Queensland has called for early registration of companies wishing to tender for the installation of up to 100MW of energy storage before 2020, as part of the Palaszczuk government’s reverse […]
Category: Solar Choice News
Solar Choice’s news service about local, national and global developments about solar photovoltaics and related technology.
Residential Solar PV Price Index – August 2017
Average residential solar system prices have risen slightly following two consecutive months at their lowest levels since Solar Choice began keeping track in August 2012. This month’s higher average price […]
Battery safety standards decision looms large over industry
Standards Australia will soon decide whether to allow home lithium battery banks to be installed in a garage or external wall – or whether they’ll be required to live in […]
Australia headed for 12 gigawatts of solar by 2020: APVI
Australia’s installed solar PV capacity is on track to double, jumping from its current total of 6GW to 12GW in 2020, 2.3GW of which is expected to come from large-scale […]
Graph of the Day: Tesla battery popular on both sides of politics
While support for Australia’s shift to renewable energy can sometimes be split down party lines, new data has shown that support for one of the key enabling technologies, battery storage, […]
Emissions-free mowing & garden maintenance service hits Sydney
When it comes to emissions from internal combustion engines, cars and trucks are not the only offenders. Consider this department of environment statistic: “A two-stroke leaf blower used for one […]
Report describes Australian electricity utopia – that doesn’t seem to exist
A new report from Australia’s principal electricity market rule-maker has sought to portray a utopian image where consumers believe they are getting value for money and face only one blight on […]
Commercial Solar PV Price Index for July 2017
Average commercial solar system prices remain mostly unchanged at about $1.19 per watt ($1.19/W) between June and July 2017. Commercial solar system prices (10kW-100kW) All prices in the tables below […]
Aussie businesses failing to reap benefits of cheap renewables: Report
A new report from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency has found that less that half of Australian businesses actually source any renewable energy at all, and if they do, it […]
Solar system prices could rise up to 10% as STC prices drop
(Please see Solar Choice’s in-depth coverage of the STC price drop in this article.) The cost of installing rooftop solar looks set to rise by as much as 10 per […]
Australia’s 5B launches ground-breaking ‘solar farm in a box’
Sydney-based 5B has launched a pre-fabricated, easily deployed solution for solar farm construction that looks set to revolutionise medium to large-scale solar in Australia (and possibly the world). The company’s […]
Big improvements to our Solar & Battery Sizing & Payback Estimator tool
It’s been well over a year since we first released our Solar & Battery Sizing & Payback Estimator tool in February 2016. Through its life so far, this handy tool has […]
Residential Solar PV Price Index – July 2017
Average residential solar system prices for July remain mostly unchanged since June’s big shakeup, hovering at $1.34/W. 5kW solar systems continue to offer the best value for money, and Perth is […]
Newly formed battery giant Fluence aims to take on Tesla
Energy giants AES and Siemens have combined their energy storage divisions to take on upstarts like Tesla and other industry rivals, in an effort to dominate the soaring global battery […]
sonnenFlat: sonnen’s ‘free’ / flat-rate electricity plan looks great. Is it worth it?
German battery system maker sonnen has launched its ground-breaking sonnenFlat package – a retail electricity offer available to anyone with at least a 5kW solar system and a sonnen battery system […]
sonnen launches battery-driven plan to take retailers ‘out of business’
German battery storage developer sonen has described this month’s near 20 per cent jump in the cost of grid power around Australia as “perfect” timing for the rollout of its […]
NSW regulator boosts recommended solar feed-in rates in final report
NSW pricing regulator IPART boosted its recommended range for solar feed-in tariffs in the state, suggesting between 11.9c/kWh and 15c/kWh for exports back into the grid in 2017-18. The recommendations are slightly […]
Concept of ‘baseload’ energy quickly becoming a relic of the past
A new US report argues that the concept of “baseload” energy generation is an artefact of an old fossil fuelled industry, and should not be confused with reliability. The Brattle Group […]
Electricity prices to increase in NSW, SA and QLD: Why and what can you do about it?
As you’re likely to have read, there are significant electricity price rises coming into effect from 1 July if you live in New South Wales, Queensland or South Australia. Driven by […]
Commercial Solar PV Price Index for June 2017
Average pricing for commercial-scale solar systems has dropped to $1.19 per watt ($1.19/W) from $1.23/W following some shakeups in the Solar Choice installer network (see notes in our Residential Solar […]
Residential Solar PV Price Index – June 2017
This month saw one of the sharpest drops to average system prices since Solar Choice first began keeping track in August 2012. Between May and June, the average system price […]
Energy Storage Conference & Exhibition 2017: Roundup
Every June for the last three years I’ve attended the Energy Storage Conference & Exhibition in Sydney. This year the event took place on 14-15th at Sydney’s new Convention and […]
Standards Australia renews threat of home battery storage ban
A draft of industry guidelines for the installation of battery storage in Australian homes and businesses has upheld a controversial recommendation that threatens to ban batteries from inside homes and […]
Finkel modelling ignores new technologies, cheaper renewables
The Australian public – and the Coalition party room – are being told that the cheapest and most effective way to address emissions is to allow coal-fired power stations to […]
Solar & wind help SA ‘blow past’ renewables target ahead of schedule
South Australia has not only met its legislated target of 50 per cent renewable energy eight years ahead of schedule, it is literally blowing past it, the Australian Energy Regulator […]
Australian renewables head for a “boom-time” 2017
Renewable energy in Australia is shaping up for a “boom-time” 2017, powered by a rebound in hydro-power generation, the plunging cost of big solar, and ambitious and motivated state and […]
Beam Energy introduces a free ‘smart meter’ for solar & battery system size optimisation
When buying solar or batteries, most people would like to have an idea about how much money they would save with different capacity sizes before they go through with the purchase. […]
Empowered energy customers support the grid
With the right technology, homeowners and businesses with solar and battery storage systems have the potential to play a vital role in stabilising a grid with high renewable generation, according […]
Incredible new lows in cost of battery storage and large scale solar
Arizona has set a new low price for large-scale solar power in the US, but more importantly has also smashed expectations of the combined cost of large-scale solar and battery storage. […]
Subsidies are not the answer to battery storage market
The Clean Energy Council has called for urgent energy urgent market reform – and not subsidies – to unlock Australia’s energy storage market, in a new report that joins the […]
Solar saved NSW consumers almost $1 billion in latest heatwave
Rooftop solar on homes and businesses across New South Wales likely reduced the market price of wholesale electricity by nearly $1 billion during a February heatwave, a new analysis has […]
