People can’t get enough of solar in Albury-Wodonga
There’s a healthy appetite for solar as well as batteries and EVs in the Albury-Wodonga on the NSW Victorian border, says Bobbi McKibbin, the business & community engagement manager at solar installation company Solar Integrity. McKibben tells Ecogeneration what...
What Hygrid Energy’s “engineer-in-a-box” solution hopes to do for clean energy assets
This Australian startup wants to see all clean energy assets live long and productive lives. Hygrid Energy’s three cofounders – Ben Shepherd, Hamish MacFarlane and Marc Pelletier – met while working at Ecoult, which was a company initially spun out of the CSIRO to...
Feds pursue “ultra low cost” solar with R&D funding
The federal government will pump $40 million into solar research and development in a bid to cut the cost of solar energy to roughly a third of today’s costs. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) funding round will help Australia keep its status as a global...
Net zero or 100 per cent renewables … it’s time to decide
A detailed report into the electricity market shows the risks to generators and consumers of a rapid, uncoordinated transition to clean energy, writes Jeremy Chunn.
Matt Kean keeps energy portfolio but loses the top environment job
NSW Liberal MP Matt Kean has kept his job as energy minister and treasurer but lost the environment portfolio under NSW premier Dominic Perrottet’s cabinet shuffle. The energy and environment portfolios have been separated, however, with the environment portfolio...
ARENA backs ACT project to alleviate grid congestion
A project designed to squeeze more from the ACT’s energy network has attracted $2.9 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. Called Project Converge, the $8.4 million project builds on previous work to optimise the two-way flows of energy in grids...
Record year for renewables but developing countries being left behind
Australia is one of the wealthy countries that attracted big money into renewables throughout the pandemic. However, less flowed to developing countries.
AEMO ISP 2022: Renewables muscling out coal faster than expected
The renewables industry is determined to rise to the challenge and deliver a faster-than-predicted clean energy transition as modelled by the Australian Energy Market Operator in the 2022 draft Integrated System Plan. Last week, AEMO’s 2022 draft Integrated System...
Crisis averted for manufacturers affected by inverter issue
A technical issue that has thrown the solar industry into disarray is thankfully on track for resolution. The issue reportedly stemmed from new inverter standards that were introduced at the same time as changed certification and paperwork requirements for DC...
nbn targets 100 per cent renewables, with 80GWh PPA to start
Australia’s government-owned national broadband company, NBN Co, has joined 110 Australian businesses that have already committed to sourcing 100 per cent renewables via the RE100 commitment.
Net zero commitments, not price, driving corporate PPA madness
Even under less-than-optimal conditions, corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) are rising in popularity as way to procure clean energy – but not for the reasons most expect.
There’s an enormous geothermal pool under the Latrobe Valley that can give us cheap, clean energy
Graeme Beardsmore from The University of Melbourne considers the potential of geothermal energy in the Latrobe Valley. About 650 metres beneath the Latrobe Valley, the heart of Victoria’s coal country, lies a little-known, naturally hot 65℃ pool of water in an...
Rex connects tenants to shared solar and storage
The sun is for everyone, but not everyone owns the roof they live under. A Queensland software company is looking to solve that problem. The solar rollout isn’t skipping a beat, with more than three million households across the country now sporting purple PV panels...
Wave energy carving out a spot in the energy transition
Wave energy has long struggled to find its feet in the clean energy transition but the tide could be turning for this clean energy technology that is already cheap enough to replace diesel generation on remote...
Enel Group the new green retailer on the block
Enel Group has entered the Australian energy retail market with a renewable energy offering for commercial and industrial energy customers. The “competitive” offering will draw on the company’s 350MW Virtual Power Plant (VPP) onsite battery energy storage systems, and...
Other NEM states to join Simply Energy’s VPP
Simply Energy’s virtual power plant (VPP) will no longer be limited to South Australia and will soon expand to all National Energy Market (NEM) states. The expansion of the VPP follows a successful trial in South Australia funded by ARENA. ENGIE’s retail business...
Democratisation of Victorian smart meter data will quicken clean energy transition: C4NET
An alliance of researchers and distribution networks putting Victorian smart meter data to work has vowed to share its resources, writes Jeremy Chunn. To build an intelligent energy system you need intelligence. Where successful delivery of that energy relies on the...
The renewables-led recovery is passing Australia by, says sonnen Australia
Other countries are leaving Australia for dust on the “renewables-led recovery”, according to Nathan Dunn, managing director of sonnen Australia.
CEC confidence survey: What do we want? Grid grid grid grid!
Head honchos in renewables focus on the connection dilemma and shrug off 2030 federal net-zero ambivalence.
The case for ditching ownership of home solar and batteries
Could owning your own solar and batteries one day become a relic of the past?
Nestle Australia signs renewable PPA
Nestle Australia’s factories, offices, distribution centres and other facilities will be powered by 100 per cent renewable electricity under a new power purchased agreement (PPA) signed with CWP Renewables.
‘If it was my way I’d have all electricians and a couple of apprentices to install a solar system’ … WA installer’s call for quality
AGF Electrical Installations director Ashley Funnell is working hard to convert Perth businesses to solar energy.
At long last, Australia has a bioenergy roadmap – and its findings are startling
Bernadette McCabe from University of Southern Queensland and Ian O’Hara from Queensland University of Technology unpack Australia’s first Bioenergy Roadmap.
EVs in apartments: Helping or hindering the energy transition?
As the grid transitions to clean distributed energy sources, electric vehicles could become particularly useful in high density areas as mobile batteries. In NSW, electric vehicles are enjoying a surge of interest triggered by the state government’s new EV policies,...
