Queensland burgeoning number of solar households could play a major role in the outcome of last weekend’s state election, according to research released by Solar Citizens this week. The data, compiled by […]
Category: Solar Choice News
Solar Choice’s news service about local, national and global developments about solar photovoltaics and related technology.
Three Massachusetts landfills go solar with GameChange’s Pour-in-Place Ballasted Ground mounting system
Three solid waste landfills in the US state of Massachusetts will go solar using GameChange racking’s innovative Ballasted Ground mounting system. The new power plants, which together will have a capacity […]
Swiftly dropping renewable energy prices present ‘a historic opportunity’: IRENA
The International Renewable Energy Agency – IRENA – is calling on the governments to start making sensible decision about the future of energy, based on real assessments of technology costs. […]
Rooftop solar and energy efficiency accounted for nearly 90% of national electricity demand reduction in 2014
Gone are the days where the conventional, fossil fuel driven electricity industry were thought to be unstoppable. Green Energy Markets annual review of the National Electricity Market states that solar […]
Powershop aims to revolutionise retail electricity with interactive, data-on-demand approach to billing
Powershop, recently featured in an article in the Age, is an online electricity retailer that allows its customers to be active players in the retail electricity market in a way […]
Largest solar PV plant in Middle East to deliver record-low electricity prices
Energy companies and analysts believe that the energy revolution taking place across the world could be accelerated – rather than derailed – by the collapse in the oil price because […]
Unsubsidised solar will be cost-competitive with fossil fuels in 80% of global market by 2017
Within 2 years solar systems will be at grid equality, in up to 80 per cent of the global market, and the oil price will do nothing to slow down […]
Australia outshines US on per-capita solar installations in 2014
A rooftop solar system was installed every 2.8 minutes in 2014 in Australia, nearly as many as the US even though it has just a fraction of the population. According […]
PV systems boost US property value by an average of $18,000
A recent report by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US quantifies the increase in property values for US homes fitted with rooftop PV systems. The study found that the […]
ARENA study counts the many roads to renewable energy integration
Listening to the debate on renewable energy in Australia, one could be mistaken for thinking that the idea of integrating wind and solar into our existing electrical infrastructure is pure […]
Australia’s great electricity price swindle: How the networks got away with billions in overinvestment
Last year, Jess Hill of the Monthly published an enlightening but damning report, called Power Corrupts, on the state of the electricity industry in Australia. Her main topic of investigation is whether the sharp […]
Solar panels after 25 years: Is there an afterlife?
Price drops in recent years have made the idea of investing in PV extremely attractive, with or without subsidies. In well-designed and well-utilised systems, the investment pays itself off in […]
Floating solar power: Floatovoltaics, Liquid Solar Arrays and Solar Islands set to change the way we look at solar
Floating solar projects have headlines in in a number of cleantech publications for the past few years, thanks mainly to their novelty, the ingenuity of their approach and their often […]
Solar Choice’s Mount Majura Solar Farm, edging closer to completion, will use QBotix’s sun-tracking robot technology
Solar Choice’s Mount Majura Solar Farm has again been the subject of an article by the Canberra Times‘ John Thistleton. The most recent article provides an update on the progress of […]
Climate Change Authority advises gradual reduction of small-scale solar incentives to avoid chaos for solar industry
The independent body set up by the federal government to advise on climate and clean energy policy has recommended no changes to the small-scale component of the Renewable Energy Target, […]
Fraunhofer demos plug-and-play PV system with 1-hour installation time
The Fraunhofer Institute for Sustainable Energy Systems (ISE) has developed a plug-and-play self-configuring PV system which can enable significant reductions in the time needed to install a complete PV system. […]
NT’s Bathurst Island opens tenders for ‘alternative power station’; solar and wind set to replace diesel
The Northern Territory’s Bathurst Island is set to switch from diesel fuel to solar and/or wind, with the launch of a request for tender to supply and install a renewable […]
Australia’s largest energy storage system to provide back-up to solar in Queensland
ASX-listed energy investment group Tag Pacific has won a landmark deal to develop Australia’s largest energy storage system alongside a grid-connected solar power plant in south-east Queensland. The battery storage […]
Church leaders offer PM a Christmas gift of solar panels for Kirribilli House
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has received an early Christmas gift with a message from a group of local Sydney church leaders. The gift: A rooftop solar system to put on […]
Australia still lagging globally on large-scale solar
While the ongoing impasse over Australia’s renewable energy target has brought the large-scale solar industry to a standstill, the broader global market is buzzing with activity, a new report has […]
SMA Fuel Save solution boosts case for PV-diesel hybrid systems
SMA’s ‘Fuel Save’ controller solution offers effective regulation and management of PV‑diesel hybrid systems. PV-diesel hybrid systems are often the most economic choice in remote areas where an electricity grid […]
Energy-storage startup Reposit Power could allow solar homes to bypass electricity retailers
Australian households could soon be able to bypass electricity retailers and buy and sell power on the market, via new technology set to be introduced by a Canberra-based company. Reposit […]
Networks in SA, QLD looking to micro-grids & storage for remote areas
South Australia’ electricity network operator has revealed plans to trial solar plus storage-based micro-grids in regional areas as an alternative to building or replacing poles and wires. In its latest […]
Queensland continues to lead the way in another solid year for Aussie solar
Queensland continues to lead the charge to rooftop solar in Australia, with households and businesses around the country adding another 75MW of PV capacity in the month of November, taking […]
SAPN: Virtually all SA homes will have solar, half will have energy storage by 2040
South Australia‘s network operator has predicted a dramatic uptake of distributed energy resources that would see almost all households in the state with rooftop solar by 2040 and more than […]
Stick it where the sun shines: Solar cell stickers extend PV reach
Researchers at Stanford University have developed an innovative way of producing ‘solar cell stickers’, thin-film PV devices which can be adhered onto practically any backing material. The thin film solar […]
Solar industry says utilities unfairly targeting solar homes in ‘demand tariff’ report
The Australian solar industry has accused electricity network operators of unfairly targeting the nation’s two million solar households to justify tariff changes designed to protect the “gold plating” of the […]
Stunning new video from ARENA makes strong case for agency’s work and showcases Aussie RE innovation
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has released an inspiring video showcasing the agency’s accomplishments since it came into being just 2.5 years ago. The video, titled ‘Tomorrow’s Energy’, is narrated […]
Australia Institute report shows 80% of Australians favour solar, wind & other renewables over coal
The majority of Australians look forward to a future fuelled by renewables, new research has found, with many naming solar and wind as their energy sources of choice. In two […]
Do the recent comments from Greg Hunts’s office mean small-scale commercial solar is safe from the government axe?
According to Climate Spectator, the government is dropping hints that it may have backed away from slashing incentives for residential and small-scale commercial solar projects. In a talk with Climate […]
Two world records over 40% add up to a great week for solar!
Two separate research projects from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and Soitec have set world records of over 40% solar cell efficiencies in the past week. The UNSW […]
