Sonnen to establish battery factory in South Australia
German battery and solar energy company sonnen will move its Australian headquarters from Sydney to Adelaide where it will also establish a manufacturing hub.
Smart swimming pool pilot wins $2.5 million ARENA grant
A New South Wales energy management company has won ARENA’s funding for a smart swimming poll pilot project, which holds a promise to both manage peak demand and save pool owners up to 30% of their household electricity use.
US researchers get the lead out of perovskites
Scientists led by Brown University have developed perovskite solar cells, which replace the toxic lead common to many of these material structures with titanium. The researchers say that with further optimization, the material could eventually be ideal for use as a tandem cell layer.
SA Labor sets 75% by 2025 RET
The South Australian Labor Party has increased its Renewable Energy Target to 75% by 2025. It also plans to introduce a target of meeting 25% of the state’s peak electricity demand with stored renewables – equating to 750 MW of storage capacity.
Lakeland solar+storage to demonstrate value stacking at utility scale
Australia’s first large scale solar+storage array has been grid connected, in Northern Queensland. The collocated 10.8 MW solar and 1.4 MW/5.3 MWh battery storage system is set to demonstrate the value of dispatchable PV to networks and asset owners.
US imports of Chinese solar climbed sharply in Q4
1,200%. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, that’s how high imports of Chinese modules rose in the fourth quarter last year, in a desperate attempt to stockpile sufficient numbers before tariffs choked off international supplies.
First German ‘technology neutral’ wind and solar tender launched
Onshore wind and solar PV will go head-to-head for the first time in a new 200 MW tender in Germany. Bids for solar PV ground-mounted projects and onshore wind farms can be submitted to the Federal Network Agency by April 3.
The Sunday read: Tracker market is adapting to bifacial module technology
While bifacial panels may capture up to 10% more light than monofacial panels, single-axis trackers typically add 25% to that bifacial gain, resulting in a roughly estimated 12.5% gain from the two technologies combined, compared with fixed installs using monofacial panels.
Yeah but nah: Aussie solar going gangbusters, but installed capacity not doubling in 2018
There is absolutely no doubting that the installation rate of solar PV, both rooftop and utility scale, is growing extremely quickly. An exciting development, yeah, but installed capacity isn’t likely to double in 2018.
Gullen Solar Farm kicks off co-location in NSW
The Australian Wind Alliances’s NSW regional coordinator, Charlie Prell, attended the launch of the new Gullen Solar Farm at Bannaby, just south of Crookwell in the Southern Tablelands of NSW.
