Finance

The Australian arm of Philippines-based clean energy company ACEN Corporation has pressed go on the 400 MW Stubbo Solar Farm to be built near Dubbo in the New South Wales central west.

The worst effects of the pandemic may have passed, but supply chain disruptions continue to be felt across the world. The effects of the war in Ukraine are also evident to all of us in our daily lives, from commodities to energy, food supply chains and beyond. The disruption in the battery energy storage system (BESS) supply chain is no different, writes Cormac O’Laoire, senior manager of market intelligence at Clean Energy Associates. Indeed, as the cost of raw materials such as lithium climb, battery prices are being driven materially higher, on some accounts by 20% to 30%, rendering some projects uneconomical.

French renewables developer Neoen has credited the Victorian Big Battery with almost tripling its storage revenues in the first nine months of 2022. To September, the company’s revenues totalled $547 million (USD 347.4 million), with growth in solar and wind revenues paling beside the massive surge from battery storage.

The Australian arm of Philippines-based AC Energy Corporation, or ACEN, has had its vision for an 8 GW clean energy portfolio including solar, wind, battery and pumped hydro supported by a $75 million (USD 48 million) investment from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

“Integration” was the war cry at this year’s All Energy conference in Melbourne, with an unmistakable push, especially among ‘premium’ brands, toward vertically stacked product suites bundling solar, batteries, energy management platforms, virtual power plants and electric vehicle chargers into one super solution. How big is the market for such a proposition in Australia though? And does streamlining stymie flexibility? pv magazine Australia spoke to a number of brands on the promise, and limits, of the full stack strategy.

Jinko Solar recorded a higher profit in the third quarter of 2022, as sales of its solar panels surpassed 10 GW. The Chinese PV module manufacturer said it now wants to ramp up production to keep pace with rising global demand.

The University of Technology Sydney’s (UTS) Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF), in collaboration with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Climate Science Centre, has published the findings of its national “Climate Skills Survey” of financial professionals. 

Director of the Australian Solar Thermal Research Institute, Dominic Zaal, offers a deep dive into the capabilities of concentrated solar thermal technology, including what has been proven by global projects so far and how the all important Power Purchasing Agreements stack up.

Renewables developer Maoneng has teamed with Hong Kong-based real estate fund manager Gaw Capital Partners to fast track the development of a 1.9 GW portfolio of big battery and utility-scale solar PV projects in Australia.

The Australian federal government’s $20 billion (USD 12.6 billion) Rewiring the Nation program has kicked off with billions allocated to support two major interconnector transmission projects.