Google to sell rooftop solar mapping data
New application programming interfaces datasets from Google are designed for solar marketplace websites, solar installers, software-as-a-service developers, and any user looking to understand rooftop solar potential of a particular address.
RayGen officially opens 4 MW ‘solar hydro’ power plant
Australian energy technology startup RayGen has officially opened a 4 MW solar and long-duration energy storage project in Victoria, describing it as the world’s “highest efficiency PV project” operating at utility scale.
PV cell technology trends
Ongoing innovation in PV cell technology will have major impacts as solar is deployed at a “multi-terawatt scale” over the next two decades, according to a global team of scientists.
Hydrogen buses less efficient than battery models
Italian researchers have compared the performance of hydrogen and electric buses in northern Italy. Meanwhile, Australian company Worley has collaborated with Princeton University to devise a 10-point action plan for Europe’s renewable hydrogen sector.
Smart meter reforms including free data access and accelerated rollout to be effected by AEMC
Smart meter reform recommendations have been handed down by the Australian Energy Market Commission, which advised accelerating the national rollout and introducing a mandate for customers to have free access to their real-time data. Reaching 100% penetration by 2030 would provide $507 million (USD 328 million) net benefit value to the NEM, the Commission’s review found.
Consumer group debunks residential battery misconceptions
A German consumer protection association, Verbraucherzentrale NRW, has issued a warning about five misleading assumptions about PV-linked residential battery systems.
Jaguar building large-scale storage system with second-life EV batteries
Jaguar Land Rover and Wykes Engineering are building a 2.5 MWh storage system with electric-vehicle batteries taken from Jaguar I-PACE cars. The large-scale system will store wind and solar at an undisclosed location in the United Kingdom.
Australia’s R&D spend continues to shrink despite global clean energy race intensifying
Australia continues to rank poorly for investment in science and research, spending just 1.68% of its GDP – well below the OECD average. This underinvestment is a growing problem for the clean energy industry, with fellow nations actively poaching innovations to capture future manufacturing markets.
Rewiring WA: state to receive $3 billion for transmission
Australia’s federal government has allocated $3 billion (USD 1.93 billion) from its Rewiring the Nation program to upgrade Western Australia’s two islanded grids, which lag the eastern states in their renewable energy share.
Energy management system to combine residential PV with gravity storage
Researchers in Morocco have created a new energy management system that allows the combination of rooftop PV with gravity storage. The proposed system is reportedly able to perform smart energy distribution within a household while also lowering electricity costs.
