Australia

Australian solar window supplier ClearVue says its products can reduce carbon emissions in buildings by as much as 90%, while California-based BIPV window coating producer Ubiquitous Energy has raised $70 million to scale up its own tech.

The world’s largest coal seaport is now powered by 100% renewable energy, following the confirmation of a new deal between the Port of Newcastle, Australia, and the Australian unit of Spanish energy group Iberdrola.

The 162MW (AC) Columboola Solar Farm in the Western Downs region of Queensland, Australia, has been successfully connected to the transmission network. Queensland government-owned CS Energy has agreed to purchase 100% of the 440GWh of annual capacity over the next 10 years.

Sunman Energy claims the new factory, located in Yangzhong City in China’s Jiangsu province, is the world’s largest production facility for lightweight photovoltaics.

Woodside Energy has submitted a proposal for a 500MW solar facility to the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority. The company wants to install up to 1 million solar panels to power industrial customers in the state, including its own Pluto LNG export facility.

Wood Mackenzie has predicted solar equipment cost increases will ease back after last year saw the average cost of solar electricity rise for the first time in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has announced AUD 40 million ($28.7 million) of research and development funding across two streams. Stream 1 consists of cells and modules, while Stream 2 is focused on balance of system, along with operations and maintenance. It is hoped the additional funding will spur Australia’s pioneering solar research to push for the federal government’s “ultra low-cost solar” target of AUD 15/MWh.

The solar arm of oil major BP is proposing to build an agrivoltaic project in the Upper Hunter region big enough to provide 4% of New South Wales’ (NSW) electricity demand. The project will include 296 MW of storage capacity.

The investment is planned to support development and construction of Hydrostor’s 1.1GW, 8.7GWh of Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage projects that are well underway in California and Australia, and help expand Hydrostor’s project development pipeline globally.

Korea Zinc, non-ferrous metal smelting company, has agreed to invest $50 million in Energy Vault, a Switzerland-based gravity storage specialist, in order to use its tech to decarbonize its refining and smelting operations in Australia.