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Australian technology company Star Scientific has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Philippines’ Department of Energy in order to trace out the use of its game-changing HERO technology. The partnership could see Star Scientific transform every coal-fired power plant in the nation to green hydrogen while also utilising the technology to, among other things, provide clean, quick, desalinated water.

A new report from the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) shows that PV has not been growing significantly in Indonesia in recent years, despite the size of the energy market and economy. According to its authors, however, there are multiple paths that can be followed to bring volumes into all market segments. Large scale solar is expected to play a major role in the years to come, as the LCOE for big floating projects is approaching levels close to those of more mature markets.

Of the myriad tensions upon the energy transition to renewables it is perhaps the ability of solar and energy storage to be distributed among the people that has threatened the powers that be most overtly. And so, in NSW’s northwest where the federal government has pushed through Santos’s Narrabri coal seam gas project, perhaps it is community green energy non-profit Geni.Energy that is best able to show just how unnecessary such a project is.

The Italian inverter maker said the two devices were designed to deal with increasing PV module currents. The inverters have a power output ranging from 10 to 33 kW and are claimed to reach an input voltage of 1100 V (DC).

UK-based Social Energy launched in Australia with the help of shareholder Shane Warne back in 2019. Now the smart energy firm is being backed with a significant investment from US-based alternative investment fund manager CarVal Investors in order for the company to rapidly grow Down Under.

The Sumitomo Corporation has simultaneously signed a contract with an EPC for a solar-powered green hydrogen production plant in Gladstone, Queensland, while also commencing a feasibility study for a grey-green hybrid hydrogen project in Oman. Considering the relative similarities in distance between the two countries and export markets in East Asia, the Japanese conglomerate looks to be setting the stage for competition in the hydrogen economy.

Nicola Murphy, SA Water’s Senior Manager, Zero Cost Energy Futures has the sunniest disposition as she works steadily to ensure the substantial energy needs of the state’s vital water utility are solar powered from source to faucet.

There’s more to read in the solar world than pv magazine alone, as much as we may hate to admit it. Looking back across some of the industry’s seminal works, leading analyst Jenny Chase’s 2019 book is too valuable, and entertaining, to be ignored.

Last year the Western Australian Government called for Expression of Interest into its potentially 1.5 GW solar and wind hydrogen hub at Oakajee Strategic Industrial Area on the state’s Mid-West. This week it has been revealed that 65 companies from around the world have submitted serious interest in making it happen.

One environmental group said the new president’s actions make “the United States once more part of the global climate solution—not the problem.”