Research

With the joint-feasibility study between Australia and Germany into the viability of a renewable hydrogen supply chain between the two nations now underway, Western Australia, perhaps the most eager Australian state to establish a green hydrogen export industry, has hosted an inaugural roundtable with some of the two nations biggest industry hitters.

South Korean PV manufacturer Hanwha Q Cells has launched a new high-density module in Australia, claiming its ‘zero-gap’ technology elevates solar efficiency up to 21.1%

The joint-feasibility study into green hydrogen production and trade between Australia and Germany has officially begun, work on what the German Federal Minister of Research has dubbed the “Wasserstoffbrücke,” or “hydrogen bridge”.

Alongside targeted upgrades to transmission, and ongoing solar and wind developments, the Andrews Labor Government seeks to keep the breakthroughs rolling through with commitment to funding renewable energy research and start-ups.

Recognising that the major problems facing the world can’t be solved by any one organisation, three New South Wales universities at the peak of renewable-energy research have rewritten the rules of collaboration to influence policymakers and accelerate solutions to market.

The University of New South Wales will lead a consortium of Australian and German researchers and industrial partners in a feasibility study to tease out and provide solutions for the obstacles for the trade of green hydrogen from Australia to Germany.

A Dutch-Hungarian research team has measured, for 12 years, the degradation rates of PV modules installed in an off-grid system located in Ghana. It found that the panels had an average annual decline in power yield of 3.19%.

Deakin University’s Hydrogen Test Bed is set to position regional Victoria at the cutting edge of hydrogen research. The facility and its research is looking to determine whether Australia’s current gas infrastructure can be repurposed for the use of clean hydrogen.

Australian electricity wires are awash with sunshine, such that network operators have threatened to up the drawbridge on further rooftop connections, while limiting rooftop PV exports to the grid. But data streams hold the key to unlocking surprising existing capacity, stabilising voltage, and living the Aussie dream.

An International Energy Agency report led up by Rolf Frischknecht from Treeze in Switzerland and under the joint project management of the University of New South Wales’ José Bilbao has measured the lifecycle emissions of both residential solar PV with battery storage and gas-generated grid electricity. The results are not particularly surprising, only the Morrison Government’s ongoing obduracy is.