Sustainability

On the first day of this year’s EU PVSEC conference, Adelaide-based veteran solar researcher Pierre J Verlinden won the Becquerel Prize for Outstanding Merits in Photovoltaics. The award recognized more than 40 years as a leading PV researcher in academia and at leading companies including Sunpower and Trina Solar. Its recipient, now a board member of Australian solar technology provider BT Imaging, spoke to pv magazine about what is needed from solar to stave off catastrophic climate change.

The New South Wales (NSW) Government has released the NSW Climate Policy Framework announcing its will to set interim carbon reduction targets as it looks to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

A new report from the Clean Energy Council (CEC) shows investment in renewable energies is slowing down to levels not seen since the prime ministership of Tony Abbott as a result of policy uncertainty and mounting regulatory challenges.

The University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney’s Practical Justice Initiative (PJI) will host a Climate Transition Lecture on the impact of Australia’s fossil fuel exports on the climate on September 17. Experts will discuss how possible the phasing out of fossil fuel exports is and how it can be done.

A solar energy capital in regional Victoria, a community power hub and a renewable energy auction, these are just some of the innovative and sustainable solutions being celebrated at this year’s Victorian Premier’s Sustainability Awards.

“The Sapphire” is one of the first passive houses in New South Wales (NSW). Located in the Blue Mountains’ village of Foulconbridge, “The Sapphire” is a carbon zero house utilising an SMA Energy System consisting of a Sunny Boy solar inverter and a Sunny Boy Storage battery inverter providing clean solar power.

Wind gives you beer, or is it vice versa? Wellington brewery Garage Project has teamed up with New Zealand’s (NZ) leading renewable energy generator, Meridian, and to celebrate being the first certified renewable energy product in NZ the brewer has launched Turbine Pale Ale, inspired by Wellington’s iconic Brooklyn wind turbine.

Newcastle, NSW, home to the world’s largest coal exporting harbour, has announced a plan to source 100% of the City of Newcastle’s power from renewable generation in a move that could save ratepayers millions in energy costs.

Today we have heard of farmers in Australia unhappy at the approval given for three solar projects on agricultural land and also learned the benefits PV can bring for fish and shrimp farmers. In this op-ed for pv magazine USA, Stoel Rives LLP attorneys Sara Bergan and Thomas Braun discuss the balancing act to be made between solar and agriculture in the emerging Midwestern PV market.

With the benefits solar panels can bring to cropland being considered in Europe, PV and aquaculture are working in tandem in Vietnam. Shrimp and fish farming requires land and lots of water but solar panels are helping mitigate those demands.