Markets

Adani Solar revealed a monocrystalline silicon ingot this week at the Intersolar India 2022 expo. It produced the ingot at its Mundra facility in the Indian state of Gujarat.

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.

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.

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

PV Hardware has become a leading solar tracker manufacturer in Australia, a market renowned for its growth, opportunities and difficulty. Pv magazine spoke to Alejandro Cantos, director of PVH for the Asia-Pacific region.

On the back of the Covid-19 pandemic, geopolitical conflict and allegations of forced labour in sectors critical to the renewable energy transition, awareness of supply chain insecurity has rarely been higher. Seeking to strike while the iron is hot, the Clean Energy Council and law firm Norton Rose Fulbright have published a white paper arguing that Australia’s own renewable energy supply chains could “benefit significantly” by a more concerted effort to address modern slavery.