Oceania

Australia’s previously booming rooftop PV market segment is likely to see a steep decline in the face of Covid-19 related shutdowns and uncertainty. An industry survey has revealed that around 50% or survey respondents have seen customer enquiries decline by between 25-50%, with a further 20% reporting that new leads have dried up completely.

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation along with its partners has released an Issues Paper on the halting state of Australia’s infrastructural development. The paper highlights the nation’s short-sighted infrastructural projects and their weight upon the energy transition.

Griffith University researchers have unlocked a catalytic process that can enhance the breakdown of water, into hydrogen and oxygen, for clean hydrogen production and bring Australia a step closer to creating clean efficient hydrogen fuel.

With 4.4 GW of new renewable energy capacity installed and almost a quarter of Australia’s electricity supply now coming from renewable energy sources, 2019 was another year of extraordinary growth, according to the latest edition of the Clean Energy Australia report. As rooftop solar continued its record-breaking streak, big PV made up more than two-thirds of Australia’s large-scale renewable energy capacity installed last year. Meanwhile, the battery storage sector started to gain momentum.

Virtual inertia is a fundamentally different mechanism to fast frequency response (FFR).

EnergyLab has launched an ARENA funded scaleup program. More than ever, Australia is witnessing immense interest in startups in the energy sector. EnergyLab supports these startups and through this new scaleup program, aims to support late-stage clean energy startups.

An ARENA backed project has resulted in an all-in-one battery storage that could simplify batteries for a number of applications. Australian-based Relectrify was behind the project which could see the inverter and battery management system combined in one unit. 

Melbourne solar Thermal Hydro tech company RayGen has announced a strategic partnership with global developer Photon Energy. The boost comes only weeks after added ARENA funding and signals a major push toward a solution to the problem of solar intermittency.

Dubbo, birthplace of Glenn McGrath, has announced its membership in the Cities Power Partnership (CPP) program as it looks to transition to renewable energies, particularly solar.

French renewable energy developer Neoen is looking to develop a massive battery near Geelong that will dwarf its largest project to date – South Australia’s 100MW/129MWh Tesla big battery.