Oceania

The Queensland government is reportedly considering ramping up its renewable energy target as the state looks to wean itself off coal-fired power on the pathway to net zero emissions by 2050.

The International Energy Agency says that the deployment of 600 million heat pumps by 2030 could cover 20% of the annual heating requirements of buildings throughout the world.

Sharp’s newest PV modules feature white backsheets and are made for the needs of design-oriented customers.

Australian battery manufacturer Redflow is determined to capitalise on what is describes as an emerging demand for non-lithium-based energy storage technology, announcing it has teamed with United States-based renewables developer Empower Energies to deploy solar and flow battery solutions in North America.

As of Wednesday night, Labor’s climate change bill was poised to pass the Senate after the government agreed to amendments proposed by independent senator David Pocock to improve accountability and transparency.

Tasmanian farmers are set to turn to solar PV to cut energy costs with the state-owned irrigation authority announcing plans to install solar arrays at up to 13 existing pump station sites around the state, offsetting electricity usage and generating surplus power to be fed back into the grid.

A pilot program across Sydney’s suburbs is seeking to prove a model its proponents hope will afford low income Australians access to solar at no upfront cost. The soon to be energised systems have been fitted on 64 disability homes and 90 community houses and will operate using a PPA model. “The poor don’t have the opportunity to put solar on their homes,” BlueCHP CEO, Charles Northcote tells pv magazine Australia. “They lose out because they have to pay all the grid charges… and this has not been addressed by the governments at all at this stage.”

Australia’s energy challenges are getting a lot of airtime: operational challenges with an ageing thermal fleet; global gas shortages sparked by the war in Ukraine sending prices skyrocketing; the rising cost of power bills; the decreasing reliability and impending retirements of coal generation, and the pressing need for firming/storage solutions.

Indian mining giant Adani’s Rugby Run Solar Farm has been ranked the best performing large-scale PV asset in the country for the month of August as Queensland’s solar farms continued to dominate the latest ratings tables.

WA company St George Mining has found indications its nickel project in the north-eastern Goldfields of Western Australia could also be home to “significant” amounts of lithium. The discovery sits alongside recent findings from miners Red Dirt Metals, Zenith Minerals and Hancock, Hawthorn Resources.