Oceania

The Australian Capital Territory’s switch to 100% renewable electricity is providing electricity users in the nation’s capital with protection from skyrocketing energy costs as consumers in other parts of the nation grapple with rising energy bills.

While many solar manufacturers are as yet undecided about which PV cell technology they will choose for their next high efficiency expansions, for Singapore-based REC, the future is HJT. pv magazine spoke to Cemil Seber, the managing director at REC Solar EMEA GmbH at the Intersolar Europe 2022 trade show, to dig deeper into these manufacturing plans.

Hungarian tech company Platio Solar has developed a new solar PV paving line featuring monocrystalline and polycrystalline cells with clear or opal glass.

Australian battery minerals company Liontown Resources has completed negotiations to supply electric vehicle and battery maker Tesla with spodumene concentrate from its Kathleen Valley lithium project in the Goldfields region of Western Australia.

Chinese scientists have developed an ultralight solar cell with perovskite film based on a 3-µm-thick polymer. It purportedly has a power conversion efficiency in line with that of perovskite cells of conventional thickness.

With architects and construction companies across the world showing an increasing interest in building integrated PV, one Australian company has outlined plans to clad an eight-storey building being constructed in West Melbourne with a “solar skin” that will generate almost all of the building’s base power.

New South Wales has topped the charts for large-scale renewable energy generation in May but Queensland has dominated the solar stakes with the top six utility PV assets for the month all located in the sunshine state.

Australian supermarket giant Woolworths has marked a major milestone in its rooftop solar program with a store in the Canberra suburb of Conder becoming the retailer’s 150th outlet to be fitted with solar PV panels.

The Victorian government has announced a multi-million-dollar expansion of its $11 million Neighbourhood Battery Initiative after what is being described as the state’s “first inner-urban” community battery energy storage system was switched on in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

Brisbane-based Line Hydrogen is seeking $2 million in crowdfunding investment from Australians who want to contribute to the green energy revolution at the ground level by getting its Tasmanian and Queensland green hydrogen projects off the ground.