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A new player has entered the Australian renewable energy sector with New Zealand-based infrastructure investor Infratil confirming that its new majority-owned clean energy platform Mint Renewables will look at wind, solar and energy storage opportunities with an initial investment of $300 million (USD 203 million).

Controlling the crystallisation process of perovskite thin films is one of the most challenging aspects for upscaling the solar technology but a team of Australian researchers claims to have made a breakthrough, creating next-generation PV cells that have the potential to rival the durability of silicon alternatives.

Perth-based Provaris Energy said it is moving forward with its compressed H2 carrier, while Princeton University researchers have published a study on how the transition to hydrogen-based energy systems would affect the tropospheric burdens of methane and hydrogen.

The POL Lux from Sweden is a catamaran boat design with dual electric motors and a solar canopy that can covert into a private sleeping area.

Queensland government-owned generator Stanwell Energy and Japan’s largest hydrogen supplier Iwatani Corporation are preparing to commence a Front-End Engineering Design study as they drive towards a final investment decision on a 3 GW green hydrogen project being developed near Gladstone on the central Queensland coast.

With Australia’s renewable energy share set to reach 82% by 2030, researchers from the Australian National University have launched a new online tool designed to identify the best possible locations for the development of new large-scale wind and solar farms.

Australian modular solar manufacturer 5B has secured a $20 million (USD 13.7 million) investment from the venture arm of British energy giant bp which will allow it to accelerate the development of its preassembled and relocatable modular solar technology.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) says the world will deploy as much renewable energy in the next five years as it did over the last two decades.

Scientists in Egypt have created a self-cleaning, hydrophobic coating for solar panels that reportedly increases their efficiency by more than 30%. They used a coating solution based on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and silicon dioxide (SiO2) nanocomposites, mixed with ethanol and isopropanol.

Moving with Australia’s Zeitgeist, Stuart Parry, managing director of Energy Storage Industries, is working to bring battery manufacturing onto Australian shores – and his approach is, if not novel, certainly well advanced. “It’s about being smart in how we do it,” Parry tells pv magazine Australia.