Australia

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.

Energy infrastructure company Jemena has confirmed the purchase of New South Wales’ first electrolyser which will utilise renewable energy to produce green gas for cooking, heating and hot water in homes and businesses. 

The program will test the potential of distributed energy resources, such as rooftop solar systems, battery storage and controllable load devices, aggregated into virtual power plants (VPPs), to provide scalable energy and network services traditionally performed by large-scale, conventional electricity generators. With registration open, the Australian Energy Market Operator wants VPPs to register to accelerate the shared learning on how to safely and efficiently integrate, operate and regulate these emerging technologies into the National Electricity Market.

Even though it is winter, solar capacity is now sufficiently large that it drove renewable energy’s share of the electricity market up above 30% in the middle of the day for 20 out of 30 days of June, finds Green Energy Markets.