The past three years have been the world’s hottest on record. In 2025, Earth was 1.44°C warmer than the long-term average, perilously close to breaching the Paris Agreement goal of 1.5°C.

Around a fifth of solar panels examined in a new study fail much faster than expected and some may last for only half their anticipated lifetime.

There was a watershed moment for Australian energy transition this week as the Australian Energy Market Operator released its energy dynamics report for the December quarter of 2025: Renewables comprised more than half of energy supply in the quarter, driving down wholesale electricity prices by nearly half. Coal-fired generation was down 4.6% year on year, falling to an all-time quarterly low. Gas-fired generation plunged 27% to its lowest level for 25 years.

For the last decade, the global conversation around electric vehicles (EVs) has focused almost entirely on adoption. Targets, incentives, charging stations and sales figures have dominated headlines. The EV transition is happening daily, at street level, across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. Yet a far less glamorous question is now becoming just as important as how many EVs we sell: what happens when their batteries are no longer good enough for the road?

Solar and wind now provide 99% of new generating capacity in Australia. Renewables supply more than 40% of power to the main grid. Australia will need six times as much solar and wind to reach net zero through the electrification of everything. This means building new transmission corridors, as existing lines were built to connect cities with coal power stations. But the best solar and wind resources lie in different places.

Plans to build a 100 MW solar farm and 45 MW, two-hour capacity battery energy storage system in the Yass Valley have been given fresh impetus with a New South Wales court dismissing concerns the project will affect the region’s rural character.

Investment in utility-scale solar in Australia dropped 35% in the second half of 2025 compared to the previous six months with Bloomberg New Energy Finance saying the growth of rooftop solar and a booming battery market are among the reasons for the precipitous decline.

Omnidian, GoodWe and AIKO have collaborated to install, donate and support long term, a 17 kW rooftop solar and 19.2 kWh battery storage system on an animal shelter in Victoria, and encourage industry to follow suit.

A high voltage 2.5 MW / 3 MWh community battery installed through a South Australian electricity distributor, ARENA-funded program will be energised in March 2026 and remain on standby to help manage a regional community’s peak demand.

The Ariya demonstration vehicle features 3.8 m² of Lightyear’s custom solar panels integrated across the hood, roof, and tailgate. Testing showed that the car could generate 0.5 kWh of solar energy during a 2‑hour, 80 kilometer trip, delivering up to 3 kilometres of range at no extra cost or charging time.

Spanish building integrated PV manufacturer Onyx Solar is delivering a custom building integrated PV system featuring almost 1,800 solar glass ‘louvres’ designed to help power Australian tech giant Atlassian’s new 39-storey headquarters in downtown Sydney with 100% renewable energy.

Cubenergy has launched FlexCombo 2.0, a scalable battery energy storage system for utility, commercial, and industrial applications, offering up to 16 MWh capacity with LFP batteries. Its modular design, advanced BMS, and cloud-based operations enable easy installation, seamless expansion, and efficient grid integration, according to the manufacturer.

The new Tesla Solar Panel and mounting system pairs with the company’s inverter, Powerwall battery, EV charging and vehicles, creating an all-Tesla residential solar offering for the first time.

AlphaHPA has received a $75 million National Reconstruction Fund Corporation investment toward delivery of its ultra-high purity alumina plant in Queensland, which will supply critical materials for lithium-ion battery manufacturing.

Rooftop solar generation hit an all-time high in Q4 2025, up 8.7% with an output of 4,407 MW, while also reducing daytime operational demand, contributing to battery charging, and an overall new renewable energy generation record for the National Electricity Market of 51%.

UNSW researchers identified a new damp-heat degradation mechanism in TOPCon modules with laser-fired contacts, driven primarily by rear-side recombination and open-circuit voltage loss rather than series-resistance increase. The study highlights that magnesium in white EVA encapsulants accelerates degradation, guiding improved encapsulant and backsheet selection for more reliable modules in humid environments.

Conceived for stationary energy storage, the proposed sodium-ion battery configuration relies on an P2-type cathode material and an hard carbon anode material that reportedly ensure full-cell performance. Electrochemical testing revealed initial capacities of 200 mAh/g for the cathode and 360 mAh/g for the anode with capacity retentions of 42% and 67.4% after 100 cycles.

Battery energy storage went from strength to strength across Australia in Q4 2025, seeing the technology outperform past records in both the National Electricity Market and Western Australia’s Wholesale Electricity Market.

South Korean researchers from Chungnam National University have developed a one-step, photoresist-free graphene patterning technique that results in very low electrical resistance and avoids damage, showing scalability in the fabrication of transparent, flexible electronics like solar cells.

Engineers at the University of New South Wales have developed a real-time monitoring technique that reveals how silicon solar cells can self-repair following ultraviolet-induced damage, offering new insights into solar panel degradation and lifetime performance.

With silver prices rising, more large solar manufacturers are expected to switch to copper for cell metallization. Radovan Kopecek of ISC Konstanz tells pv magazine that he expects the entire industry to follow. Ning Song of the University of New South Wales says a small efficiency tradeoff may be acceptable if the cost savings are significant and do not introduce new reliability risks.

The Chinese firm has unveiled its latest energy storage solution, the ENERpro-LFP48300, equipped with a 48V, 300 Ah lithium battery. The company boasts a lifespan of more than 9,500 cycles at a high 95% depth of discharge.

South Australian remote and off grid clean energy specialist MyEnergy Engineering has completed an off grid 100 kW solar and 256 kWh battery system for a large-scale energy hungry piggery, north of Adelaide.

Chinese manufacturer Sungrow has introduced a new utility string inverter, a three-phase hybrid inverter for commercial and industrial applications, and a liquid-cooled energy storage system.

Researchers have used multivalent amidinium ligands to boost perovskite solar cell efficiency to 25.4%, achieving over 95% stability after 1,100 hours at 85 C. The proposed approach enables controlled low-dimensional passivation layers, offering a practical route for durable, large-area perovskite devices.

A surge of new generation and storage capacity reached full output in Australia’s main grid in the last quarter with nine projects totalling 1.8 GW of new capacity progressing through commissioning and entering operation.

A new report from Wood Mackenzie identifies five key trends the global research and consultancy group expects will define the energy storage industry in 2026, including supply chain restructuring and the rise of non-lithium batteries.

Space-based solar could power AI more efficiently than on Earth, with full-scale deployment possible in two to three years, Elon Musk says SpaceX’s Starship launch vehicle and its reusable rockets aim to sharply reduce space access costs, enabling solar-powered AI satellites and potentially large-scale extraterrestrial energy infrastructure.

Plans for a 250 MW solar and 350 MWh battery energy storage project proposed for Queensland’s Western Downs region are now available for public comment as developer Pacific Partnerships seeks a green tick from the federal government.

Central Queensland Power has submitted its 450 MW solar and 450 MW / 3.6 GWh Wooderson Solar Development hybrid project in the Gladstone region for federal EPBC approval.