Oceania

British solar PV project investor Foresight Solar Fund continues to build its Australian renewable energy portfolio, acquiring 100% ownership of the 30 MW Oakey 1 and 17 MW Longreach solar farms in Queensland.

Western Australian solar window company ClearVue says it has proven its products can reduce buildings’ carbon emissions by as much as 90%, qualifying the technology for the world’s most comprehensive future building standards for energy performance.

The 162MW (AC) Columboola Solar Farm in the Western Downs of Queensland between Chinchilla and Miles has been successfully connected to the transmission network. QLD government-owned CS Energy has agreed to purchase 100% of the solar farms approximately 440GWh of annual clean energy for the next 10 years.

Sunman Energy claims the new factory, located in Yangzhong City in China’s Jiangsu province, is the world’s largest production facility for lightweight photovoltaics.

This year will see a suite of new rules introduced governing the sale and installation of rooftop solar. While the Clean Energy Regulator’s new rules will apply across the country, Victoria’s state government has also introduced its own set of additional ordinances – among them, a ban on door-to-door sales or cold-calling for solar, electricity and gas companies alike.

Vehicle manufacturer Foton and gas company BOC have signed an agreement to develop the hydrogen bus sector in Australia and New Zealand, allowing technology they say is already “widely used” around the world to become affordable in a region where it is still nascent.

Oil and gas giant Woodside Energy has submitted the proposal for its 500MW Solar Facility to the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority. The proposal sees Woodside looking to install up to one million solar panels to help power industrial customers in the region, including its own Pluto LNG export facility.

The investment is planned to support development and construction of Hydrostor’s 1.1GW, 8.7GWh of Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage projects that are well underway in California and Australia, and help expand Hydrostor’s project development pipeline globally.

Wood Mackenzie has predicted solar equipment cost increases will ease back after last year saw the average cost of solar electricity rise for the first time in the Asia-Pacific region.

Western Australia’s state-owned electricity company Horizon Power has installed 19 solar + battery standalone power systems for farmers in Esperance on the state’s southern coast.