Markets & Policy

South Australia’s renewables, particularly wind, have received firm dispatchable back-up as Barker Inlet Power Station begins generating energy for the first time.

The New Zealand Rural Connectivity Group will use Redflow zinc-bromine flow batteries to store energy in off-grid telecommunication sites.

Australia’s east coast is ablaze, with worse weather conditions set to fan the flames in coming days. Telecommunications is one industry threatened by changing climate conditions, and Singtel has sought to prepare its people and its infrastructure for the risks of the future while at the same time reducing its own carbon footprint.

Utility-scale solar is booming in Australia. Quality assurance, especially solar panel testing, helps achieve better performance and lower costs. Best-practice testing is key, writes Michelle McCann, managing partner at PV Lab Australia, but must be planned and fully integrated into a project from an early stage. This integration ensures flow-through from panel manufacturers to commercial buyers and large project owners.

Market intelligence company Navigant Research has developed a country forecast of the global market. Incentives and pricing will be the main driver of installations, though the market will continue to be concentrated in certain key regions for now.

Fossil fuel giant Shell is set to make its foray into Australia’s electricity market after shareholders in electricity retailer ERM Power voted in favour of a $617 million takeover bid.

The Philippines is desperately hungry for rooftop solar PV as it seeks to alleviate itself of energy poverty. Pathways are finally opening up for the vast Southeast Asian nation with investors readying US$20 million to fund four new renewable projects.

Scientists at Princeton have found solar and wind energy offer the added environmental benefit of reducing water usage, by comparison with hydroelectric dams. Their findings, say the researchers, could have a positive impact on groundwater sustainability in drought-prone regions such as California, where they conducted a case study.

A result of a collaboration between global accounting and financial services firm KPMG, Canadian gas giant ATCO, Australia’s national science agency CSIRO and Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), H2City can be used to assess the costs and benefits of regional town or municipality switching to hydrogen.

Known for its blockchain-based peer-to-peer platform that allows energy trading between households, Power Ledger is now readying for the first large-scale commercial rollout of its technology in Australia. The Perth-based company has partnered with electricity wholesaler Powerclub to allow households to pool net solar and battery storage and act as a virtual power plant.