News

Australian energy utility AGL Energy is pushing ahead with plans to demerge, confirming its intention to split the company into two businesses as it looks to navigate the continuing transition to renewables.

Victorian network operator AusNet has revealed the preferred route for a proposed $300 million electricity transmission line which is expected to unlock thousands of megawatts of new solar and wind resources in the state’s western region.

Researchers from Hong Kong have applied a novel charge-reinforced, ion-selective (CRIS) membrane to a polysulfide-iodide redox flow battery they had built in 2016. The redox flow battery showed a capacity decay rate of just 0.005% per day for 1,200 cycles, and a lifetime with over 2,000 hours’ cycling, which the academics said corresponds to approximately three months.

Despite the growth, one-off exceptional events in the fourth quarter hit the solar EPC’s overall fiscal performance. These included a prime subcontractor going bankrupt in Australia, rising module prices, and increased freight costs.

Victorian company Commodore Australia has evaluated how much customers save by using solar water pumps compared to diesel or mains-connected pumps. Based on its calculations, the smallest solar water pumps save customers between $480 to $610 per year, with that figure growing to a staggering $35,117 to $44,837 for the largest pumps.

Australia’s second ‘solar broker’ has entered the market, essentially aiming to link customers with reputable solar installers. With a keen focus on regional Australia, the Solar Saviour startup is looking to grow by engaging country communities and building after-care based referrals schemes, a method its Head of Partnerships, David Cobb, told pv magazine Australia Australia’s solar industry has under-utilised.

Deakin University has received funding for two multi-million dollar facilities, one devoted to advanced battery research and the second for the development of hydrogen technology. The projects’ aims will be to overcome hydrogen’s hurdles and, for batteries, to improve existing technologies while also investigating sustainable alternatives like sodium batteries.

Underwater gravity energy storage has been proposed as an ideal solution for weekly energy storage, by an international group of scientists. The novel technology is considered an alternative to pumped-hydro storage for coasts and islands without mountains that are located close to deep waters, and may also be interesting for PV if used to store green hydrogen.

France’s Revolt Energy Green has developed a flexible solar+storage solution for one-off events, construction sites, and different kinds of off-grid applications. It has also developed a mobile hydrogen solution.

Smart energy software company Evergen will provide an energy management platform as part of a net-zero energy emission terrace homes pilot at Carseldine Village, north of Brisbane.