Grids & Integration

The latest figures from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) show that solar continues to eat into the share once firmly held by coal on the back of a dramatic increase in installations over the past 12 months. The trend was backed by energy storage facilities which continued to gain foothold as providers of frequency control and ancillary services, lowering overall costs in the first quarter of 2019.

Federal Labor has pledged to roll out solar PV and batteries at schools across Australia and create virtual power plants supporting up to 365 MW of capacity.

The first virtual power plant to be announced since the last year’s launch of the Home Battery Scheme in South Australia is picking up the pace with the addition of Eguana Technologies’ Evolve to the list of eligible energy storage systems.

California utility PG&E has tested levels of residential solar power up to 100% penetration, and how to mitigate the effects of voltage and thermal overload via smart inverters and traditional transformer and circuit upgrades — with smart inverters shown to allow for up to 100% penetration at cost-effective pricing.

Australian researchers are developing short-term weather forecasts for solar farms to help them precisely predict output as little as five minutes in advance.

An online platform to connect medium to small-scale solar energy producers with independent electricity buyers will launch in the coming months in South Australia.

Construction has been completed on the Solar Energy Transformation Program (SETuP), which has been touted as Australia’s largest rollout of solar power to remote communities to date.

From four to 24 hours: before solar and storage, the 160 households on a Philippine had electricity for only four hours each day. This had negative impacts on the economic development of the islands. With support from the ADB, the island inhabitants now have 24 hour supply of clean energy, and new billing methods that suit the economic realities of poorer households.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) will underpin two innovative distributed energy projects – a trial to integrate a virtual power plant into the National Energy Market and a digital marketplace for grid services provided by rooftop solar arrays, batteries and EVs owned by Australian homes and businesses.

Following the decision to require retailers taking part in the Solar Homes program to be signatories to the Clean Energy Council’s Solar Retailer Code of Conduct, the Victorian government has set specific requirements for inverters that will be installed under the program.