By Christina Zhou – ABC News – 2 July 2019 Shanghai, one of the world’s most populous cities, will today enact strict green policies limiting disposable takeaway utensils and hotel room essentials, as it officially rolls out a major recycling overhaul. The ban on the provision of a slew of single-use items such as chopsticks, forks, shower caps and toothbrushes unless requested by customers comes amid Beijing’s green push to tackle pollutionand their ambition to become a global leader in clean technology. While China remains the world’s largest prod...
By Danyal Hassain – Daily Mail Australia – 27 June 2019 In April, for the first time ever, the US produced more energy from renewable sources than from coal in a single month. According to data from the US Energy Information Administration, hydroelectric dams, solar panels, and wind turbines generated 68.5 million megawatt-hours of energy during the month of April 2019. This was compared to 60 million megawatt-hours of energy produced from coal in the same month. The trend comes despite President Donald Trump pledging to ‘bring back’ the coa...
By Danyal Hassain – Daily Mail Australia – 27 June 2019 In April, for the first time ever, the US produced more energy from renewable sources than from coal in a single month. According to data from the US Energy Information Administration, hydroelectric dams, solar panels, ...
By Trivess Moore, Michael Ambrose & Stephen Berry – The Conversation New housing in Australia must meet minimum energy performance requirements. We wondered how many buildings exceeded the minimum standard. What our analysis found is that four in five new houses are being built to ...
By Michael Mazengarb – RenewEconomy – 27 June 2019 Australia’s first unsubsidised big battery has been installed at Lincoln Gap near Port Augusta, in a major milestone for Australia’s clean energy sector and the emergence of cost-effective zero-emissions energy storage. The 10MW/1...
Liam Walsh AFR Jun 25, 2019 The solar industry has won a battle against a Queensland law requiring licensed electricians to install panels on large-scale projects, a regulation they said was not about safety but about placating unions. Queensland’s Court of Appeal on Tuesday dismissed an...
By Daniel Mercer – ABC News – 23 June 2019 The body that runs the national wholesale electricity market is forecasting demand for electricity from households and businesses in WA will fall for the first time as the extraordinary uptake of solar panels reshapes the power system. In...
By Giles Parkinson – RenewEconomy – 19 June 2019 The latest analysis from Bloomberg NEF dismisses talk of a new coal-fired power generator in Australia, and says that cheap wind and solar, supported by flexible technologies such as storage, and driven by a “people-powered revolution”...
By Adam Carey – The Sydney Morning Herald – 16 June 2019 Main image: Loy Yang A is the most breakdown-prone power station in the country.CREDIT:SIMON O’DWYER Victoria’s brown coal-fired power stations are the most unreliable in the country, breaking down far more often tha...
By Michael Fowler – The Age – 18 June 2019 Victoria’s solar rebate scheme will be capped to about 3000 homes a month from July 1, in a revamped, first-in best-dressed system. The state government has changed its solar rebate scheme so that it is now similar to buying concert...
By Michael Mazengarb – RenewEconomy – 13 June 2019 NSW parliamentary secretary for energy, Benjamin Franklin, says details of its new interest-free loans program to drive household investment in solar and storage will be released soon, and reiterated his government’s calls for the fe...
By Beth Gibson – ABC News – 14 June 2019 PHOTO: The battery stores 100 per cent renewable energy generated from the solar panels. (Supplied: Edify Energy) Australia’s largest integrated battery and solar farm was officially opened in Victoria’s north on Friday. The ...
By Emilia Terzon – ABC News – 11 June 2019 Main image: PHOTO: Parts needed to make electric cars could be dug up in the NT. (ABC News: Leah MacLennan) Electric cars and wind turbines could be pivotal to fuelling the next outback mining boom, with resource companies and...
By Michael Mazengarb – RenewEconomy – 11 June 2019 The NSW government has quietly cancelled a $50 million program to establish a 200MW virtual power plant, to cover the costs of an election promise to provide interest-free loans to households for solar and batteries. The now canne...
By Sophie Vorrath – The Driven – 3 June 2019 Electric vehicles could be the norm for road policing in Australia within just 10 years’ time, Victoria Police has said, after revealing on Monday it had welcomed a Tesla Model X into the fold of its highway patrol operational fleet. T...
By Giles Parkinson – RenewEconomy – 4th June 2019 The main lobby group representing Australia’s electricity and gas networks has renewed its push to hit households exporting solar back to the grid with additional grid charges – to the horror of some consumer groups and industry exper...
By Marija Maisch – PV Magazine – 28 May 2019 Rebates and zero-interest loans for solar panels, solar hot water systems and batteries account for one of the major spends in Victoria’s 2019/20 budget and come at a cost of $1.3 billion. The 2019/20 Victorian budget is investing $545...
By Stuart Layt – The Sydney Morning Herald – 1 June 2019 Increasing the “energy literacy” of average consumers would benefit the whole country, a Queensland academic argues. Peta Ashworth, who is the University of Queensland chair in sustainable energy futures, produced a rep...
By Sophie Vorrath – RenewEconomy – 29 May 2019 The controversial solar rule change governing projects 100kW and over in Queensland has been declared invalid by that state’s Supreme Court, after a legal challenge by a solar farm developer. The managers of the 35MW Brigalow Solar F...
By Kim Honan – ABC News – 31 May 2019 Feature image: The Macadamia Processing Company has installed a 600kW solar electricity system on the roof of its factory at Alphadale.(Supplied: Macadamia Processing Company). The world’s largest macadamia processor has turned to solar ...
By Sybilla Gross and Liz Hobday – ABC News – Updated 28 May 2019 The first phase of the Victorian Government’s popular but messy rooftop solar rebate program was never going to satisfy the demand for household solar in the state, according to figures from the national Clean Ene...
By Giles Parkinson – RenewEconomy – 30 May 2019 In a landmark development, Australia’s principal energy rule-maker has paved the way for network operators to sever the network ties to remote customers, and deliver stand-alone power systems based around solar and batteries that will d...
By Sophie Vorrath – One Step Off The Grid – 24 May 2019 German battery manufacturer Sonnen has launched its “bill shock” busting solar and storage energy package, SonnenFlat, in Victoria. The fixed price deal offers households who install a sonnenbatterie with rooftop solar (and ...
Nick [email protected] News.com – May 28th, 2019 Home batteries for solar power is a booming industry tipped to be worth $850 billion, and this Aussie start-up has taken a gamble to get in on the action. Melbourne-based company Zenaji believes it has developed a world best ba...
By Andrew Brown – Canberra Times – 28 May 2019 Canberra businesses would be given rebates of up to $5000 to install solar panels under a new ACT government scheme. Under the scheme, businesses would be subsidised to install the solar panels following consultations with energy effi...
By Liz Hobday and Sybilla Gross – ABC News – 27 May 2019 Rooftop solar industry veterans say Australia has become a dumping ground for poor-quality solar products and some are questioning the regulatory oversight of household rooftop solar installers and products. An audit of the ...
By Phil Dziyik – electrek – 24th May 2019 Nissan claims the batteries in its Leaf electric cars will last 22 years, an estimated 10-12 years longer than the average life of the car itself. Nissan reached its conclusions based off of data from the 400,000 Leafs it has sold in Europ...
Making ocean water safe to drink is usually an expensive and polluting prospect. This Finnish startup has found a way to do it with clean energy and a tiny footprint. By Adele Peters – Fast Company – 23 May 2019 In a coastal city in Namibia, a small shipping container near the bea...
By Giles Parkinson – RenewEconomy – 23 May 2019 Alinta Energy has won regulatory approval for the 212MW Yandin project 150kms north of Perth, which will be the biggest wind farm in Western Australia and one of the most efficient in the country. The Economic Regulatory Authority on...
By James Temple – MIT Technology Review – 15 May 2019 Tesla’s 2016 acquisition of SolarCity is looking worse and worse. And its $1 billion solar gigafactory in Buffalo, New York, which the state built, subsidized, and equipped for SolarCity, seems to be primarily operating as a Panas...
By Noel Towell – The Age – May 21, 2019 Hundreds of households who missed out on the first tranche of the state government solar subsidies will get their rebates after all, the new boss of Solar Victoria says. Stan Krpan, who will be announced on Wednesday as the inaugural chie...
Written by Simon Evans / Financial Review / 15 May 2019 Chinese electric car company BYD Co, in which Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway holds a stake of 25 per cent, has signed a deal with an Adelaide-based group to produce an electric car for the Australian market from late 2020. ...
Written by Kyla Mandel / Think Progress / 14 May 2019 CO2 in the atmosphere has reached unprecedented levels. The concentration of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere reached an unprecedented level this month. Researchers at the fossil fuel giant Exxon saw it coming decades ago. Me...
Written by Sophie Vorrath / One Step Off The Grid / 10 May 2019 Up to 4MW of solar will be installed across six remote indigenous communities in Western Australia, as part of an $11.6 million plan to slash the use of heavy-polluting and heavily subsidised diesel fuel. The “low-cost and rel...
Written by Emiliano Bellini / PV Magazine / 9 May 2019 By 2025, the furniture giant plans to offer solar panels worldwide at its stores. The company is in negotiation with potential partners and a supplier for the sale of PV panels in Sweden, which is planned to start in the autumn. Ikea, th...
Written by Lanai Scarr / The West Australian / 10 May 2019 Labor’s plans to have Australians charge their electric vehicles via solar panels on their rooftops could see some cars take up to five days to fully charge. The West Australian can reveal an analysis of some of the electric vehicles ...
Written by Giles Parkinson / The Driven / 6 May 2019 Three figures stood out late last week when Tesla CEO Elon Musk invited us to rethink the future of electric transport, and the worth of Tesla cars and the company itself. Musk has already turned the trillion-dollar automotive industry on i...
Written by Ashleigh McMillan / The Curier / 3 May 2019 Renewable energy leaders have welcomed a funding promise for training in the sector, as Ballarat hits ‘critical mass’ with wind energy. Labor leader Bill Shorten promised on Thursday to put $75 million towards building Austral...
Written by Giles Parkinson / RenewEconomy / 2 May 2019 The two biggest solar farms in South Australia were switched off for long periods this week as wholesale market prices fell below zero – the result, apparently, of new “zero price clauses” in power purchase contracts. As RenewEconomy&nb...
Written by Jenny Brown / Domain / 2 May 2019 Main image: Many houses are hiding ways that your send your bills skyrocketing. Photo: Leigh Henningham Here they come again, those icy fingers of winter that – unless you’ve been a diligent eco-fundamentalist and very effectively insu...
2nd May 2019 / EcoGeneration New rules rushed through by the Queensland Government are likely to hit the commercial solar sector hard when they come into effect in less than two weeks, and will make it harder for the state to meet its own renewable energy target, the Clean Energy Council said to...
Off-Grid Power is cheaper than you think – Today it’s financially viable.Technology improvements mean living off-grid, like the way you currently do connect to the network – has never been easier!Today no limitations – you can have A/C, Pool, Electric cooking, even underfloor heating. The ...
Written by Sophie Vorrath / One Step Off The Grid / 29 April 2019 Solar households in New South Wales could soon be paid more for the rooftop generated power they export to the grid, after the state’s recommended feed-in tariff benchmark was raised from the 2018-19 range of 6.9-8.4c/kWh, to 8.5-...
By David Crowe April 30, 2019 , The Age Labor will pledge up to $1 billion to install solar panels at thousands of public schools in an ambitious scheme to create “virtual power plants” that put energy back into the electricity grid. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will outli...
