Finalists for Victorian Premier’s Sustainability Awards announced
A solar energy capital in regional Victoria, a community power hub and a renewable energy auction, these are just some of the innovative and sustainable solutions being celebrated at this year’s Victorian Premier’s Sustainability Awards.
RES battery prevented complete blackout in the UK
On August 9, a thunderstorm caused 1.5 GW of generation capacity to go offline within seconds in the U.K. The incident caused millions of households to temporarily lose power but the situation could have been considerably worse if not for the country’s battery storage reserves.
ARENA funds voltage-reduction demand response trials in Victoria
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has today announced funding to United Energy, a Victorian distribution business, in order to trial a voltage-reduction demand response in an effort to deliver grid stability over the Australian summer.
How to get to 50% solar panel conversion efficiency? Sunovate celebrates its first demo project
Solar panel developers have long recognised the detrimental effects heat has on cell performance — an ironic sunny side effect. Australian company Sunovate has designed a cooling system that boosts energy output, and harnesses all that hot air.
Hydrogen-powered bicycles offer new electromobility concept
With the 200 hydrogen bikes offered to journalists and world leaders at the G7 summit in Biarritz, France proving popular, manufacturer Pragma Industries has received an order for 1,000 of them from Chilean president Sebastian Pinera. The company’s founder, Pierre Forté, wants the bike to have a societal impact in developing countries.
EDL’s Coober Pedy Hybrid Renewable Project wins at 2019 Asia Power Awards
Distributed energy producer EDL has taken a top gong at the 2019 Asia Power Awards in the Environmental Upgrade of the Year category, recognition for the success of its Coober Pedy Hybrid Renewable Project.
Blue Mountains home to one of NSW’s first passive houses
“The Sapphire” is one of the first passive houses in New South Wales (NSW). Located in the Blue Mountains’ village of Foulconbridge, “The Sapphire” is a carbon zero house utilising an SMA Energy System consisting of a Sunny Boy solar inverter and a Sunny Boy Storage battery inverter providing clean solar power.
Distributed Energy Test Lab set to open in Canberra
The Distributed Energy Resource (DER) laboratory “DER-Lab” will provide an environment for safe testing of new technologies including monitoring and communication devices, smart controllers, aggregation (e.g. Virtual Power Plant), market participation software and other innovative new products.
Space age solar solution moves toward production
A consortium of European research institutes has received €10.6 million in EU funding to establish pilot production of a high efficiency module concept developed by Swiss startup Insolight. The module combines high efficiency multijunction cells with a solar concentrator lens and has previously demonstrated 29% efficiency.
Kidston transmission line funding paves the way for more solar and wind
The Queensland government has pledged to support Genex’s project at Kidston with up to $132 million. The funding will be used to build a single circuit transmission line and connect a massive pumped hydro project with the main grid, unlocking additional stages for the clean energy hub, including up to 270 MW of additional solar and up to 150 MW of wind.
