Oceania

Scientists from the Queensland University of Technology have made a remarkable breakthrough in carbon capture and storage with a novel electrochemical process which can not only store carbon dioxide in water non-toxically with the power of solar or wind, but also produces by-products including green hydrogen and calcium carbonate, perhaps the key to decarbonising the cement industry.

Who says size doesn’t matter? The talk of the solar industry town at the moment is the increasing module size. Trina Solar is right in the thick of this revolution with the release of several larger format modules back-to-back in recent months. As pv magazine Australia gets ready to host a webinar with Trina Solar Australia this coming Thursday, we sat down with one of the company’s APAC directors, Andrew Gilhooly, to talk shop.

AGL has announced a joint venture with the UK’s Ovo Energy for exclusive Australian rights to its Kaluza smart energy platform. The partnership comes at a time when grid stability is a hot topic and energy management systems are a key tool for owners of rooftop solar to optimise their investment.

YouTube videos are becoming a vital part of consumers’ solar-buying journey, providing a unique opportunity for solar marketers. Marketing pro Rich Feola offers insights on how to use videos to boost your solar company.

NSW is growing its renewable energy pipeline at pace. Many sun-drenched regions are understandably worried that their landscapes could be “de-natured” by the march of large-scale solar. The Independent Planning Commission process helps to bring the state’s needs in line with community concerns.

“Imagine what we could achieve if we had a government that wasn’t backed by the fossil fuel industry,” said Australian Greens party leader Adam Bandt on the weekend as he launched his next Federal Election policies centred on arresting climate change.

As distributed PV grows, new grid codes have scared installers across some markets. Network operators want to gain control over grid export, even of smaller arrays. Additions of new array controllers and special gateways could be costly putting speedy development of PV at risk. Fret not, says Fimer, as the Italy-based power-electronics manufacturer has placed the solution to the problem already inside its latest inverter range.

Concentrated solar thermal technology developed with input from CSIRO, the Australian National University and the University of Adelaide, has been funded for a commercial-scale test by the United States Department of Energy.

Insurance premiums for renewable energy projects are likely to increase again this year, as a joint report from insurance specialists finds the sector continues to underperform from an insurance perspective.

Delivered by Neoen and ActewAGL, Australia’s first hydrogen vehicle refuelling station today opened in Canberra, catering to the state government’s new fleet of Hyundai Nexo hydrogen cars.