Australia

Australian researchers developed a low-cost reflective coating for semi-transparent solar roof tiles that lowers surface temperatures by up to 20 C and boosts power output by up to 11.7%. Simulations across five global cities showed energy savings of up to 5.85%, highlighting the coating’s strong potential for improving both building cooling efficiency and solar performance in BIPV systems.

New South Wales has awarded long-term energy service agreements to six battery energy storage projects totaling 1.17 GW and nearly 12 GWh, lifting the state’s contracted storage capacity to 30 GWh.

Rooftop solar installations in Australia declined sharply in January, with small-scale technology certificate (STC) volumes down 32% month on month after four consecutive months of growth, according to market analyst SunWiz. It says the result was broadly in line with seasonal norms and does not signal a trend for 2026.

Australian recycling developer Iondrive says that its IONSolv platform achieved more than 85% silver extraction in initial bench-scale testing.

Australia’s rooftop solar fleet continues to expand with a combined 28.3 GW of generation capacity commissioned by the end of 2025 with approximately 4.3 million installations across the country.

Spanish building-integrated PV (BIPV) manufacturer Onyx Solar is delivering a custom building integrated PV system featuring almost 1,800 solar glass ‘louvres’ designed to help power Australian tech giant Atlassian’s new 39-storey headquarters in downtown Sydney with 100% renewable energy

Investment in utility-scale solar in Australia dropped 35% in the second half of 2025 compared to the previous six months with BloombergNEF (BNEF) saying the growth of rooftop solar and a booming battery market are among the reasons for the precipitous decline.

Renewable generation supplied more than half of Australia’s electricity in the fourth quarter of 2025, driving wholesale power prices down by nearly 50% and coinciding with record battery output, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). Coal-fired generation fell 4.6% year on year to a record quarterly low, while gas-fired output dropped 27% to its lowest level in 25 years.

UNSW researchers identified a new damp-heat degradation mechanism in TOPCon modules with laser-fired contacts, driven primarily by rear-side recombination and open-circuit voltage loss rather than series-resistance increase. The study highlights that magnesium in white EVA encapsulants accelerates degradation, guiding improved encapsulant and backsheet selection for more reliable modules in humid environments.

Nine generation and battery projects totaling 1.8 GW reached full output in Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM) during the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator.