California-based tech giant Google has unveiled plans to give its Mountain View headquarters a green makeover, that will include the installation of translucent solar power-generating canopies. Plans submitted to the […]
Rooftop solar helps Queensland avoid new peak demand record
The temperature was not the only number that soared across Queensland on Thursday 5 March: so did power demand. As WattClarity’s Paul McArdle notes, electricity demand reached a peak of […]
Alice Springs grid could handle 10MW more solar without storage: ARENA study
A new Australian study has found that Alice Springs could boost its share grid-connected solar by 26 per cent without affecting stability or necessitating energy storage. The ARENA-backed study, which […]
36GW of large-scale solar power now installed globally
According the preliminary figures released by Wiki-Solar late last month, global utility-scale photovoltaics added 14.2GW in 2014, which doubled the 2013 total and brought total generating capacity to 35.9GW in […]
Residential Solar PV Price Index – March 2015
Average residential solar PV system prices for Australia’s capital cities fell slightly between February and March. Systems were dearest in Canberra, while Perth was home to the lowest prices. March 2015 […]
South-east Queensland rooftop solar capacity reaches 1GW mark
South-east Queensland’s rooftop solar market is fast approaching the 1GW mark, with a total of 281,811 systems now installed on detached homes, at a total capacity of more than 937MW. […]
Flow battery maker Redflow to build its first commercial system in Australia
Australian battery developer Redflow has sold a commercial-scale model of its zinc bromide flow energy storage system to its company director, tech guru Simon Hackett, who will couple it with […]
Australia’s first floating solar farm to come to South Australia
Floating solar technology has generated excitement all across the globe in recent years, and plans are now underway in Australia to build the country’s first such facility. The plant, which […]
US panel manufacturer Silevo moves into Solyndra’s production facilities
As demand grows and technology improves, the global solar industry is changing rapidly. One of the most telling tales of the transformations underway is the recent decision by American panel […]
Solar will be the dominant electricity source globally by 2030: Deutsche Bank
Solar will become the dominant electricity source around the world as it displaces fossil fuels and generates $5 trillion in revenue over the next 15 years, a new report has […]
Cost-competitive energy storage is just around the corner: Deutsche Bank
The missing link of mass solar adoption – cost-competitive energy storage – will be ready to be deployed on a large-scale within the next five years, according to a new […]
Solar Choice brokers winning bid for 150kW solar system at Mater Dei College in Camden, NSW
The Solar Choice Commercial team has brokered the winning bid on a 150kW solar energy system for Mater Dei College in Camden, NSW – one of the largest systems installed […]
National Bank of Abu Dhabi says the future of energy is renewables
Fossil fuels can no longer compete with solar technologies on price, according to one of the biggest banks in Middle East, in a report that predicts the vast bulk of […]
Two new Apple data centres to run on renewables
Apple has announced plans to build two large data storage centers in Europe: one in Ireland and the other in Denmark. The $1.9 billion (€1.7 billion) investment, Apple’s largest ever […]
Germany introduces new incentive program for ground-mounted solar farms
Germany’s Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) has announced its first-ever tender process for ground-mounted photovoltaic systems. The pilot tenders, which were approved late last month through an executive order by Angela […]
SunEdison says renewables market will be worth $4 trillion by 2020
The world’s largest renewables company has predicted that the global solar and wind energy markets with be worth $4 trillion by as soon as 2020. US-based SunEdison said on Wednesday that the […]
Commercial PV Price Index – February 2015
Commercial solar system prices decreased slightly between January and February of 2015, according to pricing data from installers in Solar Choice’s network. All prices are net, incorporating incentives available through […]
German study predicts that cheapest electricity will come from solar by 2050
Solar PV will be the cheapest form of power within a decade, and cost less than $US0.02/kWh by 2050, a major German study has predicted.The study, by Berlin-based think tank […]
23% of South Australian homes now have solar panels
A total of 23 per cent of all households in South Australia now produce their own solar energy, according to new data, with another 17,000 installing rooftop PV systems in […]
Solar industry responds to Hunt’s solar safety inquiry
Federal environment minister Greg Hunt has called for an “urgent and immediate” inquiry into the safety and quality of Australia’s rooftop solar market, raising concerns among industry leaders that the […]
Residential Solar PV Price Index – February 2015
Average prices for residential solar systems have dropped slightly since last month. Over all, system prices have dropped by about 25% compared to August 2012 levels. Currently, the average cost […]
Tanzania’s Million Solar Homes initiative highlights huge potential for off-grid renewables
The Tanzanian government has announced an initiative aimed at providing a million homes with solar by the end of 2017, becoming the latest developing nation to tap distributed renewables to […]
Imergy introduces vanadium flow battery solution for utility, commercial & industrial applications
With the introduction of its third-generation vanadium flow battery, Imergy Power Systems is stirring up excitement within the commercial and industrial energy storage market. The ESP250 is the latest addition […]
Tanzania kicks off One Million Solar Homes initiative
The Tanzanian government has announced an ambitious initiative that would bring solar energy to as many as 1 million homes by the end of 2017. When all is said and done, […]
Freemantle, WA to build 10MW solar farm on council land
Western Australia’s City of Fremantle has become the latest local government group in Australia to proposed installing a large-scale solar farm on council land, to reduce their carbon footprint and […]
Australia’s Redflow to fast-track rollout of ‘flow batteries’ for homes, businesses and mining operations
Australian energy storage company Redflow says it is fast-tracking the rollout of its battery products to the residential and mining sector, in yet another sign that storage costs are falling […]
PERC solar cells steadily gaining steam in PV manufacturing
The Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell (PERC) structure offers a 1% efficiency boost (absolute) and improves the current state-of-the-art by integrating a high-efficiency rear surface design. The PERC design has […]
Solar-plus-storage project sees revival in WA
Plans to install large-scale solar thermal power at the Mundari Industrial estate in Western Australia’s Goldfields region have been revived, with two local solar developers expressing interest in the project. […]
Tesla Motors unveils plans for home energy storage solution
Despite a disappointing 2014 Q4 earnings report, Tesla Motors is marching forward and looking to expand its business into the emerging energy storage market. During an earnings conference call with […]
DistribuTECH conference focuses on impact of distributed energy on utility business models
During the DistribuTECH Power Transmission Conference in San Diego at the beginning of February, executives from all across the US utility sector agreed on one point: their industry is changing […]
Extension of Renewable Energy Target could trigger large-scale solar boom in Aus
A new report has warned that Australia could miss out on the booming global solar market – a market some say will be worth more than $130 billion by 2020 […]
