Smart Energy Council

Australian peak body, the Smart Energy Council, has this morning revealed the details of the initial global and domestic partners for its hydrogen Zero Carbon Certification Scheme. The scheme seeks to provide a guarantee of origin for hydrogen, ammonia and other derivative products like steel, in preparation of Australia becoming a global hydrogen export hub.

As the vision of Australia becoming a leading hydrogen exporter sharpens, questions about the best form in which to send our offering into the world arise. Just in the last fortnight, a West Australian company has came out with a strong case for a new, largely overlooked form: compressed hydrogen. The curve ball has piqued the interest of many. “I think they’re really doing some very exciting work,” Scott Hamilton from the Smart Energy Council told pv magazine Australia.

Chris Bowen, who was appointed Labor’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy after a reshuffle in January, told pv magazine Australia he’s keen to make job creation his core focus, framing renewable investment as a Covid recovery solution rather than the end of Australia’s historic coal mining industry, which has dominated Federal narrative.

As the Smart Energy Council prepares to rollout the first pilot of its green hydrogen certification scheme, CEO John Grimes and consultant Scott Hamilton detailed the international discussions informing its architecture and what’s at stake for Australia’s export future.

The Australian Smart Energy Council and the German Energy Agency, dena, will work together to develop a scheme to certify renewable hydrogen and carbon neutral powerfuels.

Guarantees and warranties may be thought to deliver peace of mind, but when underperformance on rooftop systems is detected, diagnosing and demonstrating failures is no simple task. pv magazine’s Virtual Insight on Quality event in November tackled this issue from all angles – and what it means for Australia’s burgeoning rooftop segment.

Economics and common sense have to win out over a climate-denying, pro-fossil fuel government, says John Grimes, the chief executive of Australia’s Smart Energy Council. And in the absence of renewable energy targets, he argues that the power of the people seems to be leading the way.

South Australia’s new solar installation regulations came into effect on September 28. The regulations, designed to better manage a distributed energy system, are thought rushed by some in the industry, but ultimately they should facilitate more solar integration.

Immediately on the back of the first fully-virtual solar industry event in the Australia market, the Smart Energy Council has announced its second ‘3D Virtual’ conference and exhibition – scheduled for March 3-4 2021.

The Western Australian Government has launched its new Distributed Energy Buyback Scheme, a way for homes, schools, and not-for-profits with rooftop solar, energy storage, and even electric vehicles (EVs) to earn some money back from the surplus energy they export to the grid.