Markets

While Spain, Sweden, Ukraine and Brazil attracted more funds than last year, China’s transition to an auction-based procurement system and slow performance overall in Europe saw worldwide backing decrease. BloombergNEF does expect investments to ramp up in the second half, however.

Under the right conditions, solar batteries are economically beneficial for South Australian homeowners and can pay for themselves off within the warranty period, a new research finds.

Increased storage and strategic transmission development will be needed to ensure the lowest cost and risk transition of Australia’s energy system, the Australian Energy Market Operator states in its latest study. In 20 years time, the need for storage will be at a scale not seen before in the NEM, and both pumped hydro storage and distributed storage are set to play major roles in lowering wholesale electricity prices and building a reliable and resilient power system.

Studies, reports and data continue to pile up, showing Australia is falling behind its international climate commitments. What is more, the nation is on track to become a global emissions superpower, and could be responsible for up to 17% of global emissions by 2030, according to new research. Another report shows Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions surged again in the first quarter of 2019 as the downward trend in the electricity sector reversed and fugitive emissions from the LNG industry reached record high.

China’s slowdown in installations last year was more than made up for by expansion elsewhere, according to IHS Markit. The news comes amid increasing market fragmentation – with the biggest engineering, procurement and construction business boasting less than 3% market share – and internationalization, with almost half of the top 15 companies operating across more than one region.

Applications are now open for the Queensland government’s $15 million Hydrogen Industry Development Fund, which will support sustainable and renewable hydrogen projects across the state.

Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy has placed Australian and Vietnamese solar markets side by side and found the Southeast Asian country has left Australia behind in terms of commissioned utility-scale PV capacity. A staggering 4,460 MW of connected PV capacity in Vietnam at the end of June came as a surprise to many.

The July quota for solar PV rebates under Victoria’s Solar Homes program has been filled within days. The next release will be available in August.

The water authority of the city state wants to procure a 50 MW floating solar installation on the Tengeh Reservoir that will be operational by 2021. Details were revealed today by technical consultant DNV GL.

One of Australia’s largest utility-scale solar arrays and the biggest energy storage facilities was given a tick of approval.