Markets

With South Africa holding 63,000 of the world’s estimated 69,000 metric tons of platinum reserves – according to the Statista.com website – and Russia and Zimbabwe a further 5,100 between them, the European Commission has cited the metal as an example of a potential supply chain bottleneck that could handicap its grand plans for renewables-powered hydrogen production.

While suburban Australian rooftops have become coated in solar panels, the roofs of our commercial and industrial buildings have remained conspicuously bare. Our shopping centres, however, seem to be slowly be moving in the direction ordinary Australian’s have paved, with Australia’s largest privately-owned shopping centre yesterday announcing plans for a sizeable microgrid. Likewise, Vicinity, one of the country’s largest shopping centre managers, has managed to increase its sustainability rating largely through its extensive solar program.

Market analysis firm GlobalData has released a new report in which it forecasts Australia’s solar capacity to increase by a factor of four, to over 80 GW, over the next decade. At the same time, the report predicts thermal power to lose its dominance in the energy mix, seeing its share cut by almost half.

Based on current market prices, the five-year contract could be worth almost $4 billion to the $1 billion company, but the TOPCon manufacturer has not publicised the price at which it will supply and install modules for its state-owned sponsor.

There has been a flurry of activity within the PV cell manufacturer landscape over the past 12 to 18 months, and it’s largely been in one direction: bigger. But as large-format modules arrive on the market, questions are being raised as to how long the trend can continue and when bigger becomes, quite simply, too big.

The regions where the desert meets the sea have long been thought the most desolate and unproductive areas of the world, fruitful solely for those clever cultures who call them home. However, in the 21st century, that fiscal notion is turning on its head, and turning as rapidly as a wind turbine in a tornado, making harsh regions like Western Australia a verified paradise.

Queensland is likely to join Victoria in dissension on the Australian Energy Market Commission’s draft determination which is being called a tax on solar. The Queensland Energy Minister, Mick de Brenni, has criticised the plan. Could this be the domino which brings the other states and territories falling into place against a rule change?

The Australian Energy Council’s quarterly Solar Report points to something getting bigger in the solar industry that isn’t just the larger format modules. What’s getting bigger is the average size of solar systems Australians are installing on their homes and small businesses.

Taiwanese module maker URE Corp is planning to link a 150 MW solar plant to a 15 MW/15 MWh storage facility.

IHS Markit has released its latest Global Renewables Markets Attractiveness Rankings, based on measures related to investment confidence and ease of development, with Australia ranking in the top ten.