Metals Group has submitted a proposal to the Environment Protection Authority for approval of its proposed 644 MW Turner River solar hub near Port Hedland to power iron ore mining operations.
27 million solar panels needed for Victoria’s 2035 renewables targets
Victoria’s 2035 renewables target is forecast to require 27 million solar panels raising concerns over end-of-life management, with a government modelling forecast that tonnages of photovoltaic system e-waste will increase around 20% per annum over the next decade.
Zen inks 795 MW big battery and solar hybrid deal with Taiwan partner
Zen Energy has signed an agreement with its ZEBRE partner Taiwan-headquartered clean power developer Hongde Energy for the development rights to multiple big battery and solar farm projects in three states.
Researchers study coal-fired power plant emission effects on solar panels
An international research team studied the solar PV impact of emissions from a coal-fired power plant in the Atacama Desert, Chile finding that after five months of exposure, the deposited dust on co-located PV panels reached a maximum of 1.63 mg/cm2 with a 23 % reduction in photocurrent. The accumulation at the co-located plant was 3 times greater than nearby PV sites with similar coastal climate conditions.
$2 billion CEFC commitment banks on future clean energy investments: Budget
The 2025-26 Federal Budget has committed $2 billion to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to invest in solar and other renewable power, storage, energy efficiency, and low emissions technology, saying it will unlock a further $8 billion in investments.
Meridian to proceed with $206 million Ruakākā Solar Farm
Construction of New Zealand-headquartered Meridian Energy’s 120 MW Ruakākā Solar Farm is set to begin in August 2025, following the project reaching a final $206 million investment decision.
Solar’s exponential growth disrupts global energy markets in 2024
Australian think tank Climate Energy Finance (CEF) says global energy markets are being reshaped by solar’s disruption, which is happening at speed, turbocharged by battery energy storage system firming.
New passive solar module cooling tech based on lightweight hydrogel
Researchers at Thailand’s Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology demonstrated a novel hydrogel that has high cooling effect on silicon PV panels.
New 13 MW New Zealand-based solar farm goes live near south Auckland
Aotearoa New Zealand utility-scale solar developer Kiwi Solar has announced its 13 MW Ardmore Solar Farm near South Auckland is now live, after a 5.5 month construction period.
NT solar centre data feeds ultra-short-term PV forecasting method
Scientists utilising data gathered at the Northern Territory’s Desert Knowledge Australia Solar Centre have created a novel probabilistic model for five-minutes ahead PV power forecasting. The method combines a convolutional neural network with bidirectional long short-term memory, attention mechanism, and natural gradient boosting.
