Oceania

Kalgoorlie-Boulder, in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia (WA), is set to receive the region’s first community battery. The WA Government-owned utility Western Power is looking to smooth out peak load periods by integrating the Tesla battery into the network.

A national Technology Investment Roadmap, which is intended to drive a successful shift to secure, more affordable energy and lower emissions, has flagged support for new gas investments, carbon capture and storage, and “emerging nuclear technologies”. The long-awaited document has prompted a flurry of reactions.

The Western Downs solar farm will deploy German power electronics fabricated locally in Australia, with SMA announcing it has picked up a contract to supply the 400MWac development.

Solar wholesaler BayWa r.e. is partnering with industry trainer Global Sustainable Energy Solutions (GSES) on training provision seeking to ameliorate a noticeable lack of quality control within the rapidly growing solar industry.

In the face of renewed political polarisation on the both Federal energy policy and Australia’s economic recovery from the impact of Covid-19, Warringah MP Zali Steggall has called for a Roundtable in which both public and private sector voices of the nation can better vet potential projects.

As the fossil fuel industry applauds new legislative changes proposed by the Morrison government, which would pave the way for coal and gas projects to tap clean energy finance, environmental groups are shaking their heads in disbelief at the government’s lack of initiative to deliver a sensible climate policy. More than ever before, the fate of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is at stake.

The government’s Climate Solutions Fund offers little hope for financial-industry backers of a Paris aligned economic recovery writes Tim Buckley, Director of Energy Finance Studies with IEEFA Australasia

Researchers from Charles Darwin University have conducted a ‘cradle to grave’ life cycle assessment (LCA) of the four most widely used PV technologies. The academics say that cadmium telluride solar modules have the lowest life cycle impact, followed by amorphous, multi and monocrystalline silicon products.

The Greens released their plan for Australia’s economic recovery from the Covid-19 crisis this week. The plan looks to invest heavily in renewable infrastructure, a cunningly rational ploy to solve a few crises at once.

The Palaszczuk Government is providing funding to accelerate a $1.5 billion transmission link stretching from Townsville to Mount Isa in North Queensland in a bid to stimulate large-scale solar and wind investment and underpin the creation of local battery industry.