Technology

New research commissioned by Atlassian suggests a burgeoning Social Contract whereby employees want business to take more of a leadership role on societal issues to make up for perceived government lack. The research feels the pulse of the Australian workforce but also raises some interesting questions.

In its world-first application, hydrogen energy storage technology developed at UNSW Sydney will be installed in the regional town Manilla, which is set for one of Australia’s major community-owned solar farms. The storage deployment will be backed by an NSW government grant as part of a funding round that has awarded seven solar and battery community projects across the state.

The researchers have achieved 27.7% efficiency for mechanically-stacked perovskite-silicon tandem cells.

A massive solar+storage project nearby Uralla in the New England region of New South Wales has been given the tick of approval from the Independent Planning Commission. Project developer UPC/AC Renewables Australia says construction is likely to commence towards the middle of the year.

A Japanese consortium has started producing solar-powered ‘urban furniture’. The result is a solar-plus-battery bench with cooling elements and vaporizers.

A consortium of partners led by the University of Technology Sydney has been successful in its bid for funding of a Cooperative Research Centre dedicated to enhancing energy consumers’ access to and efficient deployment of distributed renewable resources — primarily rooftop PV.

The Federal Government Government on Friday told participants in the research engine, known as the Energy Transition Hub, that funding of the five-year initiative had been curtailed.

Despite a sizable pipeline of big PV projects, many EPCs have found it difficult to escape the pitfalls of Australia’s notoriously competitive market. The turmoil in the solar construction sector became evident with the collapse of the nation’s leading contractor RCR Tomlinson. It was further emphasized by Tempo Australia’s problems and last month’s withdrawal of Sydney-based contractor Downer Group. As the survival of the fittest continues, Mumbai-based EPC juggernaut Sterling and Wilson Solar (SWSL) is confident it has found a way to adapt and thrive.

Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology have compiled a detailed overview of the use of diketopyrrolopyrrole organic pigments in driving the future of electronic devices, including wearable technology and solar cells that could be made at a fraction of the current costs.

In early 2020, a team of researchers at University of Queensland announced that it had managed to break the world record for quantum dot solar cells. The UQ researchers did so by synthesizing a quantum dot solar cell from a halide perovskite and using a surface engineering strategy to improve the optoelectronic quality of the perovskite quantum dots.