Markets

The Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue 2022 event has shown the centrality of renewables and green hydrogen in the world’s future energy landscape. pv magazine spoke with the General Director of the International Renewable Energy Agency, Francesco La Camera, about the difficulties of creating a hydrogen economy in the absence of demand. According to him, public support and policies will be crucial to overcoming this challenge.

Last year was a disappointing period for China’s PV industry, as high module prices restrained domestic demand and the ongoing pandemic continued to cause upheaval. This year looks more promising, even though the pieces of China’s PV puzzle have yet to fall into place. But sorting through them allows for a better understanding of the world’s largest PV market, reports Vincent Shaw, pv magazine’s China correspondent.

Global renewables contracting giant Sterling and Wilson Solar has warned Australia’s large-scale solar PV industry faces a significant workforce shortage as the nation shifts away from fossil fuels towards renewable power.

Australia’s clean energy industry continued its record-breaking run in 2021 with the wind, solar PV and energy storage sectors steering renewables to an unprecedented 32.5% share of the electricity market but the Clean Energy Council has warned of clouds on the horizon with investment commitments in new large-scale projects slowing.

The International Renewable Energy Agency’s latest global outlook has spelled out just how ‘woefully’ far the world is from capping temperature rises at 1.5C, and lamented: ‘The stimulus and recovery efforts associated with the pandemic have also proved a missed opportunity.’

The 70MW project is under development by Silicon Ranch and was launched through utility Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Green Invest program. Plus, pv magazine examines the work of “Solar Protocol” to bring attention to the fact that the internet is not as ethereal as it seems.

Traditionally one of the slower states to move away from fossil fuels, New South Wales is rapidly turning the tables – and the market is responding enthusiastically. The state government yesterday revealed it had received more than $4 billion worth of investment interest for its Hunter and Illawarra hydrogen hubs.

Rystad Energy has joined BloombergNEF with a significant forecast for grey and blue hydrogen off the back of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to the analysts, the impact of the war has sent prices of fossil fuel-tied forms of hydrogen production surging, leaving the gradual but consistent downward price trend of green hydrogen now looking remarkably competitive.

Australia has one of the highest per-capita rooftop solar PV installation rates in the world with more than 16GW installed across more than 3 million households but the head of Australian research at U.S.-based analyst Bloomberg New Energy Finance has forecast a drop off in new installations in 2022.

Pumped hydro energy storage is ideally positioned to support reliability and reduce volatility in the energy market as Australia shifts from fossil fuels towards renewable power with former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull labelling the technology the “ultimate long-duration storage” solution.