Australia

Byron Bay’s Smart Energy has expanded rapidly across Australia from its base in the Northern Rivers on the back of a high-quality workmanship and a business model that allows customers to pay for their solar with the savings it provides.

The Australian supermarket giant will purchase more than 70% of the electricity generated by three solar power plants to be built and operated by Metka EGN outside the regional centres of Wagga Wagga, Corowa and Junee – the equivalent of 10% of Coles’ national electricity usage.

Australian Vanadium and Metrowest Power Systems have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to facilitate energy storage opportunities using vanadium redox flow battery technology.

Following up suspicions raised by the state’s solar installer community, Solar Victoria launched an investigation into whether artificial intelligence (AI) had been deployed to exploit registrations for the rooftop PV subsidy. The investigation has concluded that there was no AI interference in the Solar Homes portal.

RedGrid sees a future where energy is locally sourced by communities. Using its Internet of Energy and “holochain” architecture, RedGrid’s prosumers are rewarded through the connection of distributed devices, systems and people into micro-grids, effectively, self-sustaining energy ecosystems.

UNSW’s Digital Grid Futures Institute held an Electrifying Transportation forum last week to bring together companies, innovators and academics to discuss the electrification of the transport sector and how persistent problems can be overcome.

ANZ has extended its collaboration with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, committing to facilitating a further $100 million of finance to help Australian businesses cut energy costs and reduce carbon emissions. Under the scheme, the bank is offering financial discounts for upgrades and new investments in solar PV, energy storage, EVs and other technologies.

The Australian arm of global mining manufacturer Molycop will be partly powered by wind and solar with the help of a long-term offtake deal inked with electricity retailer Flow Power. Under the new partnership, the manufacturer will have access to the ARENA Demand Response program.

The conclusion of AEMO’s 2019 planning and forecasting consultation brings revised approaches to the 2019-20 Integrated System Plan: three new renewable energy zones reflect resource and generator interest; the forecasting of distributed energy resources has been reframed; and a fifth and critical planning scenario has emerged. 

NASA satellite data illustrates that Australian governments are sanctioning pollution from coal-fired power stations that stains Australia with some of the world’s biggest hotspots for toxic emissions. The health burden, calculated in the tens of billions of dollars, should make the cost of coal unacceptable.