Oceania

As scorching heatwave drove up air conditioning power demand, faults at coal-fired power plants were directly responsible for blackouts across Victoria and South Australia. Extreme weather is debunking arguments for new fossil fuel generation, and signaling Australia’s energy security lies in renewables.

The South Australian government has released an update on the energy storage uptake under the nation’s biggest home battery rebate scheme. With a total of 101 batteries already installed and more than 500 households now in line for installation, a further influx of applications is expected as public awareness builds.

Japanese industrial giant Sumitomo Corporation has fully acquired Infinite Energy, Western Australia’s solar installer and electricity retailer, thus expanding on its local coal-focused portfolio.

Over 70,000 Australian households will install battery storage in 2019, according to the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). With the nation’s storage demand set to triple, Australia is forecast to make up 30% of global demand this year.

The Australia Institute’s first emissions audit of 2019 shows renewables pushing coal aside to reduce Australia’s emissions 20% below the peak recorded in 2008; and the load that January’s high temperatures would normally exert on the grid has been mitigated by high uptake of rooftop solar.

As part of a scientific research focusing on agriculture on exhausted mining areas, a seed cleaning shed on Christmas Island is being powered by solar+storage. The switch from polluting diesel has not only brought a low maintenance, silent and environmentally friendly solution to this remote location, but also lowered operational costs nearly fivefold.

Transition to a world run entirely on clean energy – together with the implementation of natural climate solutions – is the only way to halt climate change and keep the global temperature rise below 1.5°C, according to another significant study.

Having welcomed Sol Distribution on board, Norwegian solar manufacturer REC Group hopes to expand its presence in Australia, which it sees as its key market in the APAC region.

The opening of SolarShare’s Mount Majura Solar Farm to investors this week represents a significant milestone in the community-energy sector in Australia, says Nicky Ison, founding Director of the Community Power Agency. “It is the first community solar farm in Australia that is grid connected in front of the meter,” she says, and at 1 MW capacity it will also be the country’s biggest community-owned solar farm.

German discount supermarket chain Aldi is set to roll out solar PV across 30 stores and distribution centers in New South Wales and Queensland. Netherlands-based renewables developer Photon Energy will deliver the rooftop PV arrays.