Sustainability

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation and Aware Super, one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds, have both committed $80 million to Adamantem Capital, a private-equity fund which requires its target companies to meet strict emissions reduction targets. For the CEFC, this is the beginning of decarbonisation in a part of the economy lagging behind, namely, private equity.

Victorian Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Lily D’Ambrosio, has announced accelerated targets for the Victorian Energy Upgrades program, a way for Victorians to save on their bills and contribute to the state’s emissions reduction targets.

As part of the Western Australian Government’s WA Recovery Plan, $6 million in funding was provided for a Smart Energy for Social Housing program. The program, which should see 500 properties fitted out with solar systems, got underway recently with the first 10 homes already basking in summer savings.

A Hybrid Systems Australia solar and battery energy storage microgrid at Tellus’s remote Sandy Ridge hazardous waste clean up facility means that the project runs off 100% renewable power in daylight hours.

The £12.7 million project will explore how to transport pure and blended hydrogen for use in heating and industrial purposes. Construction will start next year.

A collection of mining companies, industry bodies and union groups have been announced as the members of the Future Battery Industry taskforce, the Western Australian McGowan Government’s unit designed to grow the value chain of critical minerals for the energy storage industry for domestic use and export opportunities.

Use of the term “circular economy” is growing in virtually every industry worldwide – solar included. As noted throughout Q3, in the UP initiative’s focus on circular manufacturing, work is already underway to integrate circular principles into all areas of business, from internal operations and supply chain management to manufacturing and installations. In a recent analysis of PV recycling, BloombergNEF detailed six conclusions for the solar industry and those who are trying to make it more circular. Cecilia L’Ecluse, solar associate, and Julia Attwood, head of advanced materials at BloombergNEF share these conclusions as part of our quarterly theme on PV module recycling.

Lithgow City Council is smack-bang in the thick of NSW coal country, its surrounds are littered by coal-fired power stations (most of them closed). However, the immunity of solar and energy storage to the power outages brought on by emergencies like bushfires, as well as the Council’s own community goals, means times are a changing.

The University of New England is now well on the way to being 100% powered by solar after switching on its very own 3.2 MW solar farm. However, the university is not quite done yet, with Phase 2 already planned and including an energy storage system.

Belgian start-up Sunslice has developed small, portable, high-performance solar panels that can be applied to backpacks and be used as rechargers for smartphones and watches.