Phys Org / 25 April 2019 An international research team led by The Australian National University (ANU) has made a new type of silicon that better uses sunlight and promises to cut the cost of solar technology. The researchers say their world-first invention could help reduce the costs of r...
Written by Michael Bloch / SQ Blog / 17 April 2019 Results from two recent polls indicate many Australians are on board with accelerating an electric vehicle revolution across the nation. Early this month, Labor announced its National Electric Vehicle (EV) policy; elements of which...
Written by Sheryl Hall & Bridget Rollason / ABC News / 24 April 2019 A number of Victorian solar companies are laying off staff after the Victorian Government placed a temporary freeze on a solar panel rebate program. The $1.3 billion solar homes package started last August and has been s...
Published on EcoGeneration / 18th April 2019 Sometimes a man (or a woman!) has to break free of life’s shackles and hit the road. Peeling away from the city he becomes energised as the traffic lights fade in his rear view mirror. The tarmac becomes the anvil, the engine the iron, the right foot...
Published on EcoGeneration / 18 April 2019 Jinko Solar has won its fifth All Quality Matters Award for PV Module Energy Yield Simulation (Mono Group) at the Solar Congress 2019 organized by TÜV Rheinland. Evaluation of energy yield simulation is based on performance testing of samples randoml...
All solar PV eligibility and rebate applications lodged before applications closed will continue to be processed by Solar Victoria, in line with current requirements. ___________________________________________________________________________ If you have submitted an eligib...
The first string inverter company listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Reposted by PowerArk Solar / Original Source Ginlong (Solis) has recently celebrated their accomplishment in being listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange as a public company. Being the first of its kind, the China-based c...
Written by Peter Hannam / The Age / 14th April 2019 Australian rooftops added a record of almost 500 megawatts of new solar photovoltaic capacity in the March quarter, as Victoria’s incentive scheme stoked a 90 per cent increase in that state’s installations. record of almost ...
Written by Alice Clarke / The Age / 10 April 2019 It is a truth (almost) universally acknowledged that having your own solar panels in this sunburnt country of ours will make your power bill cheaper, and give you that warm sense of greenie superiority. But most people with solar panels act...
Written by Sophie Vorrath / RenewEconomy / 10 April 2019 The Queensland government has confirmed plans to put in place controversial new regulations for solar farm construction in the state that will restrict the installation or removal of PV panels to licensed electricians. In a media statem...
Written by Clancy Yeates / The Age / 2 April 2019 Thousands of small and medium businesses will receive tax breaks on purchases of new equipment, as the government seeks to bolster investment in the economy’s “engine room”. In a budget that also highlighted future tax cut...
Written by Cole Latimer / The Sydney Morning Herald / 5 April 2019 Main image: The platform lets households with solar systems trade their excess energy in an online marketplace. CREDIT: JUSTIN MCMANUS An online marketplace designed to let households trade their excess solar power has rece...
Written by Eric Holthaus / Grist / 3 April 2019 Batteries are critical for our clean energy future. Luckily, their cost has dropped so low, we might be much closer to this future than we previously thought. In a little less than a year, the cost of lithium-ion batteries has fallen by 35 per...
Written by Tom Bowden / realestate.com.au / 22 March 2019 SOLAR power is becoming a sought-after feature for househunters who want the clean energy supply contributing to their biggest asset. According to a realestate.com.au and Origin Energy study, 85 per cent of Australians believe solar pa...
Written by Bridie Schmidt / The Driven / April 1st 2019 A damning report from international research firm Climate Analytics is lending substantial weight to the argument that Australia needs to improve its scorecard on clean transport. Pollution from light passenger vehicles and heavy trans...
Written by PowerArk Solar What is the difference between mono and poly panels you ask? Well, this article is designed to help you identify key difference that will help you decide which panel is most suitable for your needs. If you are planning to install your first ever solar PV system on...
Written by Bridie Schmidt / The Driven / 22 March 2019 Luxury carmaker Porsche has given fans a glimpse of it’s all-electric Taycan as it gears up to debut its premium electric vehicle this September 2019. With the carmaker reporting that over 20,000 people have pre-ordered its first full ele...
By Liz Hobday, Chris Gillett and Danny Tran / ABC News Australia’s solar industry is “effectively unregulated” and consumers are falling victim to “predatory” sales tactics which pressure them to buy expensive systems, according to new research. New data release...
Written by James Wong / Car Advice / 20 March 2019 ‘Electric vehicles can therefore serve as units of temporary energy storage and become key drivers in the development of renewable energy. In this way, the electricity grid optimizes the supply of local renewable energy and reduces infras...
Written by Benjamin Preiss / The Age / 21 March 2019 Main image: Solar panel retailers will have to sign a code of conduct to participate in a state government scheme to put panels on Victorian households. CREDIT: GLENN HUNT Solar panel retailers will have to sign up to a code of conduct to...
By Sophie Vorrath / One Step Off The Grid / 20 March 2019 A New South Wales-based effort to develop renewable hydrogen storage solutions – including a 5kWh home solar storage system – has received $3.5 million in backing from green investment outfit Providence Asset Group. Tamworth-based comp...
Written by Marija Maisch / PV Magazine / 14 March 2019 The latest statistics highlights Australia’s contribution to the global utility-scale solar PV installation figures. Utility-scale solar generating capacity grew by almost 40 GW in 2018, reaching a total of 180 GW by year end, accordin...
Giles Parkinson / RenewEconomy / 12 March 2019 The Clean Energy Regulator has set a significantly higher target for certificates created by the small-scale renewable technology scheme, following the largely unexpected boom in rooftop solar in 2018. The CER on Tuesday said the new target for 2...
Written by PowerArk Solar Solar inverters are an essential part of any solar system; they are the brains of the network. Aside from the solar inverter’s primary role to convert DC power created by the sun into usable AC power (what we plug into our walls), its job is ever expanding. Inverters e...
Written by Bridie Schmidt / 7 March 2019 / The Driven The most affordable version of Tesla’s Model 3 electric sedan is now available in the US, but there will still be a wait for those in other parts of the world, according to CEO and founder Elon Musk. The Tesla Model 3 has been a game ch...
Written by Louise Bevan / The Epoch Times / 8 March 2019 Solars panels, while a game-changing feat of engineering, have historically been—depending on your aesthetic preferences—a bit of an eyesore. But this is changing since researchers from Michigan State University have developed see-through...
Written by Andy Colthorpe / Energy Storage / 7 March 2019 The sonnen smart energy storage system enables the Clinica Comunitaria de Utuado to provide urgent healthcare services to a remote community in Puerto Rico. (PRNewsfoto/sonnen) SonnenBatterie system installed at a clinic in Puerto Ric...
Written by Sophie Vorrath / One Step Off The Grid / 7 March 2019 A ground-breaking rooftop solar trading platform that cuts out the energy market middle man and allows consumers to buy and sell renewable power at prices negotiated among themselves has been launched across four Australian states...
Written by PowerArk Solar Melbourne is breaking barriers and continuously proving that it is not impossible to create a cleaner city by using renewables. Deputy mayor, Arron Wood proudly said, “It’s a pretty nice New Year’s resolution to go to 100% renewable energy,”. It is because in time wit...
By Daniel Keane / ABC News / 4 March 2019 Main image: PHOTO: More than 20 per cent of the nation’s homes have solar installations. (ABC News: Briana Shepherd) The future of solar energy in Australia has never looked brighter. Solar firms and farms are springing up across ...
By science reporter Belinda Smith / ABC News / 5 March 2019 Main image: While silicon solar panels do pay for themselves energy-wise within a few years, they really could be better at converting light to electricity. (Freepik: jcomp) Solar panels now grace the roofs of more than 2 million Au...
Reneweconomy / Eytan Lenko & Nicky Ison / 1 March 2019 Large-scale technology transitions are often a messy affair, especially when there is a powerful, established incumbent being challenged. At some point the incumbent understands the threat and use every tool at their disposal, usually m...
Written by PowerArk Solar There is no doubt that 2018 has been a huge year for solar PV, with number of significant achievements and milestones indented up through the past years, including the 2 million solar-powered households. The number of homes installing their own solar PV systems is dra...
Written by Liam Phelan / The Sydney Morning Herald / 23 February 2019 It is the question almost a third of Australians haven’t asked their electricity provider – and the answer could save more than $200 off your annual bill. Retailers offer two types of contracts: standing offers and ...
Written by Peter Hannam / The Sydney Morning Herald / 23 February 2019 Main image: Solar panels are not just mainstream, they even turn up more often on lower and middle-income homes that you might expect. CREDIT:NICK MOIR As urban myths go, the one about solar panels being a luxury enjoyed...
By Mark Osborne / PV Tech / 21 February 2019 Main Image: SolarEdge Technologies impressive revenue and shipment figures were out of step with its public listed rivals in 2018. Image: SolarEdge A personal perspective on why a solar company could take on its rivals and thrive in a year full of...
Written by Bridie Schmidt / The Driven / 19 February 2019 CEO and founder of electric vehicle startup Rivian, RJ Scaringe, has said that he considers Australia is an important market for his EV company, firming up reports of the company’s intention to create a right-hand drive version of its rug...
February 20, 2019 at 4:05 PM EST FREMONT, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Feb. 20, 2019– SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: SEDG), a global leader in smart energy technology, today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2018....
Ecogeneration / 18 February 2019 Labor has promised to deliver 7GW of new renewable energy in NSW by 2030 if it wins government at the state election in March. A Daley Labor government will deliver the guarantees through a series of reverse auctions, to push the price of new-build renewable e...
By Giles Parkinson / RenewEconomy / 15 February 2019 The Tesla big battery at Hornsdale in South Australia continues to make its market on the Australian energy market, pocketing another $4 million in the fourth quarter from the provision of frequency and ancillary services. The number was re...
Originally by Andrew Spence for the Lead / EcoGeneration / 11 February 2019 Composite wing technology featuring inbuilt solar cells with the ability to triple the flying time of drones will be exhibited for the first time at the Avalon aviation expo this month. South Australian company P...
By Charlotte King / ABC News / 17 February 2019 MAIN PHOTO: Wind turbines are set to dot the landscape in Victoria’s west but the extra power will be wasted without transmission upgrades. (Supplied: WestWind Energy) Authorities say two coal-fired power stations’ worth of renewable...
By Sophie Vorrath / RenewEconomy / February 2019 The major political parties in NSW have answered calls to get serious about renewable energy and climate policy in the state, with both the incumbent Coalition government and opposition Labor Party unveiling plans over the weekend aimed at boosti...
By Giles Parkinson / RenewEconomy / 6 February The major parties competing for power in Australia’s most populous state are under increasing pressure to present ambitious plans for renewable energy installations in NSW, not least to reduce emissions but also to prepare for the inevitable exit o...
Written by Jonathan Gifford / PV Magazine / 7 February 2019 The contribution of solar PV to Australia’s electricity generation mix hit record new highs in 2018, in new figures published today by Green Energy Markets. Last year rooftop PV generation from new arrays was 86% higher than in the p...
Posted by EcoGeneration / 6th February 2019 As the heatwaves hit Australia this summer, we should be watching Queensland to see a smart way to maintain electricity reliability during a scorcher. The answer is not building more coal-fired power plants, but using energy more wisely. Vic...
Written by Laura Chung / The Sydney Morning Herald / 9 February 2019 NSW Labor has announced it will support a program to help 500,000 households to install rooftop solar, reducing electricity bills in the next 10 years. Under Labor’s Solar Homes policy, owner-occupied households in NSW with ...
