Markets & Policy

Mónica LiraCantú leads a research group investigating nanostructured materials for photovoltaic energy at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2). Recently, her group led a project that looked deep into the crystalline structure of a perovskite solar cell, revealing new information about the formation of defects in the material and how they could be engineered to improve both efficiency and stability. pv magazine caught up with the Barcelona-based scientist to discuss the state of the art in perovskite solar cells and remaining challenges on the road to commercialisation.

With manufacturing ramping up year by year and policies already looking to get ahead of the large volumes of end-of-life products, the landscape for lithium-ion battery recycling is rapidly changing. pv magazine recently spoke with Mari Lundström, associate professor of chemical and metallurgical engineering at Aalto University, to find out what is needed on the research side for the effective recycling of batteries.

The Australian Energy Market Operator is looking to fast-track the deployment of advanced inverter capabilities to support Australia’s “once-in-a-lifetime transition” to a power system featuring reduced synchronous generation, such as coal-fired generation.

Energy industry body the Smart Energy Council has declared it may sue the Morrison government for its recent routing of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. After the federal government’s expansion of the renewable energy agency’s remit survived a challenge in the Senate this week, the illegality of the government’s attempt to fund fossil fuels may have to be settled in the courts.

Australia-based Fortescue Future Industries has partnered with JSW Energy arm on green hydrogen production and application in India.

Melbourne-based company carbontrack has secured $877,000 in funding to accelerate the commercialisation of its energy management technology. The funding comes in part from industry and in part from the federal government.

Patrick Matweew, CEO of Australian startup Luceo Energy, is fully aware grid digitalisation stirs fervour in the hearts of few. It is, nonetheless, perhaps the single most important step in realising our clean energy future. “It’s not spoken about enough because it sits in that little niche. There might be other things that are a little bit more sexy, but this is really where the fundamentals get put in place to enable [everything else],” he told pv magazine Australia. 


Sydney-based MSquare Energy says it has ambitions of becoming Australia’s largest solar panel manufacturer. It is entering the market at a pivotal moment when Australia’s panel manufacturing industry is pushing to compete on equal footing with global leaders.

Powering Australian Renewables Fund, a partnership between AGL Energy and QIC, has formally taken control of Tilt Renewables on the same day the consortium called on the Australian federal government to set a net zero 2050 target.

Producing nutrient-rich microbes with solar PV has the potential to produce more food with fewer resources, according to a German research group that modelled the large-scale production of microbial biomass by combining ground-mounted photovoltaics, air, water, and nutrients.