Oceania

The rollout of rooftop solar in Australia has slowed, with a total of 248 MW of new capacity registered across the country in June, down 14% from the previous month and marking the lowest tally since January.

Multinational mining company Rio Tinto has finished installation work at the Diavik Diamond Mine in Canada and has announced plans for two 5.25 MW plants at a bauxite mine in Australia’s Northern Territory.

An Australian-made, 10 kW renewable hydrogen generator has been installed 120 km east of Melbourne, as part of a pilot project to provide backup to telecom towers disabled by outages.

Australian zinc bromide flow battery specialist Redflow has struck a partnership with Queensland state-owned generation company Stanwell to work together on the development of a non-lithium long-duration battery energy storage solution for use in a 400 MWh project. Meanwhile, Toronto long duration energy storage specialist e-Zinc has secured $31 million which will go towards developement and completion of its pilot manufacturing facility in Mississauga, Ontario.

Three pumped hydro projects that would deliver a combined 1,035 MW/9,480 MWh of dispatchable capacity are among six projects that have been declared critical, state-significant infrastructure by the New South Wales government in Australia.

Construction has begun on a solar and battery-based microgrid that is to provide the northeast Victoria town of Corryong with crucial energy resilience, helping keep the power on during emergencies such as bushfires and storms.

Renewables developer Lodestone Energy will build a 220 MW solar farm on one of New Zealand’s iconic high-country grazing properties, with the landowners targeting the PV facility to help rehabilitate redundant land.

Scientists from Australia’s national science agency and the electricity research and development arm of Google have developed a new ‘smart’ inverter they claim is almost twice as fast and about 50% more efficient than existing commercial inverters.

Chinese manufacturer Sigenergy has launched a new modular energy storage solution that combines a hybrid inverter and battery pack with a built-in energy management system. The inverter series offers a range of power options from 50 kW to 110 kW.

A global team of researchers – lead by Monash University in Melbourne, Australia – says it has made a breakthrough that could make perovskite solar cells more reliable and efficient.