Oceania

Australia’s largest rail infrastructure project, the Melbourne-Brisbane Inland Rail freight line, has made the switch to solar to power its signaling systems. The move is expected to deliver an estimated AUD 25 million ($16.93 million) in cost savings.

The Australian government has presented its 2023-2024 budget, with AUD 2 billion ($1.35 billion) to be invested in hydrogen, while Austria, Germany, and Italy said they have started moving forward on a southern hydrogen corridor from North Africa to Northern Europe.

Construction has been completed on what is now the largest battery system in the Australian state of New South Wales. The 150 MW/300 MWh Riverina and Darlington Point energy storage systems are made up of three co-located units, owned by Federation Asset Management and Edify Energy.

University of New South Wales researchers have identified four failure modes caused by damp heat in heterojunction solar panels with a glass-back sheet configuration. The failures could result in power losses ranging from 5% to 50%.

The International Energy Agency expects Australia’s “outstanding” economic fundamentals for residential and commercial rooftop solar will see the sector stabilize in 2023 after a new report revealed the PV market contracted in 2022, when the country added 4 GW of installed solar power.

The New South Wales state government in Australia has announced the successful projects of its first tender under the Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap. Developers will build two major solar farms, a wind farm, and an eight-hour battery energy storage system to manage the phase-out of coal-fired power generation from the state’s grid.

Swiss solar module manufacturer Meyer Burger will enter the growing Australian PV market by offering a range of high-performance solar panels that it claims deliver greater energy yields than traditional technologies.

Record solar generation from large-scale and rooftop PV is driving down the wholesale cost of energy, reducing emissions to record lows, and helping to set new records for minimum demand for electricity from the grid, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).

Australian researchers have developed a novel adaptive decentralized control strategy for electric vehicle (EV) integration, incorporating both microgrid and EV-side conditions into the primary frequency control. They have proposed new indices to evaluate the charge and discharge capabilities of EV batteries, as well as the satisfaction levels of EV owners.

A fire broke out on Monday at the 110 MW Beryl Solar Farm in New South Wales, Australia, causing damages that are still being assessed. Emergency services were able to quickly bring the blaze under control and the unaffected areas of the solar farm are now back online.