New Solar + Battery Storage Trial In Western Australia
Western Australia’s Energy Minister has announced a new $4 million stand-alone solar power system + battery storage pilot project on six properties in regional areas. The State Government said the 12 month trial aims to help determine how electricity can be supplied to edge-of-grid West Australians. “This stand-alone power system pilot is an exciting new […]
Bendigo Eyes 100% Renewable Energy
The city of Bendigo in Victoria is considering a goal of 100% renewable energy by 2036 – and rooftop solar could play a significant role in achieving that goal. Residents of Bendigo have been asked to provide feedback on the draft City of Greater Bendigo Environment Strategy 2016-2036, which aims for zero net carbon in […]
Solar Inverter Manufacturer Scorecard
SMA, SolarEdge, Sungrow and ABB have all been recognised as solar inverter sector leaders in IHS’s PV Inverter Supplier Scorecard – 2016. Usually when solar inverter manufacturers are ranked, it’s based on megawatt or revenue market share. This IHS Scorecard is based on nine different metrics to arrive at overall scores for market presence and […]
South Australian Budget 2016-17 – Renewable Energy
Here’s a brief roundup of South Australia’s 2016-17 State Budget in relation to renewable energy. The Budget includes the previously announced $500,000 to go towards a $1 million+ feasibility study to examine options for enhanced energy interconnection with the Eastern states. This is with view to ensuring the state can source more baseload power when […]
A Call To End EU-China Solar Trade War
A collective representing 120,000 European companies is lobbying the EC to end anti-dumping duties on Chinese-made solar panels and cells. Anti-dumping and countervailing duties on crystalline silicon modules and cells originating or consigned from China have been in place since 2013. The European Commission is currently considering whether to extend the measures or to remove […]
World First – Solar Powered Mobile Wastewater Treatment
The world’s first mobile wastewater treatment plant to be powered entirely by the sun has been shipped to the Canadian Army. Housed in a 6 metre shipping container, Island Water Technologies’ modular REGEN system is able to process wastewater produced by up to 75 persons. The “plug and play” plant supplied to the Army is […]
Solar Powered Spacecraft Reaches Jupiter
The record-breaking solar-powered Juno spacecraft has survived its toughest test so far and is now in orbit around Jupiter. In January this year, NASA’s Juno broke the record for humanity’s most distant solar powered spacecraft. At that point, it was approximately 793 million kilometers from the sun. Juno successfully entered Jupiter’s orbit during a 35-minute […]
First Victorian New Energy Jobs Fund Grant Announced
The first of 24 grants from round one of Victoria’s $20 million New Energy Jobs Fund program was announced by Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio yesterday. Launched in December last year, the Fund is designed to support commercially ready projects in the state with the potential to create long-term, sustainable employment […]
800,000+ UK Homes Have Solar Panels
The 4th of July marked the third Solar Independence Day in the UK, an initiative led by the country’s Solar Trade Association. The UK is heading towards 12GW of solar PV; more than double Australia’s solar capacity and enough to power the equivalent of 3.8 million homes. At one point last month, solar generation supplied […]
Dutch Solar Challenge Under Way
Australia has the World Solar Challenge for cars, the Netherlands has the Dutch Solar Challenge for boats. The major race runs 200 kilometres over a number of days. The event began in Amsterdam a couple of days ago with a parade; then continues to Lemmer, then to Drachten, Grou and then finally Leewarden. The timeline […]