Technology

A new report from financial think-tank Carbon Tracker has found that coal developers risk wasting more than $600 billion due to stubborn resistance to the already cheaper electricity resources provided by renewable energies worldwide. The report finds, in short, that a new coal plant is about as prudent an investment today as a Clydesdale and cart. 

An ARENA-backed trial run by ACT network operator Evoenergy in partnership with French power electronics specialist Schneider Electric and Melbourne-based energy tech company GreenSync will research and test the effect that the integration of distributed energy resources is having on Canberra’s increasingly decentralized energy grid.

A report by Norwegian energy consultant DNV GL has considered the opportunity for long-term energy storage to play a role in balancing annual supply and demand fluctuations in a renewables-led grid. Using 58 years of Dutch weather and energy consumption data, the study found long-term solutions such as green hydrogen could make a valuable contribution – but perhaps not as much as some analysts believe.

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.