New South Wales

UNSW researchers boosted TOPCon solar cell efficiency by locally thinning the rear poly-Si layer, reducing parasitic absorption while preserving wafer integrity. The champion cell built with this approach achieved 25.10% efficiency with improved bifaciality and maintained strong passivation.

UNSW researchers developed an experimentally validated model linking UV-induced degradation in TOPCon solar cells to hydrogen transport, charge trapping, and permanent structural changes in the passivation stack. They show that thicker aluminum oxide layers significantly improve UV resilience by limiting hydrogen migration, offering clear guidance for more robust TOPCon designs.

The first stage of the biggest approved battery project in Australia is now fully operational with Origin Energy announcing the initial stage of the 700 MW / 3,160 MWh battery energy storage system being built next to its Eraring coal-fired generator in New South Wales has commenced commercial operations.

University of Newcastle researchers have developed a new separation technique that employs the same crushing and flotation principles used in mineral processing to recover more than 97% of silver from end-of-life solar panels.

Australia’s largest energy transmission project has reached a new milestone with the last of more than 1,500 steel towers constructed along the 700-kilometre New South Wales stretch of the EnergyConnect development that links the state’s energy grid with those in Victoria and South Australia.

The first solar-battery hybrid facility approved in the National Electricity Market, the $190 million Quorn Park Solar Hybrid project developed by Potentia Energy in New South Wales, has been energised.

The research group led by Professor Martin Green has not published yet Version 67 of the solar cell efficiency tables, due to production delays. Green, however, has agreed to comment on some of the results to be added in the upcoming edition.

French energy giant Engie will power all four Big Bash League cricket matches at the Engie Stadium, at the Sydney Olympic Park with government accredited GreenPower, starting 20 December 2025.

Electricity distributor Ausgrid will unlock 1 GW of transfer capacity from the Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone by upgrading its existing distribution poles and wires, instead of building of building new ones.

Transgrid and Elecnor Australia, construction partners on the $4.1 billion, 700 kilometre EnergyConnect transmission project have clocked more than 10 million worker hours on the epic project involving the construction of over 1,000 transmission towers.