solar au

Australian minerals explorer Allup Silica aims to target the booming solar panel industry after independent tests confirmed the presence of premium silica sands – a key component of high-end glass manufacturing – at its Sparkler project in Western Australia.

The head of the country’s energy market operator has reiterated his call for the development of a mechanism that incentivises dispatchable capacity, saying it is critical to underpin the growth of renewables as Australia’s energy transition continues to accelerate.

The battle of the billionaires has become the stuff of headlines. The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has gone head-to-head with Australia’s richest man, billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest.

United States-based engineering firm FTC Solar has won the contract to supply its Voyager solar tracker technology for the 128 MW Cunderdin hybrid solar PV and battery energy storage project being developed in Western Australia.

Former Northern Territory chief minister Michael Gunner plans to focus on developing “world-changing, economy building” clean energy projects in Australia’s north after accepting a new role with mining magnate Andrew Forrest’s renewable energy company Fortescue Future Industries.

It’s been easy to get caught up in all the news from the Victoria and Queensland governments proposing record-setting funding and environmental targets by 2030 and 2035, along with the news of AGL bringing forward the closure of Loy Yang A.

Plans to build one of the world’s largest renewable energy powered electrolysers in Queensland continue to gather pace with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency awarding $13.7 million (USD 8.8 million) to the proponents of the project to help finance a $38 million front-end engineering and design study.

Six new solar farm projects totalling 623 MW of renewable capacity and four big batteries delivering up to 365 MW and 600 MWh of new energy storage have been given the tick of approval by the Victorian government as it looks to meet its target of powering all its operations with clean energy by 2025.

Smart technology that controls energy flow on power grids could soon be the norm in the Northern Territory with a trial launched in the outback town of Alice Springs that will test the economic and energy efficiency of a rooftop solar-driven virtual power plant.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences has switched on a 100 MW compressed air energy storage system in China’s Hebei province. The facility can store more than 132 million kWh of electricity per year.