Technology

The eastern suburbs of Melbourne are now home to the most certifiably sustainable shopping centre in the world. But to think of it only in those terms hardly does the project justice – rather, Melbourne is now home to a building which defies the limits of its own concept, imploring people to reconsider the value metrics through which space, cities and perhaps even lifestyles are appraised.

The ‘Graphene Revolution’ is drawing near in energy storage, the sector where it is arguably needed most. Univeristy of Queensland scientists who devised aluminium-ion batteries with graphene electrodes have teamed up with Brisbane-based Graphene Manufacturing Group to push the technology into the commercial prototype phase, a potentially early marker for a technology that could transform energy storage.

Microgrids afford an opportunity to essentially become a power station operator. That opportunity, says Dr Adrian Panow, the Director of Deakin’s Energy Initiative, unearths a number of urgent questions ranging from the technical all the way to the ethical. They are questions cross-faculty researchers at Deakin University, now home to a sizeable microgrid, plan to interrogate.

Victoria’s Andrews Government has launched a battery aggregation pilot program which seeks to build an “approved aggregation provider list” alongside the Solar Homes battery rebate. The Victorian Government sees the future of virtual power plants and microgrids and this is an opportunity for both consumers and providers to benefit.

Elvin Group Renewables has constructed a 5 MWh Tesla Megapack to help ensure stability of energy supply in Canberra’s new northern suburbs and the wider grid. Its plans to proliferate the model are audacious.

In efforts to improve PV performance by helping modules keep their cool, the Martin Green team is going for 10 degrees lower operating temperatures. Cherry-picking the most practical approaches could deliver 50% extended project life.

New South Wales network operator Ausgrid has unveiled its new community battery in Bankstown, south west of Sydney. The battery is the second of three to rollout as part a government trial to allow solar customers to store their extra energy at no additional cost.

Indonesia-focused oil company, Lion Energy, today announced it had raised $2.8 million to explore opportunities in green hydrogen in Australia and Indonesia.

The Dutch consortium has achieved the record result by combining, in a four-terminal tandem configuration, an 18.6% efficient highly near-infrared transparent perovskite with a prototype of a c-Si interdigitated back contact (IBC) silicon heteroJunction (SHJ) cell developed by Japanese electronics manufacturer Panasonic. The perovskite cell was also combined with other kinds of solar cells and other remarkable record efficiencies were hit.

South Australian company Renascor Resources this morning confirmed it had raised $15 million from institutional investors in Australia and abroad, enough to fund its Siviour Battery Anode Material Project up to the construction phase. The project is on track to become the world’s first integrated mine and purified spherical graphite operation outside of China.