Australia

Researchers have found that PV plants in arid regions create a measurable cool island effect that varies strongly with season, location, and plant design, influencing surrounding vegetation in complex and spatially uneven ways. They showed that cooling intensity and distance differ widely across sites, are driven mainly by plant morphology,

One of the biggest batteries under construction in South Australia is set to change hands with Australian asset manager Palisade Investment Partners striking a deal to buy the 240 MW / 960 MWh Summerfield project from Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.

An ongoing collaboration between New South Wales-based Halocell Energy and Sofab Inks finds that perovskite modules incorporating Sofab’s Tinfab electron transport layer maintain approximately 100% of their normalised efficiency after 1,300 hours under accelerated combined light and damp-heat testing.

Plans to build a green hydrogen production facility powered by up to 6 GW of solar and wind generation in Western Australia are moving forward with the project selected for accelerated development under the federal government’s new Investor Front Door pilot program.

MyNu Energy has launched a mobile solar generation and battery energy storage system designed to reduce reliance on diesel as the Middle East crisis continues to cause concerns about fuel shortages and uncertain energy costs.

Australian mining giant Fortescue is fast tracking the delivery of what it says is the world’s first fully integrated green energy grid designed to completely eliminate diesel and other fossil fuels from large-scale industry.

As utility-scale battery energy storage systems continue to be deployed across Australia’s National Electricity Market, fire risk assessment is rapidly shifting from a compliance exercise to a core project viability consideration. For developers, asset owners, insurance considerations and regulators, the key question is no longer whether systems meet component certification standards, but how complete BESS systems behave under severe real-world conditions.

A new UNSW study shows that laser-enhanced contact optimisation can boost industrial TOPCon solar cell efficiency by improving contact properties and reducing recombination losses. By combining optimised firing conditions with LECO “repair” of contacts, the approach balances recombination and resistance, offering a practical path for conventional TOPCon cells to compete with PV technologies offering higher efficiencies.

For decades, copper was the material the solar industry knew it needed but could not manufacture at scale. That barrier has been lifted. What follows matters for every rooftop, every supply chain, and every gigawatt the energy transition still requires.

Almost 40 residents of a multi-unit complex in Templestowe have opted for two, three or four, 480 W panels, or to share clean energy from a 5 kW solar community board supported by 11 panels under the Victorian Solar for Apartments scheme, scheduled to close at the end of April 2026.