News

The world of electricity is unrelenting and confusing; from a multitude of energy plans to deciding on which solar system to install. The fast emerging home battery market now introduces another opportunity for homeowners to save thousands. However, not all battery systems are equal – and not all homes are suited to installing a home battery. The wrong home battery advice can cost homeowners thousands of dollars in unnecessary equipment.

Rebates and zero-interest loans for solar panels, solar hot water systems and batteries account for one of the major spends in Victoria’s 2019/20 budget and come at a cost of $1.3 billion.

A renewable energy project that started as a way to provide extra income for grape and citrus growers has built its 50th small-scale solar farm in South Australia.

Australian mining giant BHP has announced its intentions to move away from thermal coal production and refocus its attentions on oil, nickel and copper, the latter two supplying fast-growing EV and renewables sectors.

There’s nothing high tech about resistance heating in the form of an immersion hot water element. But when added to rooftop solar PV, it can be a powerful way to maximise self consumption – when coupled with a smart control system. 

Victorian households can now sign up for sonnenFlat, an energy plan that offers a guaranteed annual energy allowance including solar, storage and grid energy usage for a fixed fee.

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis has estimated the effect on the payback period of PV systems when adding EVs and storage in Germany and Britain. In both cases, system owners are likely to reduce their payback period by significant margins as increased self-consumption can offset the incremental phase out of government incentives.

Western Australia’s government says nearly a third of successful applicants in the latest round of the state-backed commodity exploration scheme hopes to discover battery materials. In other news, the state government has established the Energy Transformation Taskforce in response to the energy sector’s transition from coal to renewables and distributed energy resources. 

Some 168 projects will be developed across 16 provinces free from central government subsidy. The fact the average capacity of such projects has tumbled indicates Beijing’s plan to accelerate the arrival of subsidy free solar may be on track.

With almost 100 GW commissioned in 2018 (the same level as in 2017), the PV market was stable at a global level, writes Becquerel Institute’s Gaëtan Masson. This hides different market developments, as for example the decline of the Chinese PV market from 53 to 45 GW, and growth in other markets. The global market, exempting China, grew from 41 GW in 2016 to 46 GW in 2017, a rather big jump as it reached close to 55 GW in 2018.