Australia

One of Australia’s leading craft breweries is looking to a cutting edge thermal energy storage system to provide the heat required to make its beer.

On Friday, ReNu Energy signed an agreement for the sale of its solar assets, including Shopping Centres Australasia arrays, to commercial-rooftop-solar startup CleanPeak Energy.

Matthew Kean, NSW Government Minister for Energy and Environment opened the Clean Energy Summit 2019 this week promising to unleash private investment on the state’s transmission infrastructure, but will the mechanism, the momentum and the maths add up to the coal-retirement timeline?

Chinese module maker and project developer Canadian Solar has acquired another 25% share in the 189 MWp Suntop Solar Farm from Photon Energy and increased its stake to 76%. The balance of shares is held by Sydney-based Polpo Investment.

While it has seen growing market acceptance of its zinc-bromine flow battery technology in the past 12 months, Redflow has reported a slowdown in delivery of batteries with cash receipts of only $74,000 received in the FY2019 final quarter.

Simec Zen Energy’s landmark 1 GW dispatchable renewable energy initiative has moved forward with the development approval for the 100MW/100MWh Playford Utility Battery project located near Port Augusta. The facility will provide the necessary frequency control and grid stability requirements for the 280 MW Cultana Solar Farm

With more than 50 GW of new wind and solar projects in the development pipeline, the Australian Energy Market Commission is looking to give developers more detailed and up-to-date information about new generation projects. The new draft rule may help businesses make better investment decisions on where to locate new generators and assess project viability.

Adelaide-based energy storage specialist 1414 Degrees has partnered with technical, agribusiness and finance partners including sustainable horticulture company, Nectar Farms to identify and develop projects using its thermal energy storage solution.

The quota for rebates in the August round of the Solar Homes program has been snapped up in only 90 minutes. Solar Victoria reports there are “plenty of rebates still available” for rental solar grants, solar hot water and batteries – the latter in qualifying areas only. Industry bodies say that solar sector in “crisis”.

Phillip Island Nature Parks, which manages the fairy penguin’s habitat on the island, has built a new visitor centre powered by solar energy. The 200 kW system installed by Gipplsand Solar is featuring Trina modules coupled with Fronius inverters.