Oceania

Australia’s scientific research agency CSIRO has taken its pilot-scale production of flexible printed solar film to a new level following the official launch of the new Printed Photovoltaic Facility in southwest Melbourne, Victoria.

Morocco and TE H2 have agreed to reserve land for the Chbika hydrogen project in Morocco. They aim to build 1 GW of solar and wind capacity to annually produce 200,000 tons of green ammonia for the European market.

Australian battery tech company Li-S Energy has announced a major improvement in the performance of its lithium-sulfur battery technology, with its latest iteration achieving an energy density close to 500 Wh/kg.

Although local defects in chloride-iodide-based perovskite are hard to avoid due to ion migration, a group of scientists have now found a way to passivate them. They used different combinations of 4-chlorobenzylammonium chloride and 4-chlorobenzylammonium bromide beneath the hole transport layer and reached up to 15% improvement in efficiency.

Supporting First Nations people to effectively engage in and benefit from the energy transition is a timely priority for Australia’s emerging Net Zero Economy Authority, which is tasked with facilitating investments nationwide. pv magazine Australia’s Ev Foley finds the road to clean energy for remote communities can be long and hard, but possible. In the Pilbara, a First Nations group is blazing a trail as a developer of a 3 GW renewables pipeline.

SunBrush Mobil GmbH plans to develop a mechanically simple robotic solution designed to maximize utility-scale solar module yield by removing soiling. Once complete, the company will market this technology for commercial rooftop systems in Australia.

Researchers from the Monash Suzhou Research Institute and the University of Queensland have developed a nanofiltration technology to extract lithium from low-grade saltwater brines with high magnesium content. The technology achieves 90% lithium recovery, nearly double the performance of traditional methods, while dramatically reducing extraction times.

The volume of large-scale battery energy storage projects under construction in Australia passed that of solar and wind projects combined in 2023 and the trend has intensified this year, with batteries attracting federal support. As coal-fired power plants are shuttered, developers and suppliers are enjoying a battery bonanza.

Engie has started construction on the 250 MW Goorambat East solar farm in Victoria, Australia. It is the state’s largest solar project under construction and is expected to be operational by 2027.