Oceania

German battery and solar energy company sonnen will move its Australian headquarters from Sydney to Adelaide where it will also establish a manufacturing hub.

A New South Wales energy management company has won ARENA’s funding for a smart swimming poll pilot project, which holds a promise to both manage peak demand and save pool owners up to 30% of their household electricity use.

The South Australian Labor Party has increased its Renewable Energy Target to 75% by 2025. It also plans to introduce a target of meeting 25% of the state’s peak electricity demand with stored renewables – equating to 750 MW of storage capacity.  

Australia’s first large scale solar+storage array has been grid connected, in Northern Queensland. The collocated 10.8 MW solar and 1.4 MW/5.3 MWh battery storage system is set to demonstrate the value of dispatchable PV to networks and asset owners.

There is absolutely no doubting that the installation rate of solar PV, both rooftop and utility scale, is growing extremely quickly. An exciting development, yeah, but installed capacity isn’t likely to double in 2018.

The Australian Wind Alliances’s NSW regional coordinator, Charlie Prell, attended the launch of the new Gullen Solar Farm at Bannaby, just south of Crookwell in the Southern Tablelands of NSW.  

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has delivered its latest detailed energy policy review to the Australian Federal Government. It points to changing policy at the Federal level as having failed Australia’s energy transition and consumers, and argues for the need for a framework to be put in place for 2030.

Germany’s innogy is set to acquire the Limondale and Hilston utility scale solar projects in New South Wales from developer Overland Sun Farming. The two projects have a combined capacity of over 460 MW.

South Australia’s Tailem Bend Solar Project has reached financial close, having signed a PPA for 100% of its output with Snowy Hydro. Construction on the project, located 100km south-east of Adelaide, will begin in February 2018.

Gavin Merchant from SolarEdge Australia and New Zealand speaks to pv magazine Australia about the growing acceptance of module-level power electronics across all solar market segments. The rise of storage is also bringing new opportunities.