Australia

Today we have heard of farmers in Australia unhappy at the approval given for three solar projects on agricultural land and also learned the benefits PV can bring for fish and shrimp farmers. In this op-ed for pv magazine USA, Stoel Rives LLP attorneys Sara Bergan and Thomas Braun discuss the balancing act to be made between solar and agriculture in the emerging Midwestern PV market.

The Victorian Government has heeded solar industry and customer concerns and wrought substantial changes to the Solar Homes Rebate Program, including a significant increase in rebate allocations and a streamlining of the laborious online application portal.

Scientists at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology have developed a method for producing a ‘smart fabric’ with a supercapacitor energy storage device embedded in it. Its developers say it can be readily integrated with a solar cell or used to power wearable technology.

The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has taken Pelican Point Power Station to Federal Court for alleged breaches in the National Electricity Rules (NER). The AER alleges that Pelican Point failed to adequately disclose its generative capability to Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).

The Andrews Government has approved three new solar farms in the Shepparton region with a combined generative power of 175 MW. However, some residents are upset at the loss of prime agricultural land and the now redundant irrigation equipment which had been upgraded through government grants.

Industry superannuation fund manager IFM Investors has announced an ‘unprecedented’ set of Australia’s largest infrastructure assets have set firm emissions targets which are expected to be met with large-scale solar uptake.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) will top up Evie Networks ultra-fast battery electric vehicle (EV) charging network throughout Australia’s highways with $15 million in federal funding.

One of Victoria’s largest industrial solar power stations has been built at the Nine Mile Fresh apple processing and packing facility in South East Gippsland, a 1.4 MW system that will save the high-tech industrial agriculture business at least a third on its spiralling energy bills.

CQSola, the startup company of Australian energy innovators Ian and Tony Schirmer, will soon begin manufacturing a DC optimiser that promises to solve many of the inherent problems of solar farming, increase energy output, and drive greater insights into large-scale solar energy production.

John Laing Group has reported losses in Australia of some $121 million — said to be due to transmission factors on three of its renewable-energy projects — leading the company to write down the value of those projects and suspend new investment in Australian renewable generation.