Just days after data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed one in five houses in Australia used some form of solar energy, new data has shown that the nation’s […]
Category: Solar Choice News
Solar Choice’s news service about local, national and global developments about solar photovoltaics and related technology.
Enphase CEO: Australian solar market years ahead of USA, ready for energy storage
The CEO of the world’s biggest supplier of solar inverters has described the Australian solar market as having infinite potential, in a global market he predicts will wind up being […]
Singleton Solar Farm to be resurrected as a community solar project after 15 years of dormancy
A 407kW solar farm first built by the NSW government more than 15 years ago is set to be switched back on. The Singleton Solar Farm in NSW’s Hunter Valley […]
Belectric’s lead-acid ‘Energy Buffer Unit’ competing directly with combustion generators
Belectric have installed a 2 MWh lead-acid battery ‘Energy Buffer Unit’ (EBU) in Alt Daber (Germany) designed to provide primary operating reserve power. It is touted as the first solar PV […]
German utility giant E.ON splits in two in order to focus on renewables
Europe’s largest power utility has announced plans to dump conventional, fossil fuel energy generation and focus instead on renewables and customer-led distributed generation solutions. In what has been described as […]
NSW councils & businesses come together to offer affordable on-site renewables & solar leases
A group of NSW municipal councils has joined forces to provide residents and small businesses with ready access to cheaper PV systems – including through a solar leasing option. Eight […]
Could Australian solar homes lose out under proposed ‘cost-reflective’ pricing?
Australia’s nearly two million solar households face changes to the way their electricity bills are packaged after the introduction of new rules requiring networks to impose “cost reflective” pricing. The […]
Victoria’s Labor party promises to reinstate emissions reduction target if elected
The Victorian Labor Party has pledged to set up a $20 million fund to encourage investment in renewable energy resources including solar and wind, just days before the state election […]
Indian PM releases bright assessment of sub-continent’s solar potential
The Indian government has identified 12 solar park locations capable of housing up to 13.75GW of capacity in the next five years, as it gears up to meet a national […]
GameChange racking for fast-rollout PV
‘GameChange’ has developed a fast-rollout PV racking system, among the quickest of its kind in the industry. The US-based company offers a ‘pour-in-place’ ballasted ground mounting system, especially suitable for […]
AGL’s chief economist calls solar subsidies a ‘hidden scam’ in conversation with Financial Review
One of Australia’s biggest energy utilities – and the nation’s biggest generator of coal-fired power – has described rooftop solar tariffs as a billion-dollar “scam” being paid for by non-solar […]
Fulcrum3D’s Australian-grown cloud monitoring solution wins ARENA grant
Australian-made technology that predicts cloud movements to help get the most out of solar panels is one of the latest recipients of funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). […]
AES Energy Storage to build record-breaking battery bank
AES Energy Storage is set to construct the world’s largest battery bank in Long Beach, California. The 400 MWh energy storage facility – which can provide a peak power output of […]
Utility-scale solar to be competitive with new coal by 2020
Large-scale solar will be cost competitive with new coal-fired power stations in Australia by the end of the decade, the head of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency has predicted. ARENA […]
15,000 new small-scale solar systems installed monthly in 2014, but large-scale lags
More than 155,000 small-scale solar systems have been added across Australia in 2014, an average of more than 15,000 a month, according to new data. The data, the latest from […]
Vic Labor party pledges support for renewables as rural towns turn to clean energy
The Victorian Labor Party has nailed its renewable energy colours to the mast in the lead up to next week’s state election, pledging to reverse wind farm restrictions and help […]
New AGL chief could bring fresh approach to solar, energy storage
Australia’s largest electricity generator AGL Energy has announced the appointment of US energy industry veteran Andrew Vesey to succeed outgoing managing director and CEO Michael Fraser in February 2015. The […]
Rooftop solar shifted peak demand to evening during Queensland heatwave
The combination of a sweltering November heatwave and rooftop solar helped shift south-east Queensland’s electricity peaks into to the evening last week. At the height of the heatwave that hit […]
A gift from above: UAVs for solar farm quality control
BQ Energy has adopted Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as monitoring tools for their solar farm projects. The ‘DJI Phantom 2’ UAVs are fitted with a ‘GoPro HERO3’ camera, allowing users […]
Queensland’s Energex suggests buyout of 44¢/kWh feed-in tariff recipients as alternative to network upgrades
A Queensland network operator has raised the prospect of buying back the high feed-in-tariffs locked by tens of thousands of rooftop solar households in the state in until 2028, so […]
Queensland network operator Energex says it can handle more solar
Queensland power company Energex has bucked the trend of network operators calling for a slowdown in rooftop solar uptake, saying it could cope with a significant increase in PV capacity, […]
Rooftop solar meeting 13% of household electricity demand in Queensland
Around 13 per cent of residential energy in south-east Queensland is now produced by rooftop solar, according to new data, with solar households generating the equivalent of more than half […]
ACT Enviro Minister Simon Corbell receives Banksia Sustainability Award for large-scale solar feed-in tariff program
The ACT government’s game-changing solar auction scheme has taken out top prize in this year’s Banksia Sustainability Awards, making it the overall winner of one of Australia’s most important environmental award ceremonies. […]
Stonewalled by Coalition, Labor abandons negotiations on RET
In a move described by the Australian Solar Council as ‘a sign of strength’, the Labor Party has walked out on negotiations over the future of the Renewable Energy Target […]
UBS analysis shows solar-plus-storage already viable in Australia
Cost-competitive solar plus storage has arrived in Australia, according to new analysis from investment bank UBS, bringing with it the potential to dramatically reshape the country’s energy industry. The analysis […]
Could more Japanese homes turn to energy independence to escape big utilities?
Echoing the situation here in Australia, more homes Japanese homes could end up leaving the grid to avoid purchasing power from utilities, according to a piece in the Japan Times. […]
Make it snappy – SMASH Solar aims to halve PV installation time
SMASH Solar have received US$1.5M of funding from the US Department of Energy (DoE) to further develop their snap-together PV mounting system. The product is designed to simplify mounting structures […]
Australia-China solar panel anti-dumping investigation further delayed until March 2015
An investigation by the Australian Anti-Dumping Commission (ADC) into certain crystalline silicon solar panels imported from China has been put off until next to next year due to the ADC’s […]
Construction at Moree Solar farm gets underway
Construction of one of Australia’s largest solar PV plants, the 70MW Moree Solar Farm in northern NSW, is officially underway, after a ceremonial turning of sod at the site on Thursday. […]
UNSW solar pioneer Prof Martin Green foresees PV as #1 energy source globally by 2050
A world-leading Australian solar PV researcher has predicted that the cost of photovoltaic technology will fall by another 50 per cent over the next decade, making it a game-changing energy […]
53MW Broken Hill solar plant receives planning approval
A 53MW solar power plant planned for Broken Hill in NSW has been given the final go-ahead by the state’s department of planning and environment, after approving the Construction Environmental […]
