Oceania

The “graphene revolution” is almost here. Australian scientists specializing in aluminum-ion batteries are now working with Brisbane-based Graphene Manufacturing Group to commercialize a technology that could transform energy storage.

Rooftop solar has caused South Australia’s average daytime prices to consistently fall below zero for the first time in the history of the National Electricity Market, the Australian Energy Market Operator said in its new quarterly report this week.

PV and wind could meet global energy demand 100 times over, according to a new report by the Carbon Tracker Initiative. Australia, in particular, is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the transition as one of the few developed countries with vast renewables potential and a low population.

New research from Australia has shown that vortex generators and glass texturing have so far proved to be the most effective solutions among the novel methods explored for lowering the temperature of solar panels.

Australia’s Renascor Resources has confirmed it has raised AUD 15 million ($11.6 million) to fund its Siviour battery anode material project up to the construction phase. The project will be the world’s first integrated mine and purified spherical graphite operation outside of China.

The Australian Energy Market Commission has released proposals to reward fast frequency services in the National Electricity Market for the first time.

A new study from Australia has highlighted the potential of polysilicon passivated junctions for revolutionizing the commercial production of crystalline silicon solar panels. It also presented, however, the technical and economic hurdles that must still be removed to ensure its success, including the damage that this technology can produce for the polysilicon layers, due to the cell’s metallization process.

Solar installer Jake Warner has received surprising feedback from his customers after he chose to transition his company, Penrith Solar, exclusively to microinverters two months ago. “What I found is actually the opposite to what I expected,” Warner told pv magazine Australia

Province Resources has signed a memorandum of understanding with French renewable energy developer Total Eren, which could see the two companies have equal shares in Province’s HyEnergy Zero Carbon Hydrogen project proposed in northwest Western Australia.

Australian utility AGL is transforming its operations in a number of ways, from restructuring the company itself, to building energy storage facilities for flexible distribution of renewable energy into the future. The company is also planning to build a pumped-hydro facility at a disused open-cut coal mining site in eastern Australia.