Markets

Tensions are heating up throughout the world over the issue of forced labor. Calls are increasing for supply chain transparency, and recently published EU draft legislation on corporate due diligence and accountability should improve upon the currently available voluntary measures, which have been described as largely ineffective. With this in mind, pv magazine’s UP Initiative will spend the second quarter of 2021 looking at what solar and energy storage companies can do to lead by positive example when it comes to the workers who are involved in the production of their products and services.

Enhanced module appearance and power output can be achieved by a smart cell interconnection technique Longi is employing in its Hi-MO5 module series. But as with all new technologies, there are potential pitfalls.

The first stage of Neoen’s gigantic $3bn Goyder South Project in South Australia has received planning approval on the same day the French renewables company set out ambitions to exceed 10 GW in capacity by 2025, expansion largely planned in leading markets such as Australia.

Market analyst Fitch Solutions has raised its expectations for renewables in Australia, citing the country’s unrivalled green hydrogen project pipeline and its commercially viable large-scale battery storage sector.

London-based Eco Energy World, which is already developing at 300 MW solar project north of Gladstone, Queensland, has announced that it is going to combine the solar plant with a 200 MW hydrogen plant and 100 MW of energy storage for green hydrogen exports to the global market.

Australian company Redflow has made its single largest sale, supplying 192 zinc-bromine flow batteries to waste conversion specialists Anaergia for US$1.2 million.

Not all rooftops can bear the weight of glass PV modules. Some others have curves and shapes ill-suited to uniform, bulky panels. Flexible modules have long been advanced as the solution here, however the keys to unlocking this potential have proven elusive.

Last year the New South Wales Government announced plans to retire several of the iconic Manly ferries and replace them with smaller vessels. However, the recent launch of the world’s largest electric ferry in Norway has one Aussie billionaire asking whether the new Manly ferries should be electric?

Victorian electricity distributors Powercor and Citipower are setting out to alleviate grid congestion in area of high solar penetration, particularly in Western Victoria. The works are designed to increase the ability of rooftop solar owners to export solar to the grid amid the continuing uptake of residential solar.

Mars Australia has signed a massive power purchase agreement with Victoria’s largest solar farm, Total Eren’s Kiamal Solar Farm, to offset 100% of its electricity with solar power. The confectioner has six factories and two offices in Australia which used over 850 GWh of energy in 2020, energy supplied by solar from now on.