Oceania

While the global PV market is set to record its weakest Q3 demand since 2015, the Australian market will finish the year strong across all segments. GTM Research made the finding in its latest Global Demand Monitor, noting that oversupply and falling prices will result in a decline of modules, as a percentage of total utility scale developer cost, from 34% to 28% in Australia this year.

A data center, which will be used for crypto and Bitcoin mining, will be powered by a combination of solar power generated at an adjacent 20 MW solar PV farm and coal-fired generator.

Mixed messages have emerged from today’s COAG Energy Ministers’ meeting today, after what was meant to have been a decisive meeting for the National Energy Guarantee (NEG) policy measure. Fundamental opposition from some Labor states remain, however an agreement to release the draft legislation was reached – after it passes the test of the coalition party room.

Amid the intense discussion surrounding the National Energy Guarantee’s promise to cut power bills by $550 a year, Australia’s biggest power producer has reported its full year profit almost trebled, and its underlying profit rose by nearly a third.

Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten has chosen a visit to UNSW’s solar research facility to push for “fair dinkum” negotiations between the Federal Government and the states over the NEG tomorrow. Labor may look to secure a higher NEG emissions reduction target in the Senate, after passing the lower house.

As the debate heats up in the run up to Friday’s COAG meeting, the Victorian government has issued a last-minute call to redraft the proposed National Energy Guarantee (NEG), and the Australian Capital Territory has redefined its NEG approval conditions in regard to the emissions target. Meanwhile, Australia’s peak renewable energy bodies have taken opposing positions.

Researchers at UNSW have surpassed 10% efficiency for a cell based on copper zinc tin sulfide – sulfide kesterite. It is the fourth time in two years the group has set a new record for the efficiency of cells based on such materials.

Aevitas will design and construct a 3.6 MW solar PV array for Australia’s largest cotton producer. The Cubbie Solar Project will supply 40% of Cubbie’s electricity demand, during its peak ginning season between April and September.

A new report shows that coupling renewable power purchase agreements with demand response, reducing consumption when prices are high, could increase electricity savings on top of those delivered under the PPA by one third.

In the lead up to a COAG energy ministers’s critical meeting this week, a poll conducted by ReachTEL for Greenpeace Australia Pacific shows that over 70% of respondents want an ambitious renewable energy target to drive down electricity prices.