Markets

The International Energy Agency expects Australia’s “outstanding” economic fundamentals for residential and commercial rooftop solar will see the sector stabilise in 2023 after a new report revealed the PV market contracted in 2022.

An international research team has presented all possible system designs and applications for photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) technology. Their review includes conventional PV-T collectors, air-based systems, liquid-based installations, water-based collectors, refrigerant-based systems, heat-pipe-based technologies, dual air-water systems, building-integrated PVT arrays, and concentrated PVT collectors.

The successful projects from the first tender conducted under the New South Wales government’s Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap have been announced with two large solar farms, a wind farm and an eight-hour battery energy storage system to be built as the state looks to manage the exit of coal-fired power generation from the grid.

Record solar generation from both large-scale and rooftop PV is driving down the wholesale cost of energy, helping set new records for minimum demand for electricity from the grid and reducing emissions to record lows according to new data provided by the Australian Energy Market Operator.

The Victorian government has launched a market search for what is to be the first large-scale renewable energy project to be developed under the resurrected State Electricity Commission that will invest an initial $1 billion towards delivering 4.5 GW of renewable energy capacity.

The New South Wales government has tapped the ACE Energy consortium as the “first ranked proponent” to fill the network operator role for Australia’s first coordinated renewable energy zone that will host at least 3 GW of solar, wind and storage capacity.

China reached 327.4 GW cumulative installed PV capacity at the end of February, according to new figures from the National Energy Administration (NEA).

According to findings by Cornwall Insight Australia, this week’s closure of Liddell Power Station is expected to drive up average power prices during peak periods in New South Wales (NSW). Prices, particularly in the summer, are expected to be higher compared to the previous three years.

The Australian government’s green bank has identified small- to medium-sized renewable energy generation projects as a key focus, tripling its existing mandate with specialist fund manager Infradebt in a move designed to drive investment in the space which it said has traditionally suffered from a funding “gap”.

Western Australian startup International Graphite says its proposed graphite processing plant in Collie has been found to have “outstanding” economics by its new scoping study. Graphite is a vital element in lithium-ion batteries and International Graphite is one of a handful of Australian companies working to move its processing onto Australian shores.