News

The 10 MW Northam Solar Farm has begun feeding electricity into the grid. According to Carnegie Clean Energy, full commercial operations is expected in the coming weeks once the required tests are completed successfully.

After it entered the second trading halt in a matter of months a week ago, Perth-based engineering company RCR Tomlinson has failed to secure additional funding and went into administration. Earlier this year, the company managed to raise $100 million in capital from its shareholders, after which it took huge write-downs on two Queensland solar farm.

A University of Michigan team hopes to offer a 15% efficient solar window product, which allows 50% of the light through. It has received US$1.3 million from the Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office to develop the idea further.

The French government has devised three possible scenarios for the planned phasing out of part of its nuclear power generation assets. Even under the most optimistic scenario, the target to reduce the share of nuclear power from around 75% to 50% by 2025, which had been set by the previous government, will only be reached in 2035. The most pessimistic scenario envisages the construction of four new nuclear reactors by 2040.

Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten unveiled the party’s ‘all of the above’ plan for Australia’s energy sector, which it will take to the 2019 election. A ramped-up NEG, project auctions under a CfD structure, grid infrastructure investment, energy efficiency and a boost to battery storage all feature and were welcomed by the clean energy sector.

The Canadian battery manufacturer has been approved as the third battery storage provider for the South Australian Home Battery Scheme. Eguana plans to set up a manufacturing facility in Adelaide, creating up to 200 new jobs over the next three years.

With the Australian solar market booming across all three market segments, the first pv magazine Quality Roundtable at All Energy Australia discussed how time constraints for installers is threatening quality in the rooftop sectors. And for the utility scale, a more sophisticated approach to modelling project output can hasten grid connection and AEMO acceptance.

Solar and/or wind are said to be the cheapest source of new energy generation in all major economies, apart from Japan, finds BloombergNEF. It adds that China’s utility-scale PV market has contracted by over a third this year; and that battery costs are set to drop a further 66% by 2030, driven by EV adoption.

SunPower has reported that the enhanced power density and 25-year warranty for its shingled P-Series modules was a key factor behind its selection by Belectric as the module supplier to the 349 MW Limondale utility scale solar project. Chris O’Brien, SunPower’s Australian Managing Director reports “strong bookings” for the new module concept.

Under the scheme, the state government will offer a combination of grants and interest-free loans for solar and battery storage systems to help 1500 Queensland households and small businesses save money off their energy bills.