Technology

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.

The continuing dominance of the small-scale solar sector and the great potential for regional and rural jobs are just some of the findings in the Clean Energy Council’s “Clean Energy At Work”, a first-of-its-kind extensive report into the current renewable energy workforce and its potential over the next 10-15 years.

Okra Solar, the Aussie startup we last saw delivering solar mini-grids to remote communities via a shared ping-pong table, is emerging from Covid-19 lockdown with new investors and two new pieces of tech that will better enable solar energy access to the 900 million people around the world still lacking power.

Accurate self-forecasting of yield from renewable energy generators is set to help AEMO manage incoming resources. PVMaster, brings a unique experience to the field of foreseeing the next five minutes in solar production.

No emissions, low-cost regional flights with just eight other sanitised folk and a disinfected pilot… Yes, Covid-19 is warping our view of the future, but the successful electrically powered maiden flight last week of a Cessna Caravan aircraft, offers the potential for new models of travel supporting wider distribution of commerce in Australia.

Australia’s latest greenhouse gas figures released on Friday show national emissions fell slightly last year. This was by no means an economy-wide effort – solar and wind energy did most of the heavy lifting.

In a major reform of the energy rules, distribution businesses across Australia will be allowed to service remote areas with stand-alone power systems and avoid costly network upgrades.

The German-headquartered project developer has signed a deal with Pacific Energy’s subsidiary Contract Power to build a hybrid renewable energy project that will power the town of Esperance.