Oceania

A list compiled by a British price comparison website draws upon data from German company Statista which shows clean energy – including hydro – made up 12.74% of the nation’s power mix at the end of September.

The 25 MW/52 MWh battery at the Lake Bonney wind farm is in the final stages of testing. Once operational, the big Tesla battery will supply the electric carmaker’s Australia EV supercharger network with renewable electricity.

A minor concern it may be, compared to the tragic loss of life, livelihoods and biodiversity caused by the bushfires still ravaging parts of Australia, but reduced output by PV systems due to smoke haze is an unwelcome bi-product of blazes that have burned at a scale and ferocity never seen before.

The Australian peer-to-peer energy-trading pioneer has purchased a 250 kW solar system that will use its new energy data management and settlement system to provide greater visibility on renewable energy sold to consumers under power purchase agreements.

As the world responds to the climate crisis and ramps up investment in solar energy, the industry is still struggling to address sustainability. A new Arup Group report on Australia looks at how the country can apply circular economy principles to current and future PV waste management.

The government of the state of Western Australia has allocated funding from its Renewable Hydrogen Fund toward seven feasibility studies that could pave the way for significant renewable hydrogen projects around the state.

Scientists at Monash University claim to have developed the world’s most efficient lithium-sulfur battery. They say the new device could enable an electric vehicle to drive more than 1,000km on a single charge.

The cataclysmic bushfire season ravaging the nation is a reminder of the risk climate change poses to Australia’s economic and social prosperity. An international roadmap to freedom from fossil fuels by 2050 produced by the U.S.’ Stanford University says Australia needs another 280 GW of solar and tens of billions of dollars of investment to turn down the heat.

By this time next year we may be able to wave goodbye to that old chestnut about renewables endangering security of supply. Elsewhere, the price of lithium – and the products it goes into – could go either way after tanking this year.

Battery innovations started to come thick and fast this quarter as the hunt for alternatives to lithium-ion intensified and the latest slew of solar tenders indicated the relentless pressure on solar power generation costs was showing no sign of abating.