Markets & Policy

A new cohort of 18 New South Wales (NSW) public schools will receive solar and battery energy storage systems in the latest round of the NSW government’s Smart Energy Schools Pilot Project.

Australian energy management software company SwitchDin has announced it will build the Southern Hemisphere’s largest lab dedicated to researching and testing distributed energy resources at its headquarters in the New South Wales Hunter region.

Australian energy storage systems provider Evo Power has teamed with battery optimisation technology provider Evergen in a move which aims to make it easier for commercial and industrial-scale battery customers to optimise and monetise their assets.

BMW has launched its iX5 Hydrogen vehicle pilot fleet, with plans to start production by the end of the decade. Everfuel and Hy24, meanwhile, have launched a joint venture to accelerate hydrogen development in Scandinavia.

A report from consultancy Climate Energy Finance finds that Australia and New Zealand have a more than $10 billion (USD 6.7 billion) pipeline of investment proposals in resource value-adding critical minerals, including in lithium, nickel, cobalt, vanadium, rare earths, hydrogen electrolysers, green ammonia, and value-added downstream battery developments.

In recent years, global renewables developer BayWa re has been turning its attention to the Asia Pacific, expanding into Southeast Asia. Junrhey Castro, the company’s director of solar distribution in Southeast Asia, sat down with pv magazine Australia to discuss its experiences in the emerging markets of the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

Sono Motors, a solar electric-vehicle manufacturer in Germany, has terminated its Sion passenger car development program, as it has failed to secure enough funding to support pre-series production. It says it will now focus exclusively on retrofitting and integrating its patented solar technology into third-party vehicles.

Adani (1,755 MW), NTPC (1,618 MW), and Avaada (1,383 MW) were the top developers by projects commissioned in 2022, according to Bridge To India’s latest report.

After consistently raising the price of its Powerwall home battery system since 2018, Tesla has finally dropped its recommended retail price to $14,599 (USD 9,818), a substantial $1,631 reduction.

Only weeks after announcing its plan to build a lithium-ion battery gigafactory in Geelong, Australia-based startup Recharge Industries has bought collapsed battery maker Britishvolt – doubling its manufacturing ambitions. The takeover resuscitates Britishvolt’s gigafactory play in northern England, and means the little known startup now holds two significant battery making projects.