Australia is on track to meet its Paris climate commitments five years earlier than expected — in 2025 — according to new research from the Australian National University. Written by Gary Jon Lysaght / ABC News / 8 February 2019 Per capita, the country is installing renewable energy faster t...
Clean Energy Council / 3 December 2018 The Australian solar industry has achieved another record-breaking milestone, with the number of households now enjoying the benefits of rooftop solar reaching a whopping 2 million. Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Kane Thornton said the milestone r...
Written by Peter Farley / RenewEconomy / 4 February 2019 There has been a lot of commentary – in conservative media and political circles – about renewables failing during the power crisis. Detailed inspections suggests the opposite is true. And it is worth clarifying a few points about the ...
Written by Joshua S Hill / RenewEconomy / 1st February 2019 Researcher’s from Victoria’s RMIT University have designed a new nano-enhanced material that they claim can capture 98% of light and which can be used to convert light to power chemical reactions, a discovery which could help deliver a mor...
By Adam Williams / New Atlas – Architecture / 2 February 2019 Images: St Andrews Beach House, by Austin Maynard Architects, captures rainwater and stores it for irrigation and flushing the toilets (Credit: Derek Swalwell) St Andrews Beach House is nestled among the bush and dunes on a rugged s...
Posted by EcoGeneration / 23 January 2019 Setting ambitious energy efficiency targets that are measured annually and linked to electricity and gas sales could significantly sharpen focus on demand-side energy policy, helping to offset the current supply-side-heavy imbalance, writes Hamish McGovern....
By Sophie Vorrath / One Step Off The Grid / 22 January 2019 Victorian households are cashing on the state government’s solar homes rebate by the thousands, with latest reports indicating nearly 7, rooftop PV systems have been installed under the $1.2 billion scheme since its launched in late August ...
By Sophie Vorrath / One Step Off The Grid / 18 January 2019 The City of Melbourne has set a high bar for governments around the country, kicking off 2019 with the news that 100 per cent of the its operations are now powered by 100 per cent renewable energy – an Australian first. “We are immensely p...
By Joshua S Hill / RenewEconomy / 14 January 2019 Israeli-based solar manufacturer SolarEdge announced last week that it was teaming up with Google to integrate Google Assistant into its own electric-vehicle charging solar inverter, only days after it announced the acquisition of Italian e-mobility ...
By Tawar Razaghi / Domain / 15 January 2019 Main image: More than 230,000 Sydney households are hoping to install rooftop solar this year. Photo: iStock Solar’s hot year in 2018 doesn’t look to be cooling down with new research showing more than 230,000 Sydney households are hoping to install roofto...
Main image: Australians have embraced the rooftop solar revolution, but critics say governments are lagging on managing the waste. CREDIT: JUSTIN MCMANUS By Nicole Hasham / The Sydney Morning Herald / 13 January 2019 Thousands of ageing rooftop solar panels represent a toxic time-bomb and major econ...
By World Economic Forum / 11 January 2019 Main Image: The Zero Mass Water solar panels are backed by Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates Zero Mass Water produces solar panels that pull water out of the air, filter it, and deliver it to your home faucet. The startup, which is backed by a $1 billion fund led b...
By Oliver Sachgau / Automotive News Europe / 10 January 2019 MUNICH — Volkswagen Group is challenging Tesla’s push into energy services by setting up its own charging and electricity unit. VW hopes the new business unit, called Elli Group, will make the automaker’s upcoming battery-power...
By Peter Hannam / The Sydney Morning Herald / 9th January 2019 New solar energy installations tripled in capacity in 2018 in Australia, with solid growth in rooftop solar eclipsed by a massive increase in utility-sized ventures. According to data collected by Green Energy Trading, the nation added j...
Architecture & Design / 7th January 2019 A new study led by The Australian National University (ANU) could lead to cheaper and more efficient solar technology. Study co-author Dr Heping Shen from the ANU School of Engineering says the current solar cell market is dominated by silicon-based techn...
By Giles Parkinson / RenewEconomy / 21 December 2018 Australia’s leading scientific research group and the country’s energy market operator have released a benchmark study that shows the cost of new wind and solar – even with hours of storage – is “unequivocally” lower than the cost of new coal gene...
By Cole Latimer / Sydney Morning Herald / 27 December 2018 Main Image: Renewable projects face being stranded as they are unable to connect to the grid.CREDIT: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN The renewable energy boom may be going to waste because the best place to put wind and solar is too far away to connect t...
By Marnie Banger / news.com,au / 20 December 2018 An audit of rooftop solar panels have found at least a fifth were unsafe, sparking warnings about potential deaths. Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor has urged states and territories to protect Australians from poorly installed rooftop solar panel...
By Giles Parkinson / RenewEconomy / 17 December 2018 At just 9MW, the Kanowna solar farm near Moree will not by any scope of imagination be the biggest solar farm in Australia. But it will likely be among the “smartest” solar farms in the country because of actions its developers are taking to deal ...
By Peter Hannam / The Sydney Morning Herald / 14 December 2018 Almost one in three households report having problems with their solar panels but experiences are improving and more than half are considering if they can use batteries to get off the grid, a survey by Choice has found. The nationwide po...
By Elisa Wood / One Step Off The Grid / 13 December 2018 Microgrid Knowledge Cars, homes and microgrids will be key market actors in a future where consumers produce and share energy. eMotorWerks and LO3 Energy intend to demonstrate that such a future is getting closer. The two companies announced a...
Ecogeneration / 11 December 2018 Renewable energy and storage projects adding up to more than $20 billion of investment have now been committed across the country, according to new figures released by the Clean Energy Council. The CEC says there are currently 14.6 gigawatts of new renewable energy p...
Written by Sophie Vorrath / One Step Off The Grid / 7 March 2019 A ground-breaking rooftop solar trading platform that cuts out the energy market middle man and allows consumers to buy and sell renewable power at prices negotiated among themselves has been launched across four Australian states...
By Ecogeneration / 10 December 2018 Does renewable electricity raise or lower electricity prices? There is more to this question than meets the eye: are prices lower before or after renewable subsidies are recovered, how has variability been accounted for, how have changes in network costs been acco...
By Peter Hannam / The Sydney Morning Herald / 7 December 2018 For Gayle Adams, the decision to expand the size of her solar rooftop system has been made easier by the ongoing energy policy paralysis in Canberra. “Solar panels offer a very good return on investment,” said the retired hous...
By Jeff McMahon / Forbes / 6 December 2018 Main images: Shanghai at night. Getty Images Envision Energy founder and CEO Lei Zhang likes to look at the numbers. And when he looked at the numbers behind the falling cost of renewable energy, he began to worry. “We are convinced renewable energy i...
By James Martin / One Step Off The Grid / 30 November 2018 If you care about battery storage and distributed energy in Australia, you’re probably aware that a number of battery incentive programs are now available through various state & territory governments (not counting the federal Labor part...
By EcoGeneration / 3rd December 2018 The Australian solar industry has achieved another record-breaking milestone, with the number of households now enjoying the benefits of rooftop solar reaching a whopping two million. Clean Energy Council chief executive Kane Thornton said the milestone recognise...
By Tom Major / ABC News / 22 November 2018 MAIN PHOTO: Renewable energy parks are springing up across Australia, often far from the national grid. (ABC Rural: Tom Major) Australia’s boom in renewable energy faces an impasse unless more is done to develop infrastructure to complement wind, sola...
By Cole Latimer / The Age / 28 November 2018 Main image: The Hyundai Ioniq is making electric vehicles more accessible for Australians due to its lower price entry point. Electric vehicles makers are pushing into Australia despite a lack of government support, as cars begin hitting Australian shores...
By Creative Victoria / 21 November 2018 Main image: Melbourne Museum Source: Museum Victoria Museums Victoria is looking forward to a brighter and more sustainable future as the state-owned cultural institution begins installing what’s set to become the biggest solar array in metropolitan Melbourne...
By Sophie Vorrath / One Step Off The Grid / 19 November 2018 Solar homes and businesses in Queensland are being encouraged to add battery storage to their PV systems, with the launch of a state government grant and loan scheme on Monday. Queensland energy minister Anthony Lynham said the scheme woul...
By Giles Parkinson / Renew Economy / 20 November 2018 The South Australia government says it has attracted its major major battery storage developer to establish manufacturing facilities in the state, with the Canadian energy storage firm Eguana Technologies joining Germany’s Sonnen and China’s Alph...
By Kathryn Diss / ABC News / June 2018 Main Image: Australia’s LNG production has jumped in recent years It is just one example of a broader problem facing the nation as it tackles the massive challenge of meeting its Paris Agreement commitment to reduce 2005 emissions by 26-28 per cent by 203...
Sophie Vorrath / Renew Economy / 12 November 2018 The New South Wales Coalition government has unveiled a plan to upgrade the state’s electricity grid, to accommodate the “flood” of new renewable energy capacity in the development pipeline. The plan, called the Transmission Infrastructure Strategy, ...
Written by PowerArk Solar Melbourne is breaking barriers and continuously proving that it is not impossible to create a cleaner city by using renewables. Deputy mayor, Arron Wood proudly said, “It’s a pretty nice New Year’s resolution to go to 100% renewable energy,”. It is because in time wit...
By Daniel Mercer / The West Australian / 14 November 2018 Electricity provider Synergy was forced to take one of its newest power stations offline for repairs because of constant interruptions caused by soaring levels of green energy. Synergy chief executive Jason Waters yesterday revealed the influ...
By Kaitlyn Offer / The Sydney Morning Herald / 8 November 2018 Photo: Tenants will be able to benefit from solar energy too. CREDIT: GLENN HUNT Victoria’s rental tenants will be able to soak up some solar energy benefits under a Labor plan to fit panels to up to 50,000 properties. The party...
By Nicole Frost / Domain / 7 November 2018 Solar is proving popular, but what about the bigger picture when it comes to design? The drive behind building more environmentally friendly residential homes is coming from individuals, not government bodies, and cookie-cutter developments are holding us b...
By Sophie Vorrath / RenewEconomy / 8 November 2018 The Victorian Labor government has nailed its colours to the mast on energy just two weeks out from the state election, with a promise to boost its target for renewables generation to 50 per cent by 2030 if re-elected. The new target, announced on T...
By Liz Hobday / ABC News / Updated 8 November 2018 Richard McIndoe used to run one of the country’s major electricity retailers, Energy Australia. But even he was surprised by the power usage in his home. “I was getting up once every three or four months to change light globes,” he...
By Ben Potter / Financial Review / 2 November 2018 Energy experts have backed billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes’ claim that Australia can become a clean energy superpower by combining wind, solar and pumped hydro to deliver some of the world’s cheapest electricity as coal power is forced o...
By Cole Latimer / Newcastle Herald / 2 November 2018 Main image: Snowy Hydro will use wind and solar to pump water uphill, slashing its energy generation costs. Picture: ANDREW SHEARGOLD Snowy Hydro will use wind and solar energy not coal to support its pumped hydro storage generators in a deal th...
By John Collett / The Sydney Morning Herald / 4 November 2018 Main image: Mark and Julie Donovan, with their children Keira and Bailey at their solar-powered home in Grays Point.CREDIT:CHRISTOPHER PEARCE With the hot weather returning and pool pumps and airconditioners springing back to life after a...
By Giles Parkinson / RenewEconomy / 1 November 2018 Australia’s rapidly growing fleet of rooftop and utility-scale solar power plants reached a major milestone in September, overtaking wind for the amount of electricity generated in the month. According to data provided by Dylan McConnell from the C...
