Markets

Analysis conducted by Cornwall Insight Australia reveals that certain coal plants in New South Wales may benefit from delaying their retirement, following the release of new plans for the VNI West transmission project.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a new report that solar will remain the main source of global renewable capacity expansion in 2023, accounting for 286 GW. In 2024, the figure is set to grow to almost 310 GW, driven by lower module prices, greater uptake of distributed PV systems, and a policy push for large-scale deployment.

Queensland has laid out an ambitious vision for the state’s energy future, releasing draft legislation that calls for an additional 22 GW of new wind and solar projects by 2035, supported by at least 12 GW of storage, firming and dispatchable technologies including grid-scale batteries and pumped hydro storage.

New entrants to solar equipment procurement may be surprised to encounter constantly amended contract terms, index-linked price rises, and near-worthless defect warranties, but they reflect recent supply chain troubles. Clean Energy Associates’ Martin Deak offers a buyers guide.

Large-scale and rooftop solar installations are expected to contribute a record 286 GW of new generation capacity this year with renewable energy on course to shatter global deployment records in 2023.

Construction of eight large-scale renewable energy generation and storage projects with a combined capacity of more than 1 GW commenced in Australia in the first quarter of 2023 but the Clean Energy Council has warned the project pipeline is drying up as “headwinds” increase.

Australian redox-flow battery manufacturer Redflow will build one of the world’s largest zinc-based battery energy storage systems in the United States after inking a multi-million-dollar deal with the California Energy Commission.

Renewables investor Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has confirmed its focus is on the onshore potential of Sun Cable’s estimated $35 billion (USD 22.76 billion) Australia-Asia PowerLink project that aims to deliver up to 800 MW of renewable energy into Darwin and export solar from Australia to Singapore via a submarine transmission link.

For every dollar invested in fossil fuels, 1.7 dollars are invested in clean technologies. Five years ago, it was a one-to-one ratio, said the International Energy Agency.

Longi said today it cut the prices of its wafer products by 30% and Trina announced it will build a 25 GW monocrystalline ingot factory in the Sichuan province. Furthermore, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that the Chinese PV industry produced 39.92 GW of solar cells in April, and Datang Group unveiled the results of a tender to procure 8 GW of solar panels.