Markets & Policy

The Suiso Frontier cargo vessel docked at Victoria’s Port of Hastings on Friday to take on the world’s first shipment of liquid hydrogen. The ship’s arrival is a landmark for the Japanese-Australian Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain pilot project, which sees liquefied hydrogen generated from brown coal, and an engineering milestone in itself. But while the Australian government describes the product as “clean”, experts maintain that carbon capture and storage technology has proven only to be an expensive failure.

With the spotlight shining bright on the nation’s transport industry as the Covid pandemic causes widespread disruptions to supply chains, the Australian Trucking Association has been quick to make the most of the attention, calling for urgent reform to deliver a new era of electric trucks in Australia.

Philip Shen, managing director of ROTH Capital Partners, hosted top analysts from PV InfoLink to discuss their outlook on pricing, supply and demand at each step in the solar value chain.

Electric vehicle giant Tesla has inked an offtake deal with Australian miner Syrah Resources to supply battery-ready graphite as concerns over raw materials shortages continue.

For just shy of a week leading up to December 29, South Australia sourced an average of 101% of its electricity demand from renewable energy.

The Philippines arm of Australian renewable developer Maoneng has completed a 202.4 kWp installation on the rooftop of the Wesleyan University Philippines.

India’s production-linked incentive scheme for advance-chemistry battery cell production has received bids for 2.6 times more than the 50 GWh of manufacturing capacity it plans to allocate.

Sydney-based solar pioneer 5B has launched a $33.4 million tech innovation program, including a $14 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, designed to accelerate the delivery of ultra low cost solar. While a majority of the investment is portioned off for an advanced manufacturing pilot line, approximately a third of the available funds will be used to deliver GPS-guided solar deployment robots.

Transport accounts for approximately 20% of the Victoria’s emissions while also being one of the more hard to decarbonise sectors. Due to its commitment to halve its emissions by 2030, the Victorian government has announced over $7 million in grands for a number of projects seeking to commercialise real world applications in the transport sector powered by renewable hydrogen.

Fortescue Future Industries has taken another step toward its global green hydrogen ambitions with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Germany polymer company Covestro for the equivalent of 100,000 tonnes of solar-sourced green hydrogen and its derivatives annually, starting as early as 2024.