Australia

The proposed 240 MWp/480 MWh Mornington big battery project being developed by solar and energy storage specialist Maoneng on Victoria’s coast is a step closer to realisation with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) providing grid connection assessment approval.

Two new solar farms in regional New South Wales are now delivering clean energy to the National Electricity Market with e-commerce giant Amazon announcing its first Australian utility-scale renewable energy investments and are now operational.

Reclaim PV Recycling and the Circular PV Alliance (CPVA) have announced a partnership which will see the pair work together to develop standards and testing procedures to support the reuse and resale of solar panels in Australia. The union comes after Reclaim PV found more than 31% it collected in a Queensland region could be considered for reuse rather than recycling.

Researchers from the University of New South Wales have made a major breakthrough in what was previously conceived of only in theoretical terms, namely, ‘night-time’ solar power.

With Australia’s presence felt strongly at the World Hydrogen Summit in Rotterdam last week, state governments are working to secure European markets through partnership agreements. Yesterday, New South Wales signed an initial agreement with Denmark which will see the distant pair support one another on matters of decarbonisation technology and trade. Just a few days earlier, Queensland’s government signed an MoU with the Netherland’s Port of Rotterdam to collaborate on opportunities to develop a hydrogen export supply chain.

The Commonwealth government backed Clean Energy Regulator on Tuesday confirmed 17 hydrogen projects across Australia have signed up to participate in its ‘Guarantee of Origin’ scheme.

The hydrogen electrolyser subsidiary of German giant Thyssenkrupp has opened a new office in Perth, Western Australia in a bid to capture some of the region’s green hydrogen frenzy.

An unlikely union has been discovered by members of ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science, who have found a way to control the growth of phase-pure perovskite crystals for next-generation photovoltaics using water.

A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell University, and Wuhan University have presented a completely precious metal–free alkaline fuel cell with enhanced performance using a carbon-coated nickel anode. Meanwhile, the Port of Rotterdam has offered to supply northwestern Europe with 4.6 million tonnes of hydrogen by 2030. According to RMI, Europe will import green hydrogen between 2024 and 2030. RenewableUK sees room for hydrogen exports from the UK to the EU.

A solar panel incorporated portrait by Jude Rae of Australian scientist, inventor and author Saul Griffith was listed among the finalists of the 2022 Archibald Prize. The portrait embodies Griffith’s renewable energy message to Australia – “Electrify everything.”