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With an electricity sector policy vacuum on a federal level, and grid constraints facing large scale PV project developers, there are ample reasons to be pessimistic about Australia’s solar-fueled energy transition. Indigo Power Co-founder Cam Klose says that many promising developments are rather taking place on the ‘distributed’ level and beyond the big cities – with Yackandandah leading the way.

The Clean Energy Regulator (CER) released its 2018 Administrative Report on Thursday, and not only does it predict that Australia will easily meet its 2020 Large-scale Renewable Energy Target (RET), but that the target will be exceeded substantially. Moreover, in the last year commercial factors overtook government incentives as the main driver of renewable investment – a watershed moment and one in which commercial and industrial solar arrays is playing no small role.  

The South Australian government is looking to extend its Home Battery Scheme subsidy of up to $6000 and low interest loans to rental properties, property developers and aged care facilities.

The Smart Energy Council and Solar Cutters assembled a group of installers to send the message that the Solar Homes rebate scheme is damaging the Victorian solar sector today. The rally was also supported by the Clean Energy Council (CEC), which has called for the Solar Homes rebate to be reduced, and the monthly installation cap ended.

Hyundai has unveiled its new hybrid, the Hyundai Sonata, complete with integrated solar cells. The Sonata’s unveiling joins Toyota and Lightyear in integrating solar PV wth EVs.

The Victorian Government has developed new guidelines in an effort to better direct the location, design and assessment of large-scale solar projects in Victoria. The new guidelines are an attempt to ensure future large-scale solar PV projects are more easily accessible to the electricity transmission network.

Study claims that investment in a new 1GW nuclear power plant leads to average losses of approximately 4.8 billion euros. It further argues that the technology’s dangerous radioactivity emissions and proliferation risks do not qualify it as a ‘clean’ energy solution to be considered for addressing climate change. Yet still, governments are incorporating the technology into clean energy plans around the world.

The Queensland government’s reverse auction got a step closer with the announcement of 10 shortlisted renewable energy proponents as it seeks to bring up another 400 MW of solar and wind energy and battery storage into the market.

All of Kellogg’s energy requirements for its NSW manufacturing operations will come from solar power. The cereal manufacturer has signed a power purchase agreement with the Beryl Solar Farm for the next seven-and-a-half years.

Private sector infrastructure fund manager Infradebt has provided a $7 million senior debt facility for Terregra’s Mobilong and Moyhall solar farms in South Australia.