Markets & Policy

The goal of the Business Renewables Center initiative is to help Australian businesses and local governments procure 1 GW of installed renewable energy by 2022 and 5 GW by 2030.

The World Energy Council, in partnership with PwC, has interviewed 39 top level management energy leaders to find out if blockchain is driving an evolution or a revolution in the energy ecosystem.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency announced it was partnering with Monash University and software provider Indra Australia to trial a microgrid on Monash’s Clayton campus in Melbourne. The microgrid will cover 100% of the campuses’ electricity needs with renewable energy.

According to the Gold Member Solar Report by EnergyTrend (Q3 2018), monocrystalline module prices have fallen almost 20% this year, while those for polycrystalline modules have dropped by more than 25%. Increased consolidation among manufacturers and developers is expected to occur in China and the global solar market, with more merger deals, plans for capacity reductions and even factory closures.

The agency’s base case expects relatively flat growth in solar deployment over the next six years, but for solar to still dominate growth among renewable technologies. The agency’s estimates are again below those of major market analysts.

A snapshot of how politicians, scientists, institutions, industry, and civil servants have reacted to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, released yesterday.

The Victorian government has given the green light to a utility-scale solar farm north of Shepparton and released draft planning guidelines for the development of large solar farm projects across the state.

As part of its electricity market reforms, the Northern Territory’s government has announced plans to review its solar feed-in tariffs in order to encourage the existing solar households to add battery storage. It has also greenlit the 25 MW Katherine solar park, the state’s largest solar PV farm to date.

In addition to securing debt financing from a consortium of banks, the Australian-Chinese renewables developer has entered into a long-term equity partnership with global infrastructure investor John Laing for the investment and development of the Sunraysia Solar Farm. John Laing confirmed it will invest $108.6 million in the project, taking a 90.1% stake.

The Asian Renewable Energy Hub’s generation capacity has been boosted from 9 GW to 11 GW, as Macquarie Group has pledged to invest in the project that aims to export power to South East Asia, as well as supply big miners and green hydrogen projects in the Pilbara region, Western Australia.