Australia

Australian modular solar manufacturer 5B will work with researchers from the University of Sydney to optimize the design of large-scale solar farms, in a bid to minimize temperature-induced panel efficiency losses. The research project secured funding support in the latest round of the Australian Research Council’s Linkage Project Grants program.

A research team at Australian National University (ANU) has claimed an efficiency of 30.3% for a tandem solar cell made by mechanically stacking a perovskite cell and silicon cell.

Tim Buckley, director of Climate Energy Finance, speaks to pv magazine about the crisis threatening Adani Group with collapse, the “positive outlook” for Australian renewables, and the nation’s potential to become a clean energy superpower.

Australian modular solar manufacturer 5B’s rapidly deployable Maverick technology is set for installation at a 95 MW hybrid power plant in Western Australia featuring solar, wind, and battery energy storage.

The deployment of a vanadium flow battery at a fire station run by Native Americans illustrates the role that the energy storage technology can play in ensuring that nobody is disadvantaged by the shift away from fossil fuels.

New Zealand government-owned Genesis Energy and renewables partner FRV Australia have purchased an advanced 52 MW agrivoltaic solar project on New Zealand’s South Island. If the project meets its 2024 operational target as anticipated, it will be the country’s first utility-scale solar farm.

US solar tracker supplier Array Technologies plans to set up a factory in Australia, after winning a contract to supply trackers for a 102 MW solar farm in the Australian state of Victoria.

Norway’s DNV has acquired Australia-based solar data specialist Solcast for an unspecified sum.

Just weeks after announcing its intent to build a AUD 300 million ($210 million) lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in Australia, Recharge Industries has reportedly joined a host of other bidders considering the revival of collapsed UK battery company Britishvolt. Investment could also revive plans to construct a battery cell gigafactory in northern England.

Japan’s largest oil company, Eneos, has opened a green hydrogen demonstration plant in Brisbane, Australia. The project is relatively small, producing just 20 kilograms of green hydrogen per day, but Eneos Senior Vice President Yuichiro Fujiyama says the company will expand it in the “near future.”