Oceania

In its world-first application, hydrogen energy storage technology developed at UNSW Sydney will be installed in the regional town Manilla, which is set for one of Australia’s major community-owned solar farms. The storage deployment will be backed by an NSW government grant as part of a funding round that has awarded seven solar and battery community projects across the state.

The researchers have achieved 27.7% efficiency for mechanically-stacked perovskite-silicon tandem cells.

The South Australian Government’s subsidy under the $100 million Home Battery Scheme will have its first planned reduction in five weeks’ time.

A massive solar+storage project nearby Uralla in the New England region of New South Wales has been given the tick of approval from the Independent Planning Commission. Project developer UPC/AC Renewables Australia says construction is likely to commence towards the middle of the year.

A consortium of partners led by the University of Technology Sydney has been successful in its bid for funding of a Cooperative Research Centre dedicated to enhancing energy consumers’ access to and efficient deployment of distributed renewable resources — primarily rooftop PV.

The Federal Government Government on Friday told participants in the research engine, known as the Energy Transition Hub, that funding of the five-year initiative had been curtailed.

German residential battery supplier sonnen has wasted no time in getting deeply involved in all aspects of the Australian solar market – from VPP programs, rolling out its “flat” electricity pricing scheme, to providing batteries for bushfire impacted homes. But its setting up battery assembly at a defunct Holden factory in South Australia and achieving Australian Made status truly sets it apart, says sonnen Australia’s CEO Nathan Dunn.

Grupo Energia is the latest renewable energy company to set up shop in Australia and it has chosen Melbourne for its local headquarters.

Despite a sizable pipeline of big PV projects, many EPCs have found it difficult to escape the pitfalls of Australia’s notoriously competitive market. The turmoil in the solar construction sector became evident with the collapse of the nation’s leading contractor RCR Tomlinson. It was further emphasized by Tempo Australia’s problems and last month’s withdrawal of Sydney-based contractor Downer Group. As the survival of the fittest continues, Mumbai-based EPC juggernaut Sterling and Wilson Solar (SWSL) is confident it has found a way to adapt and thrive.

Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology have compiled a detailed overview of the use of diketopyrrolopyrrole organic pigments in driving the future of electronic devices, including wearable technology and solar cells that could be made at a fraction of the current costs.