In 2021, Australia’s Coalition government pledged to reach net zero by 2050. Four years later, the Coalition have reversed course. After successive election losses, the Liberal and National parties have settled on a new climate strategy: give up on net zero and keep coal plants running longer.

Picture dusk falling somewhere in the Solomon Islands. A fisher’s skiff glides home using a whisper-quiet electric outboard motor. In the Cook Islands, a big battery steadies the island grid. In Papua New Guinea’s highlands, solar kits bring electric light to homes for the first time.

It was the news that rippled around the nation – and then the world: at least three hours of free grid-supplied electricity for Australian households, every day.

The last five years have placed unprecedented strain on global supply chains. Geopolitical tensions, trade wars, natural disasters and the global pandemic have revealed vulnerabilities across industries.

The AFR Energy and Climate Summit focused on demand and AI’s impact on the grid, but the real question is being overlooked: how do we connect data centres without repeating past mistakes in the energy transition?

An International Energy Agency survey of solar power applications in Australia shows 5.2 GW of installations in 2024 were achieved and the total capacity of solar at 40 GW, includes 26.1 GW of distributed systems and 13.4 GW of centralised installations.

A transformer failure at the 850 MW Waratah Super Battery could trigger multimillion-dollar insurance claims and project delays, illustrating how a single unit outage can escalate at one of Australia’s largest battery projects.

Chinese manufacturer Phono has launched a new bifacial solar panel in the Australian market featuring an output of 475 W and a power conversion efficiency of 23.27%.

A 290 MW solar farm and 180 MW / 360 MWh battery energy storage system planned for Queensland’s Fraser Coast region is advancing towards construction after being given the green light by the federal government.

Project developer Recurrent Energy has capped a busy couple of weeks in the Australian market with the sale of a 250 MW solar and 120 MW battery project in New South Wales to an unidentified European buyer.

The Chinese company says that its new ESA series is available with a hybrid inverter ranging from 3 kW to 10 kW and storage capacities of 5 kWh to 48 kWh. The IP66-rated product supports an MPPT current of up to 20 A on the PV side and allows 200% PV oversizing, according to the manufacturer.

SunCable has struck a multi-million-dollar deal with traditional owners that will enable it to develop the biggest solar farm in Australia on a cattle station in the Northern Territory.

Three New South Wales energy distributors have collaborated on the state’s first distribution system plan, which they say can sustain five years of energy transition momentum, while waiting for critical transmission infrastructure to be built.

One-in-five, or 20%, of renewable energy developers responding to an Intium grid-connection survey, say it took them two to three years waiting for grid connection approval, and delays are a threat to Australia’s renewable energy targets.

The South Korean government says all public parking lots larger than 1,000 square metres will be required to install solar power systems from the end of this month, as part of a nationwide policy to accelerate renewable energy adoption in urban areas.

Fox ESS is ramping up its presence in Australia with nationwide sales and techical support teams and is building local warehousing for its suite of inverters, electric vehicle chargers, and battery storage products, such as the EQ4800 and new CQ6.

Engineers in the United States have developed a polymer coating they say could be used to protect PV modules, due to its impermeability to gases. The team has demonstrated that a 60-nanometer-thick film can extend the lifetime of a perovskite crystal by several weeks.

Transgrid has issued a progress update on construction of the nation critical 365 km transmission infrastructure project in New South Wales, the HumeLink East and HumeLink West.

Australian energy storage technology company AVESS Energy has completed a $1 million capital raise enabling the progression of projects including vanadium flow battery deployment at the Windimurra Vanadium Project.

Australia founded, Texas-headquartered Infravision has appointed former Space X  and energy systems engineer Frank Tybor as chief technology officer as the company leverages its recent $139 million Series B led by GIC.

Battery technology developer Li-S Energy has secured almost $8 million in federal government funding to advance planning for a large-scale lithium-sulfur battery cell manufacturing facility in Australia.

Researchers in the Middle East have developed a fuzzy logic controller that simultaneously optimises the tilt angle of PV systems and performs maximum power point tracking. Year-long simulations indicate that the proposed approach increases power generation by approximately 20%.

Spanish energy company Iberdrola, which has a total installed capacity in Australia of 2.3 GW, has been selected to develop the Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector West, or VNI West transmission line.

Tests conducted by a research team in outdoor environments in Spain and Poland have demonstrated a strong correlation between perovskite solar cell degradation and the combined effects of climatic and operating conditions. The scientists found that open-circuit operation accelerates degradation, whereas operation at the maximum power point and under short-circuit conditions has a lower impact.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has committed $25.3 million to SunDrive to support its copper metallisation technology from development at its South Sydney facility to a 300 MW commercial-scale production tool.

Tesla says its recall and replacement effort stems from a contained battery-cell defect that has raised safety concerns in both the United States and Australia.

Vast Energy has entered into voluntary administration, with KPMG Australia’s Peter Gothard and Amanda Coneyworth appointed as voluntary administrators to Vast and its wholly owned Australian subsidiary companies.

Portugese renewable energy giant EDP, through EDP Renewables Australia, has agreed to partner with the Queensland Investment Corporation to deliver the Punchs Creek Renewable Energy Project near Toowoomba.

Ampyr Australia will relocate the 270 MW Davenport battery energy storage system in South Australia under the new name Northern Battery to a decommissioned, coal-fired power station at Port Augusta, after acquiring it from Green Gold Energy.

Octopus Australia has brought the $900 million Blind Creek Solar Farm and Battery project, a local landholder-partnered agrisolar project, to financial close and into construction