How performance-based PV RECs could transform the solar industry (May/June 2011)
Warwick Johnston, Vice President of the Solar Energy Industries Association, offers a shrewd perspective on the skewed incentives under the Renewable Energy Certificate scheme.
Warwick argues that the scheme currently makes no distinction between what a photovoltaic (PV) system claims to do – that is, its nameplate capacity in kilowatts – and what it actually achieves, and offers a solution via system metering.
Best Practice makes perfect sense to Australian solar industry (January/February 2011)
EcoGeneration spoke with Ged McCarthy of the Australian Solar Energy Industries Association on solar best practice and the advantages to be had by it in the Australian industry.
The article explores how and why approximately 130,000 Federally-funded solar systems have been installed across Australia, yet only a small number of these installations meet the high standards of the Australian solar industry at large.
Performance degradation in solar plants (March/April 2011)
A solution to prevent potential induced degradation, a recently-discovered new trend in high voltage solar systems throughout the world, has been researched by SOLON SE’s Dr Lars Podlowski and Daniel Hundmaier.
This article explains the origins of potential induced degradation/light-induced degradation, and offers a solution to protect solar modules from this damaging phenomenon.
“By affecting the long-term sustainability of system performance, PID touches on a key element of solar technology that virtually all financing concepts in the industry rely on.”
Making it big on the solar scene (March/April 2011)
In recent years the solar industry has grown exponentially. Fuelled by Federal and state government incentives, many companies have been born, and others that were already established have fared well, despite the global financial crisis.
EcoGeneration caught up with some successful companies and individuals that the solar boom has yielded, and what they have done to make their practice successful.
Speaking solar thermal with an expert (May/June 2011)
EcoGeneration spoke with Werner Weiss, Chair of the International Energy Agency’s Solar Heating and Cooling Program and Managing Director of AEE Intec – Institute for Sustainable Technologies.
Mr Weiss discusses advances in solar thermal technology, the differences between the European and Australian solar scenes, and the origins of his clean energy interests.
Smart inverters good news for utilities (March/April 2011)
Grid connect PV inverters, with a host of new features designed to improve integration with the grid, offer new opportunities to utilities managing the impact of the thousands of PV systems being installed around Australia.
Grant Behrendorff, a Director at renewable energy and energy efficiency consulting firm Evolve Energy explores how electricity distribution utilities have been kept busy connecting these grid connect PV inverter systems and implementing the relevant network connection agreements with customers.
The Gold Coast Stadium Redevelopment (March/April 2011)
The redevelopment of the Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast, home to the Australian Football League’s Suns, employed a raft of clean energy measures in order to make the stadium as efficient as possible.
Featured in these measures is the stadium’s solar roof, which employed complex engineering and design due to the horseshoe-shaped roof and its curved bay.
