Australia

The 15 GW Asian Renewable Energy Hub has been recommended for approval by environmental authorities in the Pilbara region. The project was originally intended to export clean energy to Jakarta and Singapore via subsea, high voltage DC cables but its focus has shifted to domestic industrial consumers.

Detroit-based Bollinger Motors’ versatile E-Chassis for electric vehicles could pave the way for a commercial vehicle fleet transition in the U.S. which accelerates the e-mobility revolution.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) claims that the country already has the technical ability to safely operate a system in which three-quarters of the electricity comes from wind and solar. However, it needs to get the regulations right in order to do so.

Analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance say the lowest-cost projects financed in Australia, China, Chile and the UAE in the last six months hit a levelized cost of energy of just $23-29/MWh and the best solar and wind projects will produce electricity for less than $20/MWh by 2030.

The unfolding effects of the Covid-19 crisis, and fears of a possible second wave, have split analysts trying to guess how the unsubsidized renewables market will emerge as slumping demand continued to distort power markets. pv magazine rounds up the week’s coronavirus developments.

Matt Harper, chief commercial officer of newly-merged British-Canadian vanadium redox flow battery business Invinity Energy Systems has spoken to pv magazine about the VS3-022 Battery Unit it is marketing for grid scale solar-plus-storage projects and why it may be a better bet than lithium-ion.

Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology have proposed a new design for a diamond nanothread bundle that could pave the way for a new form of mechanical storage. Pound-for-pound, the tech could be three times more powerful than lithium-ion batteries.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency says that on-site solar electrolysis is not just the most cost-effective way of developing a domestic and export hydrogen economy, but perhaps the only way.

The coronavirus epidemic continues to batter the global economy, including the solar industry, but falling demand during lockdowns has brought negative energy prices as well as helping drive record solar generation, amid less-polluted skies.

The ten largest solar tracker companies accounted for 88% of the market last year, according to analyst WoodMackenzie, with the market growing 20% from 2018.