Markets & Policy

The Chinese leader has revealed some details of his nation’s commitment to go carbon neutral by 2060. That solar and wind power promise could even prove to be a conservative estimate, according to the nation’s solar industry.

New electricity linkages will be created between Tasmania and the mainland after the state became the latest to have its renewables projects fast tracked and given funding by the federal government.

For the first time in years, the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (APAC) has received a major grant. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has funded APAC to the tune of $19 million with the goal of reasserting Australia’s place at the forefront of solar technology and accelerating the competitiveness of renewable energy.

With the joint-feasibility study between Australia and Germany into the viability of a renewable hydrogen supply chain between the two nations now underway, Western Australia, perhaps the most eager Australian state to establish a green hydrogen export industry, has hosted an inaugural roundtable with some of the two nations biggest industry hitters.

WA continues to work through its precise roadmap to manage the state’s vast distributed rooftop solar resources and enable further uptake of renewable generation. Pre-Christmas, Western Power is seeking to engage private enterprise in providing a value stack of storage services.

Guarantees and warranties may be thought to deliver peace of mind, but when underperformance on rooftop systems is detected, diagnosing and demonstrating failures is no simple task. pv magazine’s Virtual Insight on Quality event in November tackled this issue from all angles – and what it means for Australia’s burgeoning rooftop segment.

Solar PV and wind are the cheapest sources of energy in Australia and a new CSIRO report predicts they will continue to win the new electricity generation price war well into the future.

New analysis from Cornwall Insight Australia has put Australia’s current battery energy storage pipeline at 7 GW. Of course, the vast majority of that projection is still firmly in the proposal phase, but the over 900 MW of energy storage thought to be developed by 2024 is still far in excess of AEMO’s ISP 2020 forecast, begging the question, how is the NEM going to fit it all in?

Oz Minerals has long said that it was looking at a hybrid fossil fuel-solar-wind solution to power its massive West Musgrave Project. This week the miner has announced that it is now developing a roadmap to power the project with 100% renewables with the addition of a battery in what the company says could be one of the world’s largest fully off-grid renewably powered mines.

Western Australia’s McGowan Government has released a ‘Just Transition’ framework for the town of Collie, a town which has been at the centre of the state’s energy generation for a century. With the rise of renewables spelling the end of coal, the Government is looking to support the town as it seeks to reinvent itself in this ‘crucial phase’ of the energy transition.