News

Singapore-headquartered solar manufacturer Maxeon Solar Technologies will invest more than $1.5 billion (USD 1 billion) to establish a TOPCon manufacturing facility in the United States, creating up to 1,800 highly skilled jobs.

Australian renewables company Pacific Energy has powered up the first of four solar-fuelled hybrid power plants being rolled out at Westgold Resources’ mining operations in Western Australia.

Australian households that make the shift to all-electric energy-efficient appliances, combined with solar panels, battery storage and electric vehicles, could save $3,500 a year by 2030 and $4,320 by 2050 compared with a fossil-fuelled household that relies on gas appliances and petrol or diesel vehicles.

The energisation of two new battery projects totalling a combined 150 MW has seen the charging capacity from grid-scale battery energy storage systems surpass that of pumped hydro in Australia’s national grid.

A group of Dutch researchers assessed the impact of including stakeholder input in the design process of solar power plants. It found that a co-designed approach may help counter the resistance of local inhabitants and result in more positive evaluations of the project.

Taiwanese manufacturer Winaico has developed new 525 W TOPCon solar panels with a power conversion efficiency of 22.1% and a temperature coefficient of -0.30% per degree Celsius.

Energy giant ACEN Corporation plans to develop a large-scale floating solar project that will add up to 1 GW of power capacity to its renewable energy portfolio after securing access to 800 hectares of water surface area on the Philippines’ Laguna Lake.

Australia’s national science agency will lead a ‘smart buildings’ pilot project that has the potential to create a new ecosystem of technologies and solutions to support flexible demand for energy, offering a way to ease pressure on the grid during peak demand periods.

As the nation looks to foster the perfect conditions for a successful renewable transition, overwhelming attention is being paid to the number of new energy developments and the viability of transmission infrastructure to deliver it to Australian homes. Far less publicised are the practicalities of how the infrastructure will be developed and by whom.

Mining heavyweight Mineral Resources has signed a deal to progress Lithium Australia’s lithium extraction technology by funding the development and operation of a pilot plant that would produce lithium iron phosphate to be used in electric vehicle batteries.