Australia

A small number of utility-scale PV arrays of an entirely different nature are taking shape Down Under. Over the past six years, Aussie solar startup 5B has been developing and deploying its pre-assembled and relocatable Maverick mounting structures “on a shoestring budget.” But with a major solar developer having joined as a strategic investor, the company is now looking to make prefabricated arrays a mainstream option for utility-scale PV.

Mining company Centennial Coal has received more than $5 million in government funding to investigate the feasibility of turning an old underground coal mine near Newcastle into a pumped hydro storage site which could supply 600 MW of renewable energy to the grid.

An award-winning Australian solar-powered ‘water battery’ has been lauded as an unmitigated success with figures from the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) revealing the system generated more than 3 GWh of electricity in its first 12 months of operation.

Australian gold mining company Gold Road Resources will be relying on a ‘state-of-the-art’ renewable energy system as it continues operations at its Yamarna exploration camp about 1,200 kilometres east of Perth.

Australia has cemented its place at the vanguard of the solar energy industry with a new International Energy Agency (IEA) report confirming the nation has the highest installed solar PV capacity per capita in the world.

The Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) Transmission Project has been declared a ‘Critical State Significant Infrastructure’ project, with the New South Wales Government granting it priority status throughout the approvals process.

Construction is set to commence on one of the largest behind-the-meter solar power installations in Australia with Beon Energy Solutions to begin work next month on a 19 MW solar farm at Melbourne Water’s Eastern Treatment Plant (ETP).

It’s 2020, and there has been a shift in the balance of power. Not in the Senate, but between the federal government and the states. All last summer during the bushfires – while the Prime Minister was infamously not holding a hose – it was the premiers and chief ministers who were right beside emergency services leaders, working to keep people safe and informed.

Australian scientists have demonstrated two loss-mitigation techniques that could improve solar‐to‐hydrogen (STH) conversion efficiencies and may lay the ground for cheaper PV-powered hydrogen generation. By combining the two techniques, they were able to achieve an STH efficiency of around 19.4% at realistic operating temperatures.

The farming community of Scaddan, 50km off Western Australia’s southern coast, has kicked off the state’s Solar Schools Program with the first of 30 planned systems installed.