By Anmar Frangoul / CNBC / 31 October 2018 Three kinds of solar roof charging systems are being developed. The plan is for the panels to supplement hybrid, internal combustion and battery electric vehicles. Main image: The solar panels could help to reduce emissions and boost range. Hyundai and ...
By Tristan Edis / The Guardian / 30 October 2018 Main image: ‘What will things look like by 2021 when the ACCC has recommended scrapping of the solar rebate? According to the Australian Energy Market Operator rooftop solar will generate 85% more electricity than it did over the 2017-18 financial yea...
By Daniel Keane / ABC News / 4 March 2019 Main image: PHOTO: More than 20 per cent of the nation’s homes have solar installations. (ABC News: Briana Shepherd) The future of solar energy in Australia has never looked brighter. Solar firms and farms are springing up across ...
By Stephanie Anderson / ABC News / 26th October 2018 Main image: Opponents of renewable energy have seized on infrastructure issues to criticise the growth in wind and solar. (Randy Montoya: Creative Commons) Andy McCarthy has been installing rooftop solar panels in Victoria for 18 years, but even h...
By Sophie Vorrath / One Step Off The Grid / 25 October 2018 Main image: An aerial view of the 1.7MW solar array to be installed at Coca-Cola Amatil Eastern Creek Distribution and Warehouse centre. The shift to renewables by the giants of industry continues this week, with the news that Coca-Cola Ama...
By Giles Parkinson / RenewEconomy / 23 October 2018 The Victoria Labor government has officially unveiled the Ballarat Energy Storage System, the first of two big batteries that will support Victoria’s energy grid from the start of this summer. The 30MW/30MWh facility at the Ballarat terminal stati...
By Cole Latimer / The Sydney Morning Herald / 22 October 2018 Main image: Hydrogen gas is being viewed as a potential new ‘Australian-made’ energy source.CREDIT: JAMES DAVIES An Australian-first trial is creating ‘green’ hydrogen gas made from renewables to power Sydney homes. Energy com...
By Caitlyn Rintoul / Mandurah Mail / 19 October 2018 Main image: Rivers Regional Council chairman and City of Mandurah Coastal Ward councilor Fred Riebeling were delighted with the announced energy project. Photo: Caitlyn Rintoul. Household, commercial and industrial waste from the City of Mandurah...
By Sophie Vorrath / One Step Off The Grid / 19 October South Australia’s plan to match its nation-leading rooftop solar uptake with battery storage will soon be up and running, after peer-to-peer lender RateSetter was named as the exclusive administrator of the Liberal government’s $100 million Home...
By Nicole Hasham / The Sydney Morning Herald / 18 October 2018 Main Image: A top government infrastructure adviser says the electric vehicle shift is inevitable, but governments and industry need to start planning. A top national infrastructure adviser has warned Australia risks being “caught ...
By Cole Latimer / The Sydney Morning Herald / 16 October 2018 Main image: The centre is designed to ease the process for businesses looking to access renewable energy power purchase agreements.CREDIT: WINDLAB Australia will look to replicate US success by creating an online marketplace for businesse...
By Rachel England / Engadget / 18 October 2018 The company is now aiming for total renewable energy in the US by 2030. Just a month after Sony announced its plans to power its worldwide operations with 100 percent renewable energy by 2040, the tech company has brought forward its US goal by a decade...
By Ben Potter & Angela MacDonald-Smith / AFR / 12 October 2018 Main image: Nationally about 206,000 households will add rooftop solar this year. Luis Enrique Ascui Few of the 40,000 Victorian households that add an average 6 kilowatts of solar panels to their house each year would fret about the...
By Cole Latimer / The Age / 15 October 2018 Main image: Australia is expected to be the first country in the world to hit a solar peak.CREDIT: PETER RAE The sharply rising levels of rooftop and grid-level solar power will force difficult discussions as Australia reaches a solar peak, energy chiefs s...
By science reporter Belinda Smith / ABC News / 5 March 2019 Main image: While silicon solar panels do pay for themselves energy-wise within a few years, they really could be better at converting light to electricity. (Freepik: jcomp) Solar panels now grace the roofs of more than 2 million Au...
By Emily Matchar / Smithsonian / 11 October 2018 Main image: “Light Up” is the winner of a biannual competition for green energy-generating public art sponsored by the Land Art Generator Initiative. (LAGI) Architects propose a new sustainable landmark on a Melbourne beach that is both public art and...
By Cole Latimer / The Age / 10 October 2018 Main image: Energy experts believe Australia will see more mega-batteries, like Tesla’s installation, in communities around the country.CREDIT: DAVID MARIUZ Australia’s energy future lies in households sharing access to larger-scale batteries and not...
By Chara Chang / news.com.au / 10 October 2018 EVERYONE has been crying out for the major parties to agree on an energy policy for Australia but it’s becoming clear this is probably not going to happen. At an energy forum being held in Sydney today, new Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor dismisse...
By Jim Drury / Reuters / 9 October 2018 LONDON (Reuters) – Two British-based researchers have created an award-winning new design for a mini wind turbine that looks like a volleyball and can catch a breeze blowing in any direction, which they say will make green energy more attainable for peop...
By Stephen Long / ABC News / 8th October 2018 MAIN PHOTO: A number of different solar projects have sprung up around the SA town of Port Augusta. (ABC News: Carl Saville) Driving towards Port Augusta, a luminous white light appears on a concrete shaft to the side of the highway. The giant light is a...
Shared by Ecogeneration / 5th October 2018 We are now well and truly in the era of big data. Scandals such as Cambridge Analytica show that vast amounts of our personal data are being harvested for commercial gain and, worse still, nefarious purposes. Yet big data also provides exciting opportunitie...
By Mark Buchanan / Bloomberg / 5 October 2018 Any solution to global warming will almost certainly rely on an expansion of renewable energy, reducing carbon dioxide emissions with clean solar or wind energy and related technologies. It’s still far from clear, however, which technologies might delive...
By Carla Hildebrandt / Mandurah Mail / 2 October 2018 Mandurah homeowners are shining a light on the importance of renewable energy, with the Peel suburb topping WA in solar panel installations. Only Bundaberg in Queensland has a higher percentage of uptake Australia-wide, according to the lates...
By Calla Wahlquist / The Guardian / 27 September 2018 The Tesla lithium-ion battery in South Australia is on track to make back a third of its construction costs in its first year of operation, new financial documents show. The 100MW/129MWh battery was switched on in November and is paired with the ...
By Ivan Penn / The New York Times / 26 September 2018 Main Image: A rechargeable zinc-air battery made by Patrick Soon-Shiong’s company, NantEnergy. He says such batteries can store power at far less than the cost of lithium-ion counterparts.CreditCreditAlex Welsh for The New York Times Lithium-ion ...
By Adam Morton / Arena Wire / July 2017 If there was any doubt that the Australian business community is a little confused about renewable energy, here’s the proof. A study has found the nation’s large companies are cleaved into two contradictory groups: those who are using renewable energy because ...
Large-scale technology transitions are often a messy affair, especially when there is a powerful, established incumbent being challenged. At some point the incumbent understands the threat and use every tool at their disposal, usually money, political influence and media, to maintain the status qu...
By Nadia Krieger / engineering.com / 25 September 2018 Main image: Organic photovoltaics provide exciting new engineering possibilities but have not been as efficient as traditional silicon solar cells. (Image courtesy of Fraunhofer ISE.) Conventional wisdom once said that organic solar cell efficie...
By Fred Lambert / Electrek / 26 September 2018 Renault is launching today a new “Advanced Battery Storage” program today. With the program, the French automaker is aiming to build “the biggest energy stationary storage system using EV batteries ever designed in Europe by 2020.” While several automa...
By Ecogeneration / 17 September 2018 Energy Networks Australia has welcomed the decision to establish a register of rooftop solar and battery storage systems for the national electricity market. According to chief executive officer Andrew Dillon the new rules are vital to ensure network businesses c...
By Ecogeneration / 12 September 2018 Image sourced from Shutterstock cc: Pink Cactus The Australian renewable energy industry will install more than 10 gigawatts of new solar and wind power during 2018 and 2019. If that rate is maintained, Australia would reach 50% renewables in 2025. The recent dem...
By Sophie Vorrath / One Step Off The Grid / 20 September 2018 The body set up to oversee Victoria government’s residential solar rebate has warned consumers to be wary of “scammers and inaccurate marketing” by rooftop PV cowboys pushing dodgy products and trying to cash in on the scheme. Solar Victo...
Written on 14th September / Ecogeneration JinkoSolar has announced that the company has been named the most “bankable” PV manufacturer by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) among 57 module brands. The rankings are based on BNEF’s global survey to key PV stakeholders on which module brands used in p...
By Noel Towell & Joe Hinchliffe / The Age / 18 September 2018 “Cowboys” are already trying to cash in on the state government’s billion-dollar solar power subsidy promises, with householders warned to beware of cold-calling by dodgy operators. Solar Victoria, the agency set up to man...
By Benjamin Preiss / The Age / 11 September 2018 Victoria is forging ahead with six new renewable energy plants capable of powering 645,000 homes while the federal government has scrapped its policy to reduce power prices and greenhouse emissions. On Tuesday the Andrews government announced the thre...
By Noel Towell & Benjamin Preiss / The Age / 10 September Victorian homeowners will be paid nearly $5000 towards the cost of household solar batteries by a re-elected Andrews government in the latest move aimed at making the state Australia’s leader in domestic-scale renewable energy. The ...
By Adam Carey & Benjamin Preiss / The Age / 11 September 2018 Homeowners with rooftop solar systems will be protected from neighbouring property developments overshadowing their roofs under changes to planning rules the Andrews government has introduced. The new residential planning rules, to be...
By state political reporter Richard Willingham / ABC News / 11 September 2018 Main Image: PHOTO: The Andrews Government has pledged solar panel and battery subsidies worth over $1 billion. (Supplied: Murray Green) The Victorian Government has committed to provide half-price solar batteries for 10,00...
By Kevin Baldwin, Andrew Blakers & Matthew Stocks / The Conversation / 10 September 2018 Main Image: The Mugga Lane Solar Farm in the ACT is part of a new wave of large-scale renewable energy projects. AAP Image/Moaneng Australia. The Australian renewable energy industry will install more than 1...
By Nine Finance / Business News / 2018 German solar battery firm sonnen is setting up a major manufacturing plant in South Australia that will build 10,000 batteries a year, its CEO says. Up to 40,000 households in South Australia will be eligible for subsidies to install the flat batteries from so...
By Giles Parkinson / RenewEconomy / 8 September 2018 The South Australia Liberal government has finally outlined details of its long-awaited Home Battery Scheme, that will offer $100 million in state government subsidies for up to 40,000 households to install battery storage in their homes. Individu...
By Sophie Vorrath / One Step Off The Grid / 5 September 2018 Like households and small businesses, Australian farmers are increasingly turning to renewable energy technologies to cut their power costs and shore up their bottom lines. But a new report from Commonwealth Bank of Australia suggests the ...
Written by Scott Andrews / Energy Stuff Off-Grid / 5 September 2018 As an off-grid expert, I get asked the question constantly, “Is it a viable option?” Well, how long is a piece of string? I am not a fore-see-er, I do not predict the future, but what I do know is; that as long as the sun rises tomo...
