Australia

Data collected from households and businesses will inform the National Energy Analysis Centre, a new, independent CSIRO facility established to provide consumers and providers clear insights into the energy transition, now and in the future.

A Western Australia researcher has found large-scale solar farms impact migratory routes of wildlife due to polarised light pollution but could be improved with nano-coated solar panels.

Topping the agenda for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to China this week has been the massive bilateral opportunity for Australia – the world’s No.1 producer of iron ore, with a 56% share of global exports – to partner with China on developing green iron and steel produced using zero-emissions energy. Traditional practices use coking coal, a carbon intensive, high-emissions fossil fuel, to produce iron from ore, a key step in steelmaking.

ClearVue Technologies says its solar facade solutions, that combine the company’s solar glazing units into a fully integrated energy generating building envelope, have achieved a payback period of less than three years in a Hong Kong government trial.

Printed solar technology startup Kardinia Energy, photoluminescence imaging specialist BT Imaging, and modular solar array manufacturer 5B are among 13 companies awarded more than $26 million in funding by the New South Wales government to support the commercial development of their clean energy tech.

Construction of the 106 MW Lancaster Solar Farm in northern Victoria is gathering pace with Western Australian contractor Pilecom installing the first of the more than 23,000 piles that will be used in the project.

To evaluate the outdoor performance and stability of perovskite solar cells using contactless and noninvasive methods, an Australian and Chinese research team found a way to use photoluminescence imaging as well as demonstrating a proof of concept for implied open-circuit voltage imaging. Their research relied on cost-effective equipment that operates under direct sunlight.

Planning and transmission delays top the list of development challenges for renewable energy investment in Australia with a new survey showing almost 50% of investors rate the country as only “somewhat attractive” for future projects.

Australian resources company Graphinex has officially launched its battery anode manufacturing hub in north Queensland, a facility capable of taking graphite from mine to battery-ready material using full-scale commercial equipment.

Another big battery project has been unveiled for New South Wales with the state and federal governments receiving a proposal for a 1 GW / 4 GWh battery energy storage facility to be developed at Kiar, on the Central Coast.