UNSW

EPC contractor Decmil Group has selected Nextracker’s NX Horizon solar trackers for the 255 MW Sunraysia Solar Farm, one of Australia’s largest solar farms located in New South Wales.

Major universities across Australia are turning to solar PV to bring down energy costs, and to show leadership on climate change. In addition to deploying rooftop arrays across campuses, they are now developing their own renewable energy assets and coming to inventive financial arrangements, emerging as torchbearers in this booming corporate PPA market.

In addition to securing debt financing from a consortium of banks, the Australian-Chinese renewables developer has entered into a long-term equity partnership with global infrastructure investor John Laing for the investment and development of the Sunraysia Solar Farm. John Laing confirmed it will invest $108.6 million in the project, taking a 90.1% stake.

The University of New South Wales has unveiled a 500 kWh Tesla Powerpack battery at its campus as part of a ten-year energy research trial in partnership with NSW’s electricity transmission network operator TransGrid.

UNSW’s ARC DECRA Fellow Sophie Lewis and research fellow Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick chart a decade-long failure of Australian emissions reductions policy as evidence of extreme weather events and climate change impacts mount.

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.

Pioneering UNSW solar researcher Martin Green has received wide recognition for his achievement as being selected as one of the winners of 2018 Global Energy Prize. The prize means Green will split $820,000 in prize money with the co-winner, to go towards his research and teaching, and resulted in a congratulatory call from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Martin Green and his UNSW collaborators have driven a wide range of innovations within the Chinese and global PV manufacturing sector. Green, a Scientia Professor at UNSW and the Director of the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics shares his take on PV technology in 2018.

Four different thin film solar PV technologies were tested by the MIT experts across three types of environment in the U.S.: Arid (Arizona); temperate (South Dakota); and humid (Florida). The research found that despite high costs, tandem cells may become viable in rooftop applications.

Last year’s result surpassed by more than 1 GW the results registered in 2015 and 2016, when the combined capacity of this market segment reached 4.4 GW and 4.3 GW, respectively.