Oceania

The 300MW/450MWh Victorian big battery has proven a financial winner for French renewable power producer Neoen which has reported its first-quarter revenue has jumped by more than one third.

Sharp’s new IEC 61215 and IEC 61730-certified-certified panel features 144 half-cells based on M10 wafers and a 10-busbar design. Its operating temperature coefficient is -0.349% per degree Celsius and its power tolerance reaches up to 5%.

Solar companies are reporting widespread staff shortages leading to false price points around the value of installers. Scott Mason, general manager of Platinum Solar Designs, says the shortages aren’t simply part of Australia’s broader skills scarcity, but rather are endemic to the solar industry and linked to a regulatory system which is pushing down the quality of installations.

Australian technology billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has become the single largest shareholder in AGL after Grok Ventures, the private investment company he owns with wife Annie, bought an 11.28% stake in the public company last night. The move appears to progress the billionaire’s plan to use the free market to force the decarbonisation of Australia’s biggest emitter from the inside out. In other words, the world’s largest single decarbonisation project is back on.

Australian energy developer Maoneng has unveiled ambitious plans to build an almost 1GW solar PV farm and battery energy storage facility in regional New South Wales.

Australian solar thermal specialist Vast Solar has announced plans to build a 20MW concentrated solar thermal power plant with more than eight hours of energy storage near Port Augusta in South Australia after securing financial backing from the federal government.

New figures reveal Australia’s clean energy transition can be transformative for the nation’s regional communities, not only providing low-cost renewable energy but also generating long-term employment opportunities.

Origin Energy’s ambition to accelerate the growth of its renewable energy portfolio saw progress this week with the acquisition of the pre-construction 900 MW Yarrabee Solar Farm. Origin’s new renewable expansion strategy took shape after conceding in 2021 that its fossil fuel business was haemorrhaging under the strain of low renewables prices.

The Commonwealth government’s Critical Minerals Accelerator Initiative has awarded a $5.2 million grant to Canberra and Brisbane-based Lava Blue, a company seeking to improve the processes of valuable minerals from vanadium pentoxide processing waste, particularly high purity alumina.

Materials which undergo singlet fission provide an exciting and different pathway for exploiting the full solar spectrum, researchers at the prestigious University of New South Wales explain.