By Stephen Long / ABC News / 3 August 2018 MAIN IMAGE: Cold, hard numbers show that renewable energy is, and will continue, supplying cheaper electricity than new coal-fired power plants could. AAP: Julian Smith The tipping point’s been reached: renewable energy is now a cheaper source of powe...
By Antony Froggatt / The Conversation / 30 August 2018 The electricity sector is experiencing a profound disruptive shock. This is due to technological innovation including the falling costs of renewables and energy storage, along with tougher environmental policies and regulatory reform. These chan...
By Dean Ipaviz / realestate.com.au / 31 August 2018 What does it really mean to go ‘off the grid’? This is a question that’s increasingly being posed by Aussies, as sustainable living becomes more and more popular. Off-the-grid (OTG) lifestyles and homes refers to living your life in a self-sufficie...
By Jim Malo / Domain / 29 August 2018 Melbourne will be home to not one but two Australia-first initiatives to make living in an apartment cheaper and more environmentally sustainable. Tenants in apartment buildings could soon have access to solar power and battery storage if a new government-funded...
By Paul Dastoor / The Conversation / 30 August 2018 Australia’s first commercial installation of printed solar cells, made using specialised semiconducting inks and printed using a conventional reel-to-reel printer, has been installed on a factory roof in Newcastle. The 200 square metre array was in...
By Sophie Vorrath / One Step Off The Grid / 29 August 2018 The Victorian government’s newly announced residential solar rebate has brought the state’s PV industry to a “dead stop”, according to a solar industry insider, as customers hold off on investment until the detail of the scheme is properly l...
By Queensland Government / RenewEconomy / 23 August 2018 Safety systems are being set up ahead of a scheme to help Queensland families install home batteries to store their solar energy and take control of their power bills. Energy Minister Dr Anthony Lynham said tenders had opened today for an offi...
By Fred Lambert / Electrek / 28 August 2018 Dethleffs came up with an innovative new camper concept built for electric cars. It has its own battery pack, electric motors, and solar panels to reduce the load on the vehicle towing it. The idea is pretty simple: towing a camper reduces the efficiency ...
By Sarah Ingrams / Which? / 24 August 2018 Inverters, feed-in tariffs and broken roof tiles – has your solar PV system had a problem? Solar panel owners say that inverters cause the most problems for their solar panel systems, exclusive Which? research reveals. Overall, just over a quarter (27%) of ...
By Sophie Vorrath / One Step Off The Grid / 22 August 2018 A week is a long time in energy politics. After seven days that started with a triumphant Turnbull crowing about his party’s support for the National Energy Guarantee, and ended with the NEG in tatters and a narrowly foiled leadership spill,...
By Genelle Weule / ABC News / 16 August 2018 Solar power is a hot topic of conversation on Bruny Island. The tiny island off the southeast coast of Tasmania is home to a solar battery trial. The idea is that solar batteries could help the islanders save money on their power bills, and the energy sto...
By Giles Parkinson / RenewEconomy / 19 August 2018 The Victoria Labor government has unveiled a plan to dramatically expand the installation of rooftop solar in the state, pledging $1.2 billion in rebates and no-interest loans for more than 650,000 homes. The announcement by Daniel Andrews – coming ...
By Man Of Many Tech / 18 August 2018 Everybody seems to want to cash in on the solar power craze. Fortunately, the Solar Scroll Portable Charger is getting it right. What good is a solar charger when the panels are bigger than you are? SOUL Inventions is kicking that idea to the curb and offering a ...
By James Dennin / Inverse / 14 August 2018 An impediment to electric car adoption is the fact that they can take a long time to charge. That means for people to be able to actually use their cars to travel long distances (an understandable aspiration, to be sure) widespread electric car adoption wou...
By Bryan Clark / TNW / 15 August 2018 Analysts at Swiss investment bank UBS believe that by 2030, we could all be living without much of a carbon footprint — at least at home. The analysts believe that the cost of renewable energy will continue to dive heading into the next decade, and that by 2030,...
By Ken Baldwin / The Conversation / 15 August 2018 On the face of it, the National Energy Guarantee (NEG), adopted as Coalition policy at a party room meeting yesterday, appears to promise the certainty that industry, consumers and experts have desperately sought for the past decade. But beware: the...
By Joe Romm / Think Progress / 13 August 2018 The solar panels are cheaper than a paint job, and add up to 18 miles to range. German startup Sono Motors has integrated solar panels into its Sion electric vehicle (EV), allowing the car to charge while it is driving. The Sion has a 155-mile range and ...
Written by PowerArk Solar There is no doubt that 2018 has been a huge year for solar PV, with number of significant achievements and milestones indented up through the past years, including the 2 million solar-powered households. The number of homes installing their own solar PV systems is dra...
By Anna Jirtenstein / Bloomberg / 13 August Spending on battery start-ups has boomed to $1.5 billion in the first half of this year. Not all projects will survive. Some of the latest battery technologies may become obsolete before reaching the market because of the breakneck pace of advances in the ...
By Miranda Blazeby / Boat / 9 August 2018 Construction has begun on the first hull of Silent Yachts’ Silent 79 Cruiser series. The 24 metre catamaran, which is completely powered by solar energy captured by extensive flybridge panelling, is scheduled for delivery in March 2020 and is being built by ...
By Marlene Cimons / EcoWatch / 30 July 2018 The windows of many cars and buildings often are tinted with a film that shuts out unnecessary sunlight, an energy efficiency measure that helps lower heating and cooling costs. Other types of environmentally friendly windows feature a coating of see-throu...
By Adam Carey / The Age / 5 August 2018 Main image: Powershop CEO Ed McManus is threatening to cease investment in Victoria should the government adopt the plan. Photo: Fairfax Media A proposal to slash Victorian power bills by forcing energy companies to offer a no-frills “basic service offer...
By Paul Karp / The Guardian / 6 August 2018 Main Image: More than 70% of Australians agree that the nation ‘should set an ambitious renewable energy target to help put downward pressure on electricity prices’. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP The survey comes as Victoria and Queensland urged to block nat...
By Jesper Starn / Bloomberg / 6 August 2018 Wind and solar farms are glutting networks more frequently, prompting a market signal for coal plants to shut off Bright and breezy days are becoming a deeper nightmare for utilities struggling to earn a return on traditional power plants. With wind and so...
By Angela Macdonald-Smith / Financial Review / 1 August 2018 The energy retailing industry looks set for a major overhaul over the next few years as business consumers seek to bypass traditional retailers to buy power more cheaply direct from renewables projects, while the consolidation of suppliers...
By Jason Byrne / The Conversation / 1 August 2018 Many of us are familiar with developments of big solar farms in rural and regional areas. These are often welcomed as a positive sign of our transition towards a low-carbon economy. But do large-scale solar installations have a place in our cities? T...
By Nicole Jewell / Inhabitat / 26 June 2018 For those looking to commune with nature, these sustainable all-glass cabins located in idyllic landscapes around New Zealand are just for you. Powered by solar energy, PurePods are tiny transparent capsules in stunningly beautiful settings far, far away f...
By James Temple / MIT Technology Review / 27 July 2018 A pair of 500-foot smokestacks rise from a natural-gas power plant on the harbor of Moss Landing, California, casting an industrial pall over the pretty seaside town. If state regulators sign off, however, it could be the site of the world’s la...
By Chris Griffith / The Australian / 28 June Solar panels could soon be made with their own embedded battery storage in what is an Australian global first. Batteries would be laminated to the back of the panels and deliver “in-built” storage, making it eventually standard for them to deliver energ...
By Mark Golden-Stanford / Futurity / 26 July 2018 A new type of flow battery that involves a liquid metal more than doubles the maximum voltage of conventional flow batteries and could lead to affordable storage of renewable power. The technology has long been considered as a likely candidate for s...
By Cole Latimer / The Sydney Morning Herald / 26 July 2018 The energy market rule maker is developing new reforms designed to allow more Australians to sell their solar power into the grid. The Australian Energy Market Commission chairman John Pierce said a number of changes have been proposed to re...
By Jon Fingas / Engadget / 23 July 2018 As dreamy as it might be to combine renewable energy sources with storage batteries, there’s a problem: those batteries are expensive. It might take you years to recoup the costs. You’ll be glad to hear, then, that Stanford scientists have a way t...
By David Roberts / VOX / 21 July 2018 Energy storage is considered a green technology. But it actually increases carbon emissions. Energy storage (batteries and other ways of storing electricity, like pumped water, compressed air, or molten salt) has generally been hailed as a “green” technology, ke...
By RNZ / 21 July 2018 An Australian scientist is researching new technology which could change the shape of the energy industry worldwide. Dr James Quach from the University of Adelaide has planned to use his experience with quantum mechanics to build the world’s first quantum battery- a super...
By Jack Stewart / Science Focus / 21 July 2018 While the green credentials of electric cars vary depending on how that electricity is generated in the first place, they still have lower CO2 emissions overall. We teamed up with the folks behind BBC World Service’s CrowdScience to answer your question...
By Sophie Vorrath / One Step Off The Grid / 18 July 2018 Rooftop solar installed by Australian homes and businesses in on track to generate between 31-50TWh of power across the National Electricity Market by 2040, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator, and supply up to 22 per cent natio...
By Giles Parkinson / RenewEconomy / 13 July 2018 Days after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission called for federal incentives for rooftop solar to be abolished, a new report has identified why more rooftop solar should be encouraged – to reduce peak demand on hot days and boost system...
By Liz Stlnson / Curbed / 13 July 2018 Off-grid homes usually run small, but as they say, everything is bigger in Texas—including this angular off-grid house situated in Hill Country. Miró Rivera Architects designed the 5,100-square-foot partially off-grid home with environmental sustainability in m...
By Giles Parkinson / Reneweconomy / 13 July 2018 “I’ve never seen anything like it; with -$1k to +$14k in consecutive 5-minute periods. Chaos ensued.” That was the response of a senior Tesla Energy executive this week after the extraordinary scenes in South Australia’s electricity market on Monday, ...
By Giles Parkinson / RenewEconomy / 10 July 2018 Australia could source 86 per cent of its electricity from wind and solar by 2050, based on economics only and regardless of any climate or emissions policy, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The global research and news group says that leve...
Written by Liam Phelan / The Sydney Morning Herald / 23 February 2019 It is the question almost a third of Australians haven’t asked their electricity provider – and the answer could save more than $200 off your annual bill. Retailers offer two types of contracts: standing offers and ...
By Giles Parkinson / RenewEconomy / 9 July 2018 The Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Victoria government are leading a new program to establish standards for household and commercial battery storage to make it easier for residential and business customers to compare different storage optio...
By Giles Parkinson / Reneweconomy / 11 July 2018 The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, in a report on how electricity consumers have been ripped off by network companies, generators and retailers, has targeted the technology with the least impact, and probably biggest benefit – rooftop...
By Peter Hannam / The Sydney Morning Herald / 9 July 2018 Feature Image: Cleaning up: Solar PV demand is soaring – for now / Photo: Jason South Rooftop solar panel installations soared by almost half in the first six months of 2018 as businesses eclipse residential take-up for the first time. ...
By Michael Irving / New Atlas / 6 July 2018 Main Image: In the future, bacteria-powered solar cells could be competing with the conventional panels (Credit: gyuszko/Depositphotos) Microscopic organisms were some of the first things to tap into the Sun for energy, so it follows to use them to make be...
By Cole Latimer / The Age / 6 July 2018 Main Image: Australia is leading the world when it comes to residential and large-scale batteries but can’t rely on them to solve the energy grid’s problems. Photo: AAP Chief Scientist Alan Finkel says Australia is taking a world-leading position i...
