News

As climate change and energy security penetrate NSW political parties as potent issues in the upcoming State election, NSW Labor has upped the ante in the policy contest by setting a renewable energy target that could see 50% of the state’s electricity generated from renewable sources by 2030.

The California-based microinverter maker posted $92 million in revenue in the final quarter of last year, and more than $106 million in cash as the company reported its first positive quarterly and annual operating income figures in years. Enphase is booked out for all of this quarter and seemingly into the late spring months too.

The latest report from The Australia Institute corroborates solar’s pivotal role in shaving peak demand, particularly in the event of extreme conditions as seen in January. Renewables performed the best of all energy sources during the record-breaking summer of heatwaves, while coal clunkers were operating well below capacity, the findings confirm.

The establishment of Queensland’s state-owned renewable energy corporation CleanCo has reached another milestone with the legislation presented to the parliament.

Maoneng Australia, John Laing and Decmil have hosted a sod-turning ceremony on-site in Balranald, NSW. The developer has confirmed the solar farm will be co-located with a large-scale grid connected battery, and stated its plans for an additional 500 MW of solar and energy storage to be added in line with the proposed SA-NSW interconnector.

The French power electronics specialist is pulling out of the utility-scale segment to strengthen its profile in the residential and C&I space.

Construction on the 121 MW Yarranlea Solar Farm in Queensland is continuing, with tracker installation underway, setting the stage for module installation. The project, which is funded and managed by Risen in-house, is part of the company’s ambitious plan to develop 2 GW of large scale projects in the country.

BSR EPC has secured a contract from Australian renewables developer Epuron to deliver the Northern Territory’s largest solar project – the 33 MW Katherine Solar Farm co-located with a 6 MW battery storage system.

In Cambodia, Singapore’s Cleantech is building a 10 MW solar plant including a 2.7 MW floating section, and in Lithuania, state-owned utility Lietuvos Energija is deploying a floating plant at the Kruonis pumped storage hydroelectric power plant.

Stating NSW was once a world leader on climate change, a new Climate Council report notes the state is now far behind being home to Australia’s oldest fleet of coal-fired power generators. While NSW public is highly supportive of renewable energy, state government policies fail to encourage more wind and solar projects beyond 2020.