Oceania

It’s official: 2017 was a record year for rooftop PV in Australia. The Clean Energy Regulator announced today that over 1070 MW of small-scale solar was installed by Australian homeowners and businesses in 2017 – representing 41% growth over 2016.

The Energy Security Board released its consultation paper on the National Energy Guarantee at the end of last week. Olivia Kember from clean energy advisory Energetics investigates what the emerging policy details reveal about the policy as a means of facilitating emission reductions and spurring innovation.

The latest arrival to the Australian battery storage market will now have the backing of a major German utility. German storage provider Senec has been acquired by EnBW, one of Germany’s ‘big three’ utilities.

Prospective PV power plant developer Green Switch Australia has proposed a 47 MW solar farm for the outskirts of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales.

Electricity retailer Powershop is dropping the rates for its Victorian customers by 5%, as it adds “a diverse set of renewable generation” to its portfolio. Powershop is the retail arms of New Zealand-based utility Meridian Energy.

Australia’s large-scale and rooftop solar PV sectors now employ over 10,000 people. The findings were published today in Green Energy Market’s Renewable Energy Index for January 2018.

The use of PV trackers in utility scale solar arrays in Australia broke all records in 2017, with the technology being deployed in more than 90% of plants under construction. GTM Research has revealed the findings to pv magazine Australia, drawn from its Global Solar PV Tracker Market Shares and Shipments 2018 report.

As a part of its expanding quality and certification program, the Clean Energy Council has taken action to suspend or delist eight solar suppliers in the first two months of 2018. The action has applied to 156 PV module or inverter models, including Shenzhen Sofarsolar inverter 3000TL, which the CEC announced on Wednesday had failed testing.

As the deployment of large scale renewable energy projects picked up the pace in 2017, the 2020 Renewable Energy Target of 33,000 GWh has been put within reach. The Clean Energy Regulator has reported “a healthy surplus” of renewable energy certificates in the Renewable Energy Target market.

Tasked with redirecting electricity generated in industry to households in north Queensland, Australia’s first large scale operating virtual power plant at work has welcomed big industrial players as customers.