Markets & Policy

Newcastle Airport has signed a new long-term power purchase agreement with Australian energy retailer Flow Power that will allow it to achieve its 100% renewable energy strategy this year, seven years ahead of schedule.

Trina Solar says its new TOPCon solar panel combines a double-glass design with n-type technology. Its efficiency ranges from 20.8% to 22.3% and the power output is between 415 W and 445 W.

US researchers are studying how agrivoltaic systems mounted on single-axis trackers affect rainfall and light redistribution at a 1.2 MW installation on grassland in Boulder, Colorado.

A combined 60 MW of solar and 25 MWh of energy storage will be deployed at military sites across Australia as part of a government strategy to increase energy independence and security at the country’s Department of Defence facilities.

Western Australia-based AVESS is set to deploy demonstration batteries at a WA mine site in the second half of the year. The deployment is about proving the company’s technology, as it plans to move towards manufacturing the flow batteries in Australia from 2024.

Since opening in Sydney in 2022, renewable energy underwriter GCube Insurance has officially launched in Australia and is set to offer a broad range of new products to meet the needs of Australian developers and projects.

The Brookfield-led North American consortium courting Origin Energy has finally come back with a revised bid for the company, valued at roughly $18.2 billion (USD 12.5 billion). The offer is only fractionally lower than the initial bid, which came as a relief for the market, and has been endorsed by Origin’s board.

Grid operator Transgrid has partnered with German machine manufacturer Zeck for the use of its innovative steel separation technology. Zeck’s machine can process electricity transmission lines into a recycle-ready state onsite. Previously, Transgrid sent old transmission lines offshore for this process at a much higher cost to both the grid operator’s revenue and the environment.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has renewed calls for Australia to expedite generation, transmission and storage projects to ensure reliability of the country’s electricity supply. Interestingly, AEMO’s update notes South Australia, the state with the biggest share of variable renewable generation, faces the smallest reliability gap, meanwhile big batteries are successfully plugging short-term concerns.

Australian graphite miner turn integrated lithium battery company, Magnis Energy Technologies, has signed a significant offtake deal with electric vehicle giant Tesla. The agreement comes the same month the company quietly dropped its plan to build a 18 GWh lithium-ion battery factory in Townsville, northern Queensland.