New analysis of Australia’s solar PV installations has shown that regional and lower income households are the most likely to put solar systems on their roofs. The study, released on […]
SunPower CEO: Australia could be a world leader in distributed energy & solar PV
Australia has been named as a potential leader in the global shift towards decentralised renewable energy generation by the head of one of the world’s biggest solar manufacturers – provided […]
Remembering the Solar Summer of 2013-2014
This past summer was a hot one, and Australia’s electricity infrastructure certainly felt the heat as huge numbers of households switched on AC units to keep cool. The folks from […]
EU project promises commercial organic solar cells
A new European Commission-funded research project may bring organic solar cells closer to commercialisation. Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) recently announced the creation of the “MatHero” project supported by […]
Solar Council fears the RET review could end incentives for small-scale solar
The Australian Solar Council fears that the entire government rebate for small scale rooftop systems could be removed by the Abbott government’s renewable energy scheme review. John Grimes, the chief […]
Pollinate Energy to introduce solar-powered light sculpture ‘Ray’ at Sydney’s Vivid Festival
Australia’s Pollinate Energy, the NGO bringing solar-powered lighting to India’s urban poor, is planning to introduce a solar-powered light sculpture with its own personality–and name, ‘Ray’–at this year’s Vivid Festival in Sydney. […]
Researchers develop new antireflective coating that improves module efficiency by 4%
Researchers at UK’s Loughborough University have developed a new multi-layer anti-reflection (AR) coating for solar panels that simultaneously reduces reflection and improves module efficiency. The AR coating developed at the […]
International standards proposed for redox reflow batteries
A recent development may give grid storage batteries, particularly redox flow batteries, a major push towards adoption. The International Electrochemical Commission (IEC), a body that issues important universal technical standards, […]
Expose into Australian power prices
Australia’s ABC radio recently conducted a detailed research story into who is really to blame for the rising price of power in Australia. The background for the story is the […]
New solar export rates coming for New South Wales
Although New South Wales historically had the most generous Feed In Tariffs in Australia ($0.60c gross), those days are long behind us. For the last few years however, solar customers […]
Recommended feed-in tariff rates for NSW to fall again
Feed-in tariffs for rooftop solar in New South Wales have been slashed again, with the state’s pricing regulator recommending a retailer contribution of just 5.3c/kWh for solar energy exported back […]
New-build solar PV up to 50% cheaper than new-build nuclear in Germany & UK
New-build solar PV has been identified by German researchers as one of two market-ready renewable energy sources that can generate electricity for up to 50 percent cheaper than new-build nuclear. […]
AEMC to introduce new, streamlined processes for connecting solar to the grid
Australia’s national energy regulator has given the nod to electricity market reforms that will make it cheaper, easier and faster for households and business to invest in and install clean […]
Australian households lead the way in solar PV investment
Australian households accounted for nearly two-thirds of total investment in renewables in Australia in 2013, and virtually all of it in 2014, according to research by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. […]
Combined solar PV and bio-fuel farms: The best of both worlds?
What’s better than a solar farm that produces electricity from the sun? Well, a solar farm that produces electricity and biofuels from the sun, of course! A recent Stanford study […]
Solar power: a space-time gift from the universe on your roof
The benefits that solar power provides are well documented; saving money, fixed electricity costs and lowering your global footprint. Just the other day, I was reminded just how incredible the […]
Macquarie Group awarded electricity retail licence
Just months after revealing plans to start a solar leasing business in Australia, Macquarie Group has been awarded an electricity retail license. Macquarie, who last December committed nearly $200 million to the […]
Outlook of China’s solar market
Continued uncertainty around China’s solar policy means the achievement of its 2014 solar target of 14GW “could be challenging,” according to a new report from Deutsche Bank. The report, published on […]
ICCP reports: scale up renewable energy for decarbonisation
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said that renewable energy sources such as wind and solar must lie at the core of a massive decarbonisation of the world’s […]
Solar solution for apartment owners
Australia has one of the highest per capita and rooftop penetration rates of solar power in the world. Our position at the top of the rankings is largely because we […]
Solar’s rise to dominance closer than we think
The use of solar power is increasing at a prodigious rate around the world and Australia is no exception. In fact solar’s growth may be have already reached an unforeseen […]
Panasonic breaks silicon efficiency record after 15 years with a 25.6% efficient HIT cell
After a run of nearly 15 years, the record efficiency for silicon solar cells was finally broken last week. Panasonic Corporation announced last Thursday (10 April 2014) that it has […]
Rules for filing a development application for a solar PV system in NSW
Anyone planning on going solar in NSW will need to file certain paperwork to get their system connected to the electricity grid. The exact requirements for getting grid-connected will vary […]
Australia’s RayGen secures funds to manufacture concentrating PV technology
Australian solar technology start-up RayGen has signed a $60 million equity and manufacturing deal to help accelerate a technology that it believes will generate $1 billion in sales by 2020. […]
Solar forecasting & solar system performance modeling services by Reuniwatt
The world’s electricity mix is changing much more rapidly than could have been anticipated just a decade ago. As renewable energy sources like wind and solar power grow to take […]
Sun MonitOZ: Solar system performance app (Currently seeking beta-testers)
The popularity of rooftop solar power systems has soared globally in recent years, and Australia remains one of the global leaders for home solar uptake. This is due in part […]
Victoria Greens launch campaign to stand up for rooftop solar owners
Victoria’s Green Party has announced a campaign to support the rights state’s current and would-be solar-powered households, which already number over 207,000. If just one in 10 solar system owners […]
$5 billion of US rooftop solar will be crowd-funded by 2019
The US rooftop solar market could be crowd-funded to the tune of $5 billion within five years, according to an executive from SolarCity, America’s biggest solar provider by market value. […]
Suntech, finalising takeover details, officially announces its return
After a restructuring period, Wuxi Suntech has officially announced that the details of its acquisition by Shenfung Photovoltaic International have been finalised as of 7 April, and the company is […]
Energy storage both opportunity & threat as regional grid operators look to shrink assets
The head of Australia’s Energy Networks Association has predicted that grid operators in Queensland and Western Australia are likely to offload some of their extensive “poles and wires” networks. The […]
Why Perth’s POST newspaper installed a 30kW solar system
Perth’s POST newspaper is a perfect case study of a business that decided to go solar to fight rapidly ballooning power bills. The independent, privately-owned, Shenton Park-based newspaper made the […]
