Markets & Policy

While the efficiency of solar cells will always be important, scaling innovation in sustainable cell technology and solar deployment, is the new game in town. With hydrogen exports and production of green metals in its sights, Australia has some breakthrough tech coming down the pike, as pv magazine Australia’s Natalie Filatoff reports.

Australia’s national science agency has urged the government to develop a domestic solar manufacturing industry with a new report warning that the current highly concentrated international silicon and PV cell supply chains pose real risks to the nation’s energy security and independence.

Australia’s energy ministers have unanimously agreed to establish a capacity investment mechanism that they anticipate will unleash at least $10 billion (USD 6.7 billion) worth of investment and at least 6 GW of renewable energy generation and storage to stabilise the grid as the nation’s ageing coal-fired power plants exit the energy market.

The renewable energy sector (solar and wind) recorded project finance deals worth INR 33,893 crore ($6,832 million) in 2021. No new project finance for coal was reported.

South Korean steel producer Posco Group will invest $60 billion (USD 40b) in Australia by 2040 across the green steel supply chain, including in renewable generation, electrolysis and steel making processes.

A poll of more than 2,000 Australians has found 78% agree the federal government should expand the national rooftop solar subsidy to include household battery storage. The concept has floated around for the last years, most notably in the form of a federal bill tabled by independent MP Helen Haines, but may have an uptick of support amid spiralling energy prices.


Squadron Energy, part of the Forrest’s family’s Tattarang Group, has acquired one of Australia’s biggest renewables players, CWP Renewables. The deal, reportedly worth more than $4 billion (USD 2.7b), came as something of a surprise with Squadron’s bid undetected beside highly publicised offers from Iberdrola, Tilt Renewables and Origin.

Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL) researchers in the US have developed a new framework to compensate energy storage as a dual-use asset.

Enphase CEO Badri Kothandaraman has said that the company will build four to six new manufacturing lines in the United States.

A free version of SunSPOT, a tool for tailored guidance on the ideal solar and battery set ups, has now been launched. Developed by APVI and UNSW, the online tool allows users to calculate size, cost and potential savings from household renewable systems and is the only such platform offering this information without a sales motive.