By James Sherwood / GreenBiz / 7 June 2018 Main Image: Community members in Alapako Oni, Nigeria. Nigerians spend $14 billion annually for unreliable, inefficient, polluting power that can cost up to $0.70 per kilowatt-hour. For a glimpse of a huge opportunity for both business and improving lives ...
By Emily Piesse / ABC News / 2 July 2018 Video: Farming hydrogen in solar power. Imagine a house where all the electricity is generated by rooftop solar. Now imagine that, in addition, the stove, hot water and heating systems are all powered by the leftover energy. It sounds like an emission-free p...
By Joshua S Hill / Reneweconomy / 27 June 2018 Finnish technology group Wärtsilä has signed a long-term partnership agreement with Hyundai Motor Group to utilise second-life EV batteries for use in the growing energy storage market. Wärtsilä bills itself as a “global leader in smart technologies and...
By Gareth Hutchens / The Guardian / 1 July 2018 Main Image: The government should be honest with voters that intervention to keep coal-fired power stations open is a poor solution to high wholesale electricity prices, a new Grattan Institute report says. Photograph: Ashley Cooper/Getty Images Gratt...
By Bruce Mountain / ABC News / 25 June 2018 MAIN PHOTO: Power bills: we all have to deal with them, so why is it so complicated? (Supplied: pxhere) A recent survey found that Australia’s power companies are less trusted than media companies, banks and telcos. Customers hate electricity bills —...
By Robert F Service / Science / 28 June 2018 Main Image: A solar window created by scientists at Michigan State University in East Lansing reached an efficiency of 5% using organic photovoltaics. RICHARD LUNT/MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY Lance Wheeler looks at glassy skyscrapers and sees untapped poten...
By Jonathan Prendergast / One Step Off The Grid / 20 June 2018 In April last year, we got 7.8kW of solar with a SolarEdge inverter, including consumption monitoring. In November, we got a 9.3kWh LG Chem battery. From this experience, we have learned a lot from the benefits of solar and independently...
Written by Peter Hannam / The Sydney Morning Herald / 23 February 2019 Main image: Solar panels are not just mainstream, they even turn up more often on lower and middle-income homes that you might expect. CREDIT:NICK MOIR As urban myths go, the one about solar panels being a luxury enjoyed...
By Fatih Birol / AXIOS / 23 June 2018 Global greenhouse emissions rose last year, an unwelcome development after they’d leveled off the 3 previous years and a clear call to action for the world’s long-term energy goals. What’s next: Unprecedented advances in a broad range of clean and renewabl...
By David Chen / ABC News / 20 June 2018 FEATURE PHOTO: The project will be the first in Australia to combine solar energy and pumped hydro storage. (Supplied: Genex Power) Australia’s first renewable energy project to combine solar energy and pumped hydro storage has been given conditional ap...
By Brigham A McCown / June 19 / Forbes Green and renewable energy markets are bringing power to millions with virtually no adverse environmental impacts, but before we can count on renewables for widespread reliability, one critical innovation must arrive: storage. While hydroelectric and some other...
By Henrietta Reily / AXIOS / 20 June 2018 Fueled by cheap battery costs, wind and solar power are poised to produce nearly 50% of the world’s electricity by 2050, according to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance report released Tuesday. Why it matters: Renewable energy is getting cheaper as its tec...
By Andy Saunders / RenewEconomy / 19 June 2018 Just as in almost every other industry these days, it pays to keep a close eye on what happens in the Middle Kingdom. China is the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panels. Six of the ten largest manufacturers are Chinese, the largest being Jinko So...
By Giles Parkinson / Reneweconomy / 15 June 2018 Image Above: Global rates of electricity market decentralisation Australia has one of the highest rates of rooftop solar uptake in the world, and with the addition of battery storage, and yet more rooftop solar, it is going to be leading the world –...
By Ben Potter and Angela Macdonald-Smith / APR / 15 June 2018 Main Image: “It’s pretty hard to argue that the market is working as intended in the best interests of customers,” said Energy Australia chief executive Catherine Tanna. More energy retailers moved to hold or slightly t...
Giles Parkinson / One Step Off The Grid / 13 June 2018 Lightsource BP intends to enter the burgeoning household solar and battery storage market in Australia, with an installation plan that requires no upfront payments. The plan is revealed in an application to the Australian Energy Regulator for a ...
By Adam Mchugh / The Conversation / June 13 2018 The rate of growth in residential rooftop solar photovoltaics (PV) in Australia since 2008 has been nothing short of breathtaking. Our new research suggests that the households most likely to join in the solar spree are those that are affluent enough ...
By David Frankel, Sean Kane, and Christer Tryggestad / McKinsey & Company / June 2018 The costs of energy-storage systems are dropping too fast for inefficient players to hide. The winners in this market will be those that aggressively pursue and achieve operational improvements. Energy-storage ...
Cole Latimer / The Age / June 10 Main Image: The number of electric vehicles in Australia has grown slowly but government subsidies. Photo: Supplied. The cost of electric vehicles (EV) and a lack of charging infrastructure are behind Australia’s relatively slow take-up of the cars not a lack o...
By Mark Osborne / PV Tech / 21 February 2019 Main Image: SolarEdge Technologies impressive revenue and shipment figures were out of step with its public listed rivals in 2018. Image: SolarEdge A personal perspective on why a solar company could take on its rivals and thrive in a year full of...
AFR-7 June 2018 / By Angela Macdonald-Smith Reforms are urgently needed in the way households pay for the electricity grid and to ensure maximum benefit is made from increasing investment in rooftop solar and batteries, network industry players have declared. Existing pricing, where households pay f...
The Age / By Cole Latimer / 6 June 2018 The rising number of solar rooftop installations is creating concerns that too much energy is flooding into the electricity grid, and could cause blackouts as the system struggles to control the excess power. “Solar spill”, when high levels of ene...
Adrian Merrick previously led EnergyAustralia’s retail arm and now believes many retailers in the industry are working against the customer. Photo: Supplied: The Age – By Cole Latimer – 3 June 2018 The former head of EnergyAustralia’s retail arm says the energy industry has re...
QUARTZ via Flipboard- Akshat Rathi/Jun 4, 2018 In 2017, the world deployed an ever-expanding amount of solar and wind power, setting a new record for renewable-power capacity added to the grid. In fact, the money spent on renewable installations was more than twice the sum spent on nuclear and foss...
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Cedric Brehaut / GTM / 24 May 2018 Main Image: The next wave of residential solar customers will demand a polished product that is easy to buy and low risk. The case for why solar protection plans are key to taking the technology mainstream. Residential solar is fast approaching the gap between earl...
Climate Council / 24 May 2018 ROOFTOP SOLAR is surging in Australia, with the rate of installation jumping by almost 60% in 2018, overtaking the previous record set in 2017, according to new data. The Green Energy Market’s ‘Renewable Energy Index – April ’ shows a spike of 56% in the rate of r...
Dan Robitzski / Futurism / 24 May 2018 The government of South Australia, which changed hands after an election this March, just announced that it would move forward with the previous regime’s agreement with Tesla to install solar panels on 1,100 houses, according to ABC. The original deal – to crea...
ES News / 23 May Most people just assume that the electricity supplied to your home is a stable component and you only pay for what you need. What most people don’t understand is the supply fluctuates within a range of 220 and 250 AC volts with a nominal voltage of 230. This fluctuation of voltage i...
Authors: Joachim Seel, Andrew Mills, Ryan Wiser / The Conversation / 23 May Wind and solar energy are growing rapidly in the U.S. As these energy sources become a bigger part of the electricity mix, their growth raises new questions: How do solar and wind influence energy prices? And since power pla...
Sophie Vorrath / One Step Off The Grid / 23 May Australia can add yet another contender to its booming residential battery storage market, with the latest offering from leading global inverter maker Sungrow Power now available to consumers. Sungrow, which already claims around 10 per cent of the Aus...
Joe Romm / Think Progress / 21 May In another advance, Chinese deploy two-sided solar panels to boost efficiency. In a truly remarkable feat of innovation, scientists have figured out how to create “hybrid” solar cells that generate power not just from sunlight but also from raindrops. This means w...
Karen Sweeney / The Daily Telegraph / May 15 2018 Businesses are warming to renewable energy after some experienced up to 90 percent increases in electricity bills over the last decade, new research shows. Almost one in two Australian companies have switched to clean energy sources, including ins...
Tractile / Architecture and Design / 16 May The recent launch of solar roof tiles by the world-leading company Tesla has brought attention to a similar product manufactured by an emerging Australian company in Queensland. Renowned global entrepreneur Elon Musk, who helped pioneer PayPal and Tesla, ...
Presented by nbn / realestate.com.au / 11 May Building a home for the future involves a lot of decision-making. Where will we build? How much will we spend? What design features do we want? They’re just some of the important considerations that will need to be discussed. But get it right and you’ll ...
By Sophie Vorrath & Giles Parkinson / 11 May / RenewEconomy The Tesla big battery in South Australia has already taken a 55 percent share in the state’s frequency and ancillary services market and lowered prices in that market by 90 percent, new data has shown. The stunning numbers on the econo...
Cole Latimer / The Sydney Morning Herald / 16 April Main Image: The pop-up solar units are self-contained within a shipping container. An Australian ‘pop-up solar’ generator that can be transported in a shipping container and is designed to provide instant power for defence forces in the field is be...
Daniel Butkovich – Advice Editor / Domain Main Image: Solar panels can pay for themselves in about five to 10 years. Photo: AAP Uptake of solar power is surging across Australia, but renters – who make up a third of the population – are still largely locked out of accessing solar energy...
Lacy Cooke / inhabitat / 8 May California is taking a huge step forward in clean energy, as the state is expected to require solar panels on just about all new homes, The Orange County Register reported. The California Energy Commission is slated to vote this Wednesday on new standards mandating alm...
Cole Latimer / The Age / 6 May Main Image: The level of rooftop solar in Australia is rising rapidly. Photo Glenn Hunt Rooftop solar has been growing rapidly in Australia and while Melbourne’s commuter belt is experiencing strong take-up, in NSW the greatest growth is occurring outside Sydney....
Giles Parkinson / RenewEconomy / 27 April 2018 Australia’s electricity grid might be the biggest man-made machine in the world, but it doesn’t always perform to expectations. Apart from the occasional blackout, caused by storms, bushfires, equipment failure or political bluster, many consumers suffe...
Energy Stuff / 7 May 2018 Main Image: CanStock Winter is almost upon us and most home solar panel owners will be dreading the drop in solar power output that comes in the cooler months. With shorter days, more cloud cover and the sun shining at a different angle, it feels inevitable that solar gener...
Ben Smee / The Guardian / 3 May Main Image: The report says momentum behind renewables can only be slowed by policymakers, not stopped. Photograph: Lucy Hughes Jones/APP Study says 40% of transport could be emissions-free by 2035 and neighbors could trade clean electricity. A total shift to renewabl...
Main image: The solar powered water makers are being trialed at homes and farms in remote communities. By Cole Latimer / 29 April 2018 / The Sydney Morning Herald A solar-powered device that creates clean drinking water from the air is being trialled in Australia. The portable Source Hydropanels, c...
Mark Ludlow / Australia Financial Review / April 29th 2018 Main image: Zen Ecosystems’ “Smart Thermostat” allows bosses to control energy usage. supplied by Mark Ludlow A company that has developed a “smart thermostat” to allow businesses and homes to remotely control a...
