Australia

Two hydrogen platforms have launched in Australia to connect hydrogen producers with consumers, ultimately trying to catalyse projects and the industry more broadly. The first, NERA’s HyCapability, maps hydrogen capability across Australia, while the other focuses on New South Wales and the developments of its hydrogen hubs.

The comparison of two solar cladded roofs in Sydney, one bare beneath its panels and the other adorned with native grasses and plants, has found the panels on the green roof were, on average, 3.63% more efficient, producing an average daily output 13% greater than the conventional roof. The improvements are believed to stem from the lower temperatures on the green roof, thanks to its plants – which also provided a plethora of additional benefits.

The risks posed to renewable-energy projects by Australia’s uncertain climate change policies and hamstrung regulators, have become a concerning brake on investment. Adjusting settings to reduce those risks would revitalise investor sentiment and vastly reduce the cost of implementing the country’s switch to renewables, says the Clean Energy Investor Group.

Carbon never goes away, says Associate Professor Tianyi Ma, but if industrial carbon-dioxide emissions can be cleanly, renewable catalysed into chemicals and fuels that we need, we can reduce the overall GHG burden on the earth’s atmosphere.

Imperatives meet opportunity. Corporate and utility goals for sustainability are driving a new group of investors to pick up the Australian renewable-energy resource and run with it. A new PwC report outlines how the new investor-developer partnerships could work.

As technology redefines the delivery of network services, grid operators in remote areas the world over are searching for more cost-effective and reliable alternatives to traditional poles and wires. Standalone power systems are the solar application that is at the forefront of the switch, and they’re ramping up fast.

Victorian distribution network provider United Energy will deploy 40 custom-built community batteries across Melbourne’s southeast as part of an $11 million project designed to better manage the increasing penetration of rooftop solar PV and periods of peak demand on the network.

The Australian Energy Market Operator will later this month commence testing of a cloud-based simulator designed to accelerate the grid connection process for developers of energy projects including large-scale wind and solar.

Residents in the West Australian town of Kalbarri are set to welcome the state’s largest renewable energy microgrid with state government-owned utility Western Power confirming commissioning and an operational trial of the hybrid system is due to commence next month.

Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization plans to use its Newcastle Energy Centre – home to the largest high-concentration solar array in the Southern Hemisphere – as a demonstration site for its newly announced net-zero emissions targets.