Australia

A very small number of PV systems installed on Australian rooftops are considered to be potentially unsafe, the Clean Energy Regulator’s new report finds. Water entering DC isolators is identified as the greatest risk and the most common cause of PV system failures.

Chinese module supplier and project developer Risen Energy has signed its largest distribution agreement in Australia with One Stop Warehouse looking to bring new products to the market, including its ultra-high-power 500 Wp+ solar modules.

Anthony Albanese has proposed negotiations for a bipartisan agreement on an energy policy framework to create greater certainty for investment.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s announcement of the third tranche of projects to have fast-tracked assessments as part of the state’s effort to boost the economy in response to the impact of Covid-19 includes the program’s first large-scale solar farm, the 72MW(DC)/60MW(AC) Yanco Solar Farm.

The government’s task is to identify and develop a suite of energy technologies that can provide low-cost, low-emissions electricity system of the future, and the Clean Energy Council says that this can be achieved by leveraging Australia’s comparative advantage and the mature industry built around solar and wind. Technologies that extend the life of higher cost, fossil fuel generation should not be prioritized for investment, the CEC says, instead, the roadmap should focus on plenty of challenges to accelerate renewable energy investment.

The New South Wales government’s plan to deliver a 3 GW renewable energy zone in the state’s Central-West has been met with overwhelming investor interest and project proposals valued at $38 billion. To support the development of the REZ, the state government has quadrupled its funding support, while ARENA has allocated funding for TransGrid’s scoping study that will deliver a business case of the Central-West Orana REZ and provide a template for a national approach.

Amid the urgent need to slow climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency makes sense. But as Australia’s chief scientist Alan Finkel last week warned, we’re not “anywhere close to having that nailed”.

The Minerals Council of Australia has released its long-awaited Climate Action Plan. The plan has been widely criticised for its empty posturing and at least one group of major investors are demanding the Council articulate some of its conspicuously vague plans.

AEMO’s NEM Operations Review of the 2019-2020 Summer finds that mitigation practices helped to prevent what might’ve been a much more difficult summer in terms of the electricity network. However, large-scale and rooftop solar both suffered at the hands of enormous smoke plumes and subsequent forecasting errors.

Seaside sunshine is a hallmark of the Western Australian regional city of Busselton. Now a number of residents will be able to access a community battery to better manage their solar generation for use during the starry nights.