News

Norwegian scientists have developed a gallium arsenide (GaAs) nanowire solar cell that can be used as a top cell in a dual tandem cell with a bottom silicon cell. The device is claimed to be the most efficient single-junction GaAs nanowire solar cell grown on a silicon substrate so far.

Buildings in the City of Melbourne could provide 74% of their own electricity needs if solar technology is fully integrated into roofs, walls and windows, new research from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science has found.

Sydney-based zinc-bromide battery technology company Gelion will deliver 100 MWh of energy storage to Mayur Renewables for its clean energy projects in Papua New Guinea under a new deal.

Aviation H2 today it announced it has appointed a team of engineers to fast-track its ambitions of building Australia’s first hydrogen-fuelled aeroplane. The company is, however, rather enigmatic, without a website and wholly owned by Liberty Energy Capital, which itself falls into rabbit hole of ownerships. The plan comes on the same day one of Australia’s biggest renewable hydrogen players, Fortescue Future Industries, announced it’s joined forced with Los Angeles-based Universal Hydrogen to enter the aviation space.

Developed by Italian dry bottom ash handling system provider Magaldi Power, the system produces green thermal energy — steam or hot air — which can be used directly in industrial plants or for the generation of electricity using steam turbines. The system consists of a blower, a fluidisation air blowing system, a fluidisation air suction system, an air filter and fan, an air pre-heater, and an integrated thermal energy storage module. Silica sands are the system’s storage media.

The International Solar Alliance and the U.K. authorities are leading a global super-grid program that seeks to connect 140 countries to round-the-clock renewable power.

The Morrison government today released its long-awaited electric vehicle strategy which contains neither fuel efficiency standards nor financial support for Australians buying cleaner vehicles. The strategy’s main centrepiece is an additional $178 million for its Future Fuels Fund. Rather tellingly, the strategy has been summed up “better than nothing”.

Following a funding announcement from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), a $3 million feasibility study led by Port of Newcastle and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group is set to determine whether Newcastle, the world’s largest coal exporting port, has the potential for a green hydrogen hub.

After another year of record rooftop solar installations, and despite Covid-19 related lockdowns and federal political ineptitude on a level comparable to self-sabotage, Australia has soared past the three million mark and the numbers are only accelerating.

Embarrassing Australia on the world stage is one of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s favourite marketing ploys. But while the federal government continues to fail its constituents, particularly those in rural communities, those rural communities themselves are taking the energy transition into their own hands, along with the ownership of their own solar generation.