ABC News / Luke Wong / 25 April Main Image: From left, current Stucco tenants Edie Grifin and Cooper Adams with Solar + Storage project manager Bjorn Sturmberg (ABC Radio Sydney: Luke Wong) A solar energy storage system installed by a low-income student cooperative has reduced power bills for its te...
Clean Energy Council (CEC) – 19 April, 2018 Fortends Pty Ltd – Shenzhen Sofar Solar Mass Energy Inverter The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued a product safety recall on the following product. Product description Grid tied photo voltaic inverter. Invert...
Main Image: Renewable energy capacity of 41,000GWh was deemed to be “impossible”, but is now in reach. (Fabrizio Bensch, file photo: Reuters) Stephen Letts / ABC News / 18 April Australia’s renewable energy capacity is set to exceed a target the Federal Government said was impossib...
Australian Associated Press / April 16, 2018 Australian voters want the nation’s governments to do more to cut power bills, according to a YouGov Galaxy survey. It found 90 percent of voters think it’s important that household and business energy bills are reduced while 88 percent supp...
Anne Mather / Mercury / 8 April Main Image: Jamie Henderson, From Aurora’s Energy Support (YES) Team, says savings can be made by making tiny adjustments. Picture: Matt Thompson. ENERGY experts say it’s the small things in a household that can become big expenses when they’re all added up: th...
Time Boreham / The Age / 6 April Main Image: Sydney Markets has the largest single rooftop solar panel installation for a private company in the Southern Hemisphere. Up to half of the nation’s roofing area is suited to solar panels but is currently unused, with industrial suburbs accounting for mos...
Nick Lenaghan / Financial Review / 4 April Main image: As much as 70 per cent or more of industrial roofs are being built “slender” and to the minimum 100-year event standards. Peter Rae Landlords are crimping on the development of new logistics projects, failing to future-proof roofs by...
Carla Hildebrandt / Mandurah Mail / 4 April Main image: Future thinking: Arial view of Comet Bay Primary School and its solar panels. Image: Supplied Comet Bay Primary School’s solar panels have reduced Summer power costs by 70 percent, according to school principal Graeme Watson. The school had ov...
Debbie Cuthbertson / The Sydney Morning Herald / 28 March Main Image: Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg in Federal Parliament this week. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen Australian energy companies could face fines for sending their customers “grossly inaccurate” bills based on estimates rather th...
Written by Bridie Schmidt / The Driven / 19 February 2019 CEO and founder of electric vehicle startup Rivian, RJ Scaringe, has said that he considers Australia is an important market for his EV company, firming up reports of the company’s intention to create a right-hand drive version of its rug...
Scott Stiner / CEO & President of UM Technologies and COO of Taylor Consulting and Contracting / Forbes / 28 March Imagine for a moment that someone waltzed into your office and demanded 30% of your bottom line every year — no explanation, no real reason. They just wanted it, and you were ...
By Sophie Vorrath / One Step Off The Grid / 21 March 2018 China’s biggest electric vehicle and battery maker, BYD, is ramping up efforts to seize a 25 per cent share of Australia’s battery storage market, after locking in an impressive 8-10 per cent share in its first year selling batteries to Austr...
Travis Hoium / The Motley Fool / 21 March Batteries could upend every corner of the energy industry. Improvements in batteries — and more broadly, energy storage — could be the biggest disruption we’ve seen in the energy industry in over a century. Utilities, power plants, transpor...
Main Photo: An artists’ impression of the Ballarat battery, which will be able to power 20,000 homes for an hour. By Jonathan Hair / ABC News / 21 March Two large-scale, grid-connected batteries will be installed in regional Victoria, in a bid to shore up the state’s electricity supply. ...
A researcher discusses the “duck curve” he helped discover. By David Roberts / @drvox / [email protected] / 20 March Back in 2008, a group of researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) noticed a funny-looking shape in their modeling. They were starting to take solar photovoltaic (PV...
Main image: Incorrect readings of older style electricity meters have resulted in wildly high bills, up to 100 times more then what they should be. The Age / Cole Latimer / 15 March Smart meters are meant to make life easier for consumers by giving them up-to-date information about their electricity...
Main image: Australian households are putting more solar panels on their roofs, including this Melbourne house with 86 panels and 20 megawatt capacity. Nearmaps Financial Review / Mark Ludlow / 9 March Australian households are installing roof-top solar systems of up to 20 kilowatts capacity- once ...
Main image: Germany’s rush to renewables let energy efficiency measures fall – to a degree – by the wayside Sydney Morning Herald / Cole Latimer / 12 March Australia’s increasing focus on demand response and energy efficiency is setting the country up to bypass the mistakes made by...
The vast majority of Melbourne’s housing stock is wasting energy and money; new research reveals how long it will take homeowners to pay off an efficiency retrofit By Greta Harrison, University of Melbourne / Pursuit It is well reported that Melbourne is Australia’s fastest growing capital, wi...
Picture: A new hybrid solar cell device can capture energy from the sun and from the movement of raindrops(Credit: evetodew/ Depositphotos) Michael Irving / News Atlas / 8 March 2018 As useful and ubiquitous as solar energy is becoming, it still has one major Kryptonite: gloomy weather. Now, a team ...
ABC News / David Lipson / Updated 7 March While Australia leads the world in the use of rooftop solar power, some experts say there could soon be too much power coming online — and governments will have little choice but to cut subsidies. Government figures show 3.5 million solar panels were install...
February 20, 2019 at 4:05 PM EST FREMONT, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Feb. 20, 2019– SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: SEDG), a global leader in smart energy technology, today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2018....
The Guardian / Adam Vaughan / 28 February The fall in costs that has driven solar’s rapid growth is slowing – but scientists are exploring the next generation of materials that can harness more energy from the sun A robot handles a solar panel on the module production line in Singapore. Photo...
Ecogeneration / 18 February 2019 Labor has promised to deliver 7GW of new renewable energy in NSW by 2030 if it wins government at the state election in March. A Daley Labor government will deliver the guarantees through a series of reverse auctions, to push the price of new-build renewable e...
By Alison Potter / Choice / 27 February The importance of having an energy-efficient home The energy efficiency of Australian houses has profound implications on three key areas: 1. Household costs 2. Australia’s carbon emissions and meeting our international reduction targets 3. The load on t...
Click on image for video Why Scientists are excited by ‘next-generation’ solar cells and what they could mean for the future of energy. By Euronews 26/2/2018 Scientists are working on an exciting new material called perovskite – a light-sensitive crystal...
Nicole Front – Editorial Producer / Domain Media As the cost of electricity rises and solar panel prices fall, it may take less time than you think to recoup the cost of a solar system. Recent analysis from comparison site Finder.com.au shows solar panels can pay for themselves within six to 1...
Steve Dent / Engadget / 21 Feb 2018 A new type of sensor shows that the cells can handle a lot more power without overheating. Lithium-ion batteries have massively improved in the last half-decade, but there are still issues. The biggest, especially for EVs, is that charging takes too long to make ...
Gizmodo / Rae Johnston / 19 Feb 2018 More than 50 per cent of Australia’s coal fleet will be over 40 years old by 2030, and the Australian electricity grid – along with these ageing fossil fuelled power stations – are increasingly vulnerable to worsening extreme weather events. If ...
Written by Anna Salleh / ABC News / Published 18 February Sunny Australia sure is the lucky country for many of us cashing in on the financial benefits of putting solar panels on their roof — but what can renters do if they want to save money and reduce their greenhouse emissions? S...
By Cole Latimer / 14 February 2018 / The Age Australia can transition to electric vehicles, but it needs government policy to build a foundation for the sector’s growth, says Renault senior model line manager Elena Woods. Speaking from the sidelines of the Schneider Electric Innovation Summit this w...
John Fitzgerald Weaver / 10 Feb 2018 / Electrek Huawei’s first residential energy management system, the “FusionHome Smart Energy Solution”, is being launched in Australia, with availability this quarter. Originally announced last year in June for Europe and shown off at Solar Power International...
Naaman Zhou / The Guardian / 12 February 2018 / Photograph: Lucy Hughes Jones/AAP Solar farm approvals and record rooftop installations expected to ‘turbo-boost’ production Last month was the biggest January on record for rooftop installation of solar panels, according to RenewEconomy and SunWiz. A...
Drive / David McCowen / February 9th, 2018 Nissan Leaf owners are set to save on power bills and potentially profit from “vehicle to grid” technology allowing electric cars to send power to homes, businesses and the wider energy network. Vehicle charging and energy companies are working to accommoda...
The Conversation / Jan 30th,2018 / Hugh Saddler Tens of thousands of Victorians were left without power over the long weekend as the distribution network struggled with blistering temperatures, reigniting fears about the stability of our energy system. It comes on the heels of a summer of “trips”, w...
By Giles Parkinson / RenewEconomy / 15 February 2019 The Tesla big battery at Hornsdale in South Australia continues to make its market on the Australian energy market, pocketing another $4 million in the fourth quarter from the provision of frequency and ancillary services. The number was re...
ABC News / 5th February / By political reporter Nick Harmsen At least 50,000 homes in SA will be given solar panels and batteries in a scheme by Elon Musk’s Tesla and the SA Government to build the world’s largest virtual power plant, slashing household power bills in the process. Under ...
One Step Off The Grid / By Giles Parkinson on 20 December 2017 The Victoria energy and pricing regulator has proposed a peak period tariff of 29c/kWh for rooftop solar exports back into the grid, in a ground-breaking recommendation that could help change the way consumers think about their solar ass...
The Clean Energy Council (CEC) have advised that more than half of the PV modules currently on their approved list are scheduled to expire from 1 February 2018. If homeowners are looking to have solar systems installed after this date then they should ensure that the panels are approved by the CEC ...
BBC News / By Roger Harrabin – BBC environment analyst The feasibility of using electric vehicles as mini power stations will be tested using government funding of almost £10m. During the trial involving 1,000 car charging points, electric vehicles will feed power back into the national grid. ...
New energy storage giant called Fluence is poised to take on Tesla in energy storage. Travis Hoium (TMFFlushDraw) The Motley Fool / Jan 18, 2018 Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has been the biggest global player in the nascent battery energy storage market in everything from residential to utility-...
Computer Daily News / January 24th / Australian battery company Redflow says it has achieved a milestone by successfully producing the first battery electrode stacks from its new factory in Thailand. But it’s still some distance away from producing and marketing batteries for commercial users lookin...
GIZMODO / Graciela Metternicht and Gail Broadbent / Jan 26, 2018, Electric cars might finally be having their moment in Australia, after British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta approached the South Australian government about retooling Adelaide’s defunct Holden factories into a new manufacturing hub. La...
Zeverlution S Solar Inverters – Sale Now On! The Zeverlution inverter generation offers user-friendly and trustworthy PV technology at reasonable prices. These patented inverters comprise less electronic components, which increases their reliability, and their weight has been reduced by nearly...
Electrex /2018/01/19 Fitzgerald Weaver – Jan. 19th 2018 @SolarInMASS There were approximately 98GW of solar power installed globally in 2017, versus 70GW in 2016. That represents 40% volume growth in a single year! Woo, yeah!The top 10 module suppliers delivered about 57GW of those volumes – ...
Science / By Robert F. Service / Jan. 22, 2018 Solar power has undergone a revolution in recent years, thanks to an upstart family of crystalline materials called perovskites. Now, perovskites are transforming windows, keeping them clear on cold days, but turning them dark in the hot summer sun. Tw...
