CEFC To Help Save The Great Barrier Reef?
A billion dollars pledged by the Coalition to help save Australia’s Great Barrier Reef will reportedly come from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation’s kitty. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will today unveil the Coalition’s $1 billion Great Barrier Reef Fund plan, designed to assist Queensland’s farming sector in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and toxic chemical […]
New South Wales Solar Feed In Tariff – June Update
The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) has made a final decision on solar feed in tariff rates in New South Wales. The “benchmark range”, i.e. voluntary retailer contribution, will be 5.5 to 7.2 cents per kilowatt hour in 2016-17. “This is due to an increase in the outlook for wholesale electricity prices,” states IPART. […]
Solar Voyager – The Autonomous Sun-Powered Kayak
The Solar Voyager is (slowly) making its way across the Atlantic. If it succeeds, it will be the first autonomous craft to do so. According to the Solar Voyager web site, the kayak is more than four metres in length and one metre in width. Solar Voyager is powered by two solar panels providing 240 […]
Victoria’s Regional Electricity Grid : Batteries Required?
It seems the electricity grid in parts of Victoria may not cope with new renewable energy capacity currently in the pipeline without significant network upgrades – or perhaps battery storage. Increased certainty around the nation’s Large Scale Renewable Energy Target (LRET) has led to major interest in renewable generation; particularly in the state’s North West […]
Sungrow Solar Inverter Popularity Growing In Australia
It would appear to be sunny days ahead in Australia for China’s leading solar inverter manufacturer, Sungrow. According to a brief report on GreentechLead, Sungrow had the largest market share in Australia of all Chinese solar inverter manufacturers last year.. Sungrow says it quadrupled shipments of residential solar inverters into Australia in 2015 – around […]
REC Q1 2016 Solar Market Insights
REC has reported substantial year-on-year growth during the first quarter of this year in relation to shipments of its modules. Earlier this week, REC released its Q1 2016 Solar Market Insight report. It states the company experienced year-on-year Q1 growth of 37% for shipments of REC solar panels, mainly due to activity in the USA. […]
EU Upbeat On Wind Power
The future of offshore wind power in Europe has never looked brighter after Energy Ministers from nine North Sea countries signed a historic agreement of cooperation to support the sector. At an Energy Council meeting in Luxembourg, Ministers of Germany, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, France, Denmark, Ireland and Belgium joined to sign a Memorandum of […]
New Subsidy For Solar Power In The Northern Territory
The Northern Territory Government’s new $20 million Home Improvement Scheme is offering generous financial assistance to Territorians wanting to install solar panels. Fully launched just a few days ago, the Scheme has already attracted a huge amount of interest. Eligible NT homeowner-occupiers can receive vouchers of up to $2,000 (excluding GST) to go towards home […]
Australian Electorate Solar Scorecard 2016
How does your electorate rank for solar? What about the ranking of your 2016 Federal Election candidates and their party’s policies on renewables? There’s a very quick and easy way to find out. Solar Scorecard, a project of Solar Citizens, can tell you how your federal electorate ranks on rooftop solar installations compared to 150 […]
Better Renewable Energy Forecasting In Germany
One of the biggest challenges to integrating more renewable energy into electricity grids is finding ways to better predict power supplies from weather-dependent sources such as solar and wind power. In Germany, where the goal is to reach an 80 percent share of renewables by 2050, this challenge is being tackled head-on through a collaboration […]