Technology

By scanning millions of iterations, pvDesign finds the best plant configuration and automatically generates over 300 pages of detailed documentation in seconds. The Spanish firm has just landed its first Australian client.

Scientists at Moscow’s Skoltech Center for Energy Science and Technology have developed a method of visualizing the formation of layers on battery electrodes during their initial operation. The observations reveal various mechanisms that could be optimized to improve battery performance and operational lifetime.

Who says that upgrade of energy transmission need march across the landscape as massive metal towers strung with buzzing electricity lines? One battery energy storage system provider is offering an alternative vision — fast deployment, scaleability and flexible application of assets that can’t be stranded…

As utilities, networks and governments get their distributed-resource ducks in a row, the time is ripe for VPPs and microgrids to play a more powerful role in Australia’s energy system. The latest? SwitchDin, a DER innovator with globally acknowledged capabilities has attracted investment from Q Cells a PV manufacturer with chops and channels.

One of Australia’s first utility-scale PV projects, the 53 MW Broken Hill Solar Farm in New South Wales, has emerged as a top solar performer in the National Electricity Market in May.

The federal government has announced funding for a series of microgrid feasibility studies that will seek to unlock more secure, affordable, and reliable energy for regional and Indigenous communities.

Researchers from the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore have concluded that utility-scale PV projects relying on bifacial panels and single-axis trackers deliver the lowest levelized cost of energy in most of the world. They found that the combination of bifacial products with dual-axis trackers is still too expensive, despite the higher yield. The second-lowest LCOE is offered by monofacial single-axis tracker plants.

A new report from the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) shows that the renewable energy sector in Australia has exhibited resilience with 1.3 GW of new installed capacity despite the economic challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. While rooftop PV continued to thrive in the first three months of this year, the construction of large-scale projects was generally on track with minimal delays.

Solar plants are now expected to last 32.5 years and have operational costs of $17 per kW/year, as shown by a Berkeley Lab survey of industry participants.

Ever stood outside looking up at your rooftop solar PV system and wondered: “Are those panels giving me their best?” Well, Solcast has a free solar PV performance checking tool that can give you a solid estimate of your PV system’s performance. After all, if something is amiss, you don’t want to wait until you receive an engorged electricity bill to find out.