Oceania

Hive Energy, Ethical Power Group and Solar South West have set up a joint venture they hope will lead to 350 MW of utility scale installations in a country which does not suffer from grid congestion and which appears to have an energy transition-friendly administration.

Australian hydrogen vehicle manufacturer H2X will unveil the Warrego, a fuel cell electric hybrid pickup truck, in November.

Solar could supply 77% of Australia’s electricity demand by 2026, according to a new report by the Australian Electricity Market Operator.

Origin Energy, Australia’s biggest energy retailer, has agreed to team with Japan’s largest oil refiner, Eneos, to explore the potential for a commercial-scale green hydrogen supply chain between their respective home markets.

It’s not just big companies that are benefiting from digitization and data analytics. Last week, a new optimizing algorithm was unveiled in Australia to show PV owners which retail energy plans will save them the most on their electricity bills.

Australia’s newest planned renewable energy zone has been “swamped” by investors, with the New South Wales government revealing that 34 GW of new solar, wind and energy storage projects have already been proposed.

Photon Energy reported raised revenue from sales of electricity in the second quarter of the year, compared with 12 months earlier, but said grid hold-ups at 14.6 MW of solar projects Down Under had affected performance.

The world’s biggest solar PV and storage project is set to get even larger with the Singapore-based Sun Cable announcing it plans to increase the renewable energy generation and storage capacity of the $26 billion Australia-ASEAN Power Link being developed in northern Australia.

Australia has the sun, the wind and the space to become one of the world’s green hydrogen export superpowers in coming decades. However, the Sunburnt Country does have a dearth of one ingredient in the green hydrogen equation – freshwater. Thankfully, researchers from Monash University and a group of national water utilities are joining forces to find a way to use wastewater for the process of electrolysis.

The comparison of two solar cladded roofs in Sydney, Australia, one bare beneath its panels and the other adorned with native grasses and plants, has found the panels on the green roof were, on average, 3.63% more efficient, producing an average daily output 13% greater than the conventional roof. The improvements are believed to stem from the lower temperatures on the green roof, thanks to its plants – which also provided a plethora of additional benefits.