Oceania

As a federal election draws nearer, the ways in which much-needed batteries in Australia’s electricity distribution network are incentivised is becoming highly political. With the rollout of community battery projects supported by the federal government underway, industry insiders are hoping that politicians settle on measures that will make distributed battery adoption mainstream.

National transport and logistics company Centurion has added 20 battery-electric trucks from Daimler to its fleet with the new heavy vehicles powered using energy from a 4.4 MW rooftop solar installation and 10.3 MWh battery.

The 40 MW Greenough River Solar Farm in Western Australia has been identified by energy consultancy Rystad Energy as the best performing large-scale PV asset in Australia last month.

DNV company Solcast reports that solar generation in parts of eastern Australia is set to face significant disruptions as Tropical Cyclone Alfred hits the Queensland coast. Other areas may benefit from enhanced solar irradiance due to stabilising atmospheric conditions on the cyclone’s periphery.

Electricity distributor SA Power Networks will begin the installation of the first of eight community batteries being rolled out across regional South Australia, to build energy resilience in local communities.

Sydney solar solutions company Smart Commercial Solar, in collaboration with AWISE, a national organisation dedicated to increasing the visibility and participation of women in the solar industry, are delivering a commercial rooftop solar project together done exclusively by women.

University of New South Wales researchers are part of an international team that has assessed the impact of soldering flux on heterojunction solar cells and has found that the composition of this component is key to prevent major cracks and significant peeling.

Australian solar panel manufacturer Tindo has donated $10,000 worth of solar panels to the Tanunda Cricket Club in South Australia, to aid the club’s environmental targets and reduce bills.

As any industry goes through an evolution, its workforce needs to do the same. Australia’s energy sector is going through major changes. Fueled by strong government and private sector investment along with rising community demand and expectations, the industry needs to ensure it has the skills our future energy network requires. And the only way it is going to do that is by attracting more women into the industry.

The Australian government has announced its first project through the Pacific and Timor-Leste off-grid renewable energy project investment fund, RENew Pacific, which will provide clean energy to Solomon Islands’ remote communities.