The Sydney Morning Herald / 19 January 2018 / Cole Latimer The Turnbull government is carrying out the first-ever review of the national standards for appliance energy efficiency. The review of the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Act (GEMS) will allow the federal government to set national e...
Originally by Andrew Spence for the Lead / EcoGeneration / 11 February 2019 Composite wing technology featuring inbuilt solar cells with the ability to triple the flying time of drones will be exhibited for the first time at the Avalon aviation expo this month. South Australian company P...
Engadget / Jon Fingas/Jan 20, 2018 Audi isn’t going to let rival automakers like BMW and Tesla corner the market on home batteries. The German badge is testing a Smart Energy Network where solar-powered batteries not only help your home minimize use of the electrical grid, but talk to ea...
Holland / News item | 10-01-2018 Remember those Dutch solar cars that won the World Solar Challenge car race? The range of those cars powered by the sun was excellent. However, the vehicles themselves were not up to snuff in the design department. In comes Lightyear, a self-charging electric solar c...
The Local / [email protected] / @thelocaldenmark / 11 January 2018 2017 was a record year for Danish wind power and Denmark is on track to surpassing its EU energy targets, says the Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Climate. Highest-ever levels of wind energy provision were set in 201...
Tech companies have had a hard time making the smart home a reality, but energy storage could change the dynamic. The MotleyFool Jan 11, 2018 / Travis Hoium The smart home was supposed to be big business by 2017, especially now that most Americans have smartphones in their pockets and mill...
IEEE Spectrum / 11 Jan 2018 / By Tekla S. Perry The hydropanel. It looks a bit like a solar panel. Indeed, it is part solar— the side sections create heat using solar thermal technology (see photo, above); the center two sections of each panel are full of solar cells So it does generate a little ele...
by Richard Denniss / Australian Financial Review / 9.1.2018 Just as many politicians choose to ignore the evidence of criminologists when designing crime prevention policy, the majority of Australian politicians choose to ignore economic evidence in the design of Australian energy policy. Th...
Aiden Boyham / Tuesday, 9 January 2018 / The West Australian Local stakeholders have welcomed the news Phoenix Energy is set to begin preliminary ground-works on Australia’s first waste-to-energy facility in Kwinana this month. Work at the Leath Road site is set to lay the groundwork for construct...
Duncan Jefferies / Mon 8 Jan 2018 The Guardian Falling costs, Chinese dominance, and competition in battery technology are some of the main developments to monitor in 2018 It’s been a rollercoaster year for renewables. The price of solar and wind plummeted, China smashed its target for ...
INC / Greg Satell / Jan 6, 2018 / Photo Getty image It could shift the economics of energy towards renewables Everywhere you look today, it seems like we’re on the brink of a clean energy revolution. Electric car sales are estimated to have topped a million units in 2017. Wind and solar i...
ELECTRIX / Fred Lambert / Jan 4, 2018 Tesla’s Powerpack project at a wind farm in South Australia garnered a lot of attention in media – mainly because of Elon Musk’s bet for Tesla to bring it online in “100 days or it will be free” and the fact that it became the most powerful battery system in th...
SKY STANFIELD, ERICA MCCONNELL, AND JOSEPH PETTA / JANUARY 04, 2018 / Greentech Media You purchased that spiffy new rooftop solar array and waited patiently in the queue to get interconnected to the grid. Now that you’re generating kilowatts-hours, you’ve decided to invest in a residential energy ...
Inhabitat News – 4.1.2018 / Lacy Cooke Researchers at an American national laboratory have now employed quantum dots for double-pane solar windows that offer shading, insulation, and, of course, generate energy – with greater efficiency. The Los Alamos National Laboratory team drew on a new wi...
By Charlotte King / ABC News / 17 February 2019 MAIN PHOTO: Wind turbines are set to dot the landscape in Victoria’s west but the extra power will be wasted without transmission upgrades. (Supplied: WestWind Energy) Authorities say two coal-fired power stations’ worth of renewable...
Jatin Nathwani The Conversation / September 26th, 2017 Recent reports that solar capacity will soon exceed nuclear capacity reveal an important fact. It also hides a crucial distinction needed to understand the context of energy production, and use and consequences of choices among supply options ...
The sustainability tide is turning. toward renewable energy. PETER DOCKRILL / 24 DEC 2017 / SCIENCE ALERT There’s no sense in sugar-coating it: the world is facing an epic environmental challenge as our planet breaks temperature records thanks to heavy emissions of carbon dioxide (C...
Alan Pears / The Conversation / Dec 20th, 2017 As we approach the end of the year, it’s useful to look back and forward. Now is an auspicious time, as two major energy-related reports have been released this week: the federal government’s review of their climate change policies, and a discussi...
JOE ROMMDEC 14, 2017 – Think Progress The solar, wind, battery, and electric car “miracles” have gone mainstream. The competition for the biggest clean energy story of 2017 is intense. Building and running new renewable energy is now cheaper than just running old coal and nuclear plants. The ...
By Christoph Burger – International Business Times – December 15, 2017 Digital payments, smart contracts, and data-backed task automation technologies are driving Germany’s energy transformation. Blockchain is a distributed, digital transaction technology that allows for securely ...
By EMILY HOLDEN POLITICO-USA – 15.12.2017 The White House is preparing to argue that trade barriers are needed to foster solar manufacturing inside the United States. An unreleased White House document offers the strongest hint yet that the Trump administration is laying the groundwork for...
By Nicole Hasham / Sydney Morning Herald / 20 November 2017 About 1.8 million Australians with rooftop solar could lower their bills and take control of their electricity supply by storing their own energy, but many fear a repeat of the failed home insulation scheme, a report has found. The resear...
Travis Hoium / (TMFFlushDraw) / Nov 29, 2017 / The Motleyfool Including a car charger could be commonplace for solar installations before long. The solar inverter is a central component of every solar system, turning the direct current (DC) from a solar panel to the alternating current (AC)...
Mashable / BY BRETT WILLIAMS Tons of auto companies are changing up their vehicle designs to feature electric systems instead of internal combustion engines — but for the most part, the cars look the same as their gas-powered counterparts. Sondors, a crowdfunded auto startup, is looking to shake up...
Damian Carrington / Saturday 2 December 2017 / theguardian Exclusive: Pure electric cars cost less over four years than petrol or diesel cars in the UK, US and Japan, researchers say, but China is set to lead the market Electric cars are already cheaper to own and run than petrol or...
QUARTZ INDIA 30.11.17-BY: Akshay Kohli Chandrima Das Gita Devi lives with her family of seven in Kargara, a small and remote village in the Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh. On a typical day, she wakes up at the crack of dawn to collect firewood for cooking. She walks nearly four kilometers fr...
by Jill Margo / AFR / 29.11.17 Manufacturing a disease is not as hard as you might think and we have a strong tradition of doing this, sometimes with detrimental effect. Our latest confected disease is “wind turbine syndrome” and its advocates have been so vocal they have effectively...
Alex Hern/Nov 27, 2017 / The Guardian Bitcoin’s “mining” network uses more electricity in a year than the whole of Ireland, according to statistics released as the currency broke $9,000 for the first time. According to Digiconomist the estimated power use of the bitcoin network, which is responsible...
By Travis Hoium, The Motley Fool – Motley Fool November 27, 2017 After decades of development and political debate about solar energy, the industry is finally ready to stand on its own. Solar power projects around the world are beating fossil fuels on price without subsidies, and each time t...
By Jonathan Brown In mid-2016 the Consumer Action Law Centre (CALC) applied to Consumer Affairs Victoria’s (CAV) Tenancy Assistance and Advocacy (TAAP) and Consumer Assistance and Advocacy (CAAP) Innovation Fund grants program to undertake a research project examining unsolicited sales and consumer ...
02 Nov, 2017 – ATA The Alternative Technology Association (ATA) has joined the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation in launching a program to boost renewable energy at Victorian not-for-profit organisations. The ATA will provide free renewable energy site feasibility and supplier assessment...
By Sophie Vorrath & Giles Parkinson on 14 November 2017 – Reneweconomy For the solar industry, this should be the best of times: a record year for rooftop installs and the long awaited boom in large-scale solar. But nervousness about the future has been betrayed by its reaction to regula...
By Audrey Ference | Nov 2, 2017 | Realtor.com-Home improvement Note, while this is a USA article many of the considerations apply to Australia. When shopping for an electric vehicle, you have to consider the cost of both the car and the electric car charger. Fueling an electric vehicle is as simple...
Kent Acott – Monday, 30 October 2017 7:30AM – WA News Rottnest Island Authority project manager Rob Weir at the new solar farm, which can produce about 600kw of energy. Picture:Picture: Simon Santi A new solar farm on Rottnest has dramatically reduced the island’s dependency on diesel fu...
Wind-plus-solar-plus-storage and hydro-plus-storage are arriving soon in Australia and the U.S. JULIAN SPECTOR – OCTOBER 25, 2017 – Greentech Media Photo Credit: Greensmith Energy Batteries are now getting paired with hydropower, wind, solar and gas. Battery storage is breakin...
By Nick Cox – Oct. 10.17 – Seeking Alpha. Charging EVs in Australia Australia is a huge country with large distances between its major cities. This makes the charging infrastructure of the utmost importance. Tesls’a current network locations are shown below. Blue = superchargers, ...
By Nick Cox – Oct. 10.17 – Seeking Alpha It is hardly surprising that Tesla is making such a big push into the Australian market. Nor that the world’s other big vertically integrated company in this sector, China’s BYD Auto (OTCPK:OTCPK:BYDDY), is doing the same. Distributed ...
By Andrew Spence on 28 September 2017 The Lead A network of car charging stations is being developed in South Australia to allow Tesla drivers to visit the world’s biggest lithium-ion battery being built by Elon Musk in the state’s north. Eight fast charging stations: four generic chargers for a ra...
By James Bullen ABC Health & WellbeingPosted 26 July 2017 You may have heard that ‘sugar feeds cancer cells’, fuelling their rapid growth. Or that eliminating sugar from our diet can starve or stymie cancer growth. But is there any truth to these beliefs? Well, the oft-repea...
By Vanessa Bates Ramirez Jul 09, 2017 The first time you see a Nemoi wind turbine, you may not realize it’s a turbine at all. A white and silver metallic structure about the size of a garden shrub, Nemoi has three vertical blades that spin carousel-like around a central axis. The spinning is c...
Another week and another government announcement. But before we get into the latest political fudge on the National Energy Guarantee, just a quick recap on last week’s key events in the ever changing spiral of national energy debate and policy. Amongst the orgy of hand wringing and political finger...
New concerns have emerged about the Coalition government’s new energy plan, and its effect on large-scale renewable energy projects and rooftop solar. The proposed share of renewable energy under the scheme unveiled by the Energy Security Board suggests the uptake of rooftop solar would need ...
Founders and Executive The Founders and Executive of Deal with Stuff are Lucas Sadler, Tony Cowan and Richard Anderson. All have had successful careers across many sectors and have come together to form Deal with Stuff as they all have an entrepreneurial flair, business expertise and a desire to ma...
Prodigy Software – connecting organisations to Customers. Our Affiliate model is connected through our own Prodigy Software Platform. PRODIGY is an integration platform that brings together all parties connected to the transaction to provide a seamless communication and management process all...
Energy Stuff a new player in the Clean Energy Sector The Right Business at the Right Time Investor Memorandum Energy Stuff Deal with Stuff is the marketing arm of the DWS Group and below this, we have or plan to have, a number of operating divisions that will deliver our key service offers across t...