Sustainability

With calls for a revival in European PV manufacturing becoming more urgent, the Environmental, Social, and Governance credentials of its PV producers are being touted as a way in which manufacturing can be supported or even protected. The case for the ESG credentials of European manufacturing was advanced by multiple speakers at the 2023 SolarPower Summit this week in Brussels.

The Bendigo Bank has reported a massive 600% spike in customers accessing green loans in the last year. The news comes just after the federal government’s green bank paired up with the Commonwealth Bank to begin offering builders and renovators working to high energy efficiency standards reduced rates on their home loans.

Hydrogen truck maker Hyzon has launched what is being hailed as Australia’s first locally designed and built hydrogen-powered truck at its regional headquarters in Melbourne. The 27-tonne truck is hitting Australian roads in a series of commercial trials this year, including as part of a longterm partnership with RACV, which has ordered three tow trucks.

Cornell University researchers have discovered that soybeans planted beneath 3.9-meter-high solar modules can positively affect panel temperatures and the microclimates of farms.

The Queensland government will team with the Smart Energy Council to develop an industry-led solar panel recycling scheme and investigate a ban on the dumping of end-of-life panels as it prepares for a surge in the number of decommissioned PV modules coming off rooftops.

The remote town of William Creek in outback South Australia is now being powered entirely by solar backed by a battery energy storage system after the switch was flicked on a 200 kW PV array that eliminates the need for diesel generation.

Australia’s rooftop solar capacity has passed the 20 GW threshold, according to analysis from solar consultancy SunWiz. Solar will subsequently overtake coal-fired capacity in April, when a New South Wales coal power station closes – making PV the country’s largest power generator.

Olivier Corradi, the CEO of Electricity Maps, speaks to pv magazine about why 24/7 granular accounting of electricity is key to decarbonisation and how the company tracks the carbon intensity of otherwise elusive electrons.

Newcastle Airport has signed a new long-term power purchase agreement with Australian energy retailer Flow Power that will allow it to achieve its 100% renewable energy strategy this year, seven years ahead of schedule.

US researchers are studying how agrivoltaic systems mounted on single-axis trackers affect rainfall and light redistribution at a 1.2 MW installation on grassland in Boulder, Colorado.