Utility Scale PV

Mining giant Fortescue has abandoned plans to build a 5.4 GW solar, wind and battery energy storage project that was to provide renewable energy to power its iron ore mining operations in Western Australia’s northwest.

Sun Cable, which plans to build a 20 GW solar farm in the Northern Territory and export solar-generated electricity to Singapore via a 4,300-kilometre high-voltage undersea cable system, has announced plans to manufacture the power cables itself at a “multi-billion facility” in Tasmania.

The PV industry in Southeast Asia has come a long way since guest author Ragna Schmidt-Haupt, partner at Everoze, reported on solar financing innovation in the region more than a decade ago. In this article, she outlines five factors for success, the newest of which has the potential to become a game changer, and not only in Southeast Asia.

Fledgling renewables developer Larrakia Energy has reached an agreement with Australian resources company Tivan Limited to supply up to 10% of the output from a planned 300 MW solar farm being developed in the Northern Territory.

International metals group Korea Zinc’s Australian subsidiary Ark Energy has commenced construction of stage one of its first green hydrogen project that is to include a 1 MW electrolyser powered by the existing 124 MW Sun Metals Solar Farm in north Queensland.

The Brookfield-led consortium looking to acquire Origin Energy has come back with a “best and final” bid that values the company at approximately $20 billion (USD 12.85 billion). The offer comes just days after the energy utility’s largest shareholder rejected the previous bid.

Ground-mounted PV is increasingly being investigated not only as a renewable generator, but as shelter for crops and creatures under fire from climate change. Last week’s All Energy conference handed the mike to some pioneers in the field.

Drone-mounted imaging of solar farm performance at the rate of one panel per second reduces the cost of current ground-based sampling methods by up to 20 times. Read how a new strategic Australia-Singapore partnership is helping to ensure the output of PV assets is always at peak!

Renewables records continue to tumble in Australia with data from GPE NEMLog revealing that rooftop solar reached a new maximum instantaneous high in the nation’s main grid on Sunday while pushing operation demand and solar curtailment to new lows.

New South Wales will be seeking 3,000 GWh of annual generation in the latest tender aimed at delivering new wind and solar generation and storage facilities as the state transforms its coal-reliant energy system.