Oceania

Work on the long-awaited 280MW Cultana Solar Farm in South Australia appears set to begin with Simec Energy Australia announcing this week it is preparing to start construction on the ~$350 million project.

German-owned renewable energy developer Wirsol Energy has added another 313MW of solar to its Australian operation and maintenance portfolio, securing the contracts for three utility scale solar farms.

Australian solar technology startup SunDrive has announced “a breakthrough” in mass production compatible heterojunction technology after recording an efficiency result of 26.07% with a silver-free, commercial-size silicon solar PV cell.

Australian redox flow battery manufacturer Redflow’s push into the United States market has received a major boost with the company announcing it will work with California-based biowaste technology firm Anaergia on the installation of a solar and 5.5-6MWh battery energy storage solution.

“We’re not talking about incremental improvement, this is a really giant leap,” Hysata CEO Paul Barrett told pv magazine Australia. Hysata is commercialising a breakthrough made at the University of Wollongong which effectively, Barrett says, invented a “brand new category of electrolyser” vastly improving efficiency. “This is a 20% gain. This is really a seminal moment for the hydrogen industry.”

German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz has made public its plans partner with Primobius, a 50:50 joint venture between West Australian company Neometals and Germany’s SMS Group. Mercedes has said its intention is to build a 2,500 tonne per year lithium-ion battery recycling plant in southern Germany with Primobius as its technology partner.

Federal Labor has promised to allocate $22 million to help establish the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct being developed in northern Queensland if it wins the election in May.

Star Scientific, a hydrogen technology company based north of Sydney, has won the global South By Southwest innovation award for its Hydrogen Energy Release Optimiser, or HERO technology.

A multibillion-dollar solar, battery storage, wind and potentially green hydrogen project in Victoria’s Gippsland region is moving forward after getting backing from superfund Hostplus. Originally proposed by Solis Renewable Energy, the project is now owned by Octopus Australia as part of its joint venture with CFEC.

Australia’s first astronaut believes advances in solar and space technologies and a growing capability to build and launch reliable satellites means it is now not only possible, but economically viable to build a solar PV farm based in Earth’s orbit.