Markets & Policy

Combining satellite images of Australian rooftops with those of real-time cloud cover to create accurate forecasts of distributed solar output for suburbs and perhaps even whole regions and states is the focus of a new Australian startup, Solstice AI. “We’re kind of at a point now where there’s so much solar that it’s causing all these issues but, if we can forecast it, many of these issues can be alleviated or managed much better,” the company’s cofounder and CEO, Julian de Hoog, tellspv magazine Australia.

India has surpassed 10 GW of overall renewables capacity installed for offtake through open access.

Indian researchers have developed a new hybrid system featuring a conventional rooftop PV system, a solar tree, two gravity power modules for building (GPMBs), and a vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB), with power exclusively provided by the two solar installations.

Australia has been provided with a glimpse of its renewable energy future with solar displacing coal as the number-one fuel source in the national electricity market for extended periods in recent days.

Australian solar energy investor New Energy Solar is to be wound up after the company reached an agreement to sell its entire portfolio of 14 solar farms in the United States in a deal worth $352 million.

Australia’s peak union body has called for the federal government to establish a national energy transition authority to help manage the shift from coal to a grid dominated by renewables.

Nine partners from seven European countries are involved in the €3.6 million (AU$5.25 million) “Reveal” research project, which says buildings could be heated in the future by storing energy from PV, wind and water in aluminium.

Solar Philippines, a Manila-based PV module manufacturer and project developer, is looking to secure at least 2,500 hectares of land to expand its 500 MW flagship solar project to 4 GW.

Hype and hope for solid-state batteries (SSBs) continues to grow as industries from automotive to storage bet big on the technology. Leading battery manufacturers and a roll call of start-ups are jostling to get from lab to fab. The reality of SSBs is in question though. As Marija Maisch reports, the window of opportunity for the decades-old technology to make the next big step toward commercialisation is now.

The Australian government will seek to introduce vehicle fuel efficiency standards to help get more electric vehicles into the domestic market and improve affordability of as part of a push to encourage more people to take up the low-emissions cars.