Energy Storage

More than 70,000 Australian households will install battery storage this year, according to the Bloomberg New Energy Finance. With the nation’s storage demand set to triple, Australia is expected to make up 30% of global demand.

The German inverter maker struggled after China’s announcement at the end of May drove down prices and markets around the world and left a clear mark on its figures. Both the commercial PV segment and the storage business fell short of expectations due to delivery bottlenecks.

Richard Branson says the efforts made by one of his companies to roll out PV in the Caymans are part of a wider drive to bring renewable energy to the Caribbean.

Having equipped a three-digit MW volume of large scale and distributed generation projects throughout the region, Sungrow is ready for a rapid regional expansion. EMEA general manager Derek Huang told pv magazine at the World Future Energy Summit about his expectations across all market segments.

The Smart Grid Station wind-PV facility also incorporates a 500 kWh lithium-ion battery storage system, around 2,000 internet of things-derived sensors and smart meters. The plant was installed by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority and Korean utility KEPCO.

With budgets continuing to be slashed, one authority is eyeing solar-plus-storage to boost revenue. It is not the first time a U.K. council has decided to turn a landfill site into an income generating asset.

Transition to a world run entirely on clean energy – together with the implementation of natural climate solutions – is the only way to halt climate change and keep the global temperature rise below 1.5°C, according to another significant study.

The Australian Labor Party has released a National Hydrogen Plan, which involves directing AU$1 billion in CEFC funding towards clean hydrogen projects, $100 million in ARENA grants for hydrogen technology refuelling infrastructure, and $40 million from the CEFC’s Innovation Fund to help commercialise new hydrogen technologies and businesses. Looking towards clean energy exports, the plan will provide $3 million in funding to Queensland coal port in Gladstone with the aim of creating a hydrogen hub.

Wood Mackenzie’s number-crunchers are the latest analysts queueing up to predict a bumper year ahead for PV, with falling prices, rising efficiency rates and booming markets outside China all on the cards. And it could be a make-or-break year for mega-projects, says Wood Mac.

The Baltic nation installed 90 MW of PV last year, four times more than it had done since it began adopting solar. The growth was down to a new regulation issued by the government in June and the big push came mainly from small installations.