Polynesian microstate Tokelau is in the process of installing a solar PV system large enough to source 90% of its energy needs from the sun. The balance of the nation’s […]
Category: Solar Choice News
Solar Choice’s news service about local, national and global developments about solar photovoltaics and related technology.
Suntech Pluto solar PV cells achieve 20.3% efficiency
The world’s largest manufacturer of solar panels, Suntech Solar, has achieved a new level of efficiency in one of its products. Its proprietary Pluto technology was demonstrated to hit an […]
Concentrating Solar Power Alliance formed in US
Three companies have come together to form an organisation to promote the acceptance, adoption, and implementation of concentrating solar power (CSP) in the USA. The new industry peak body is known […]
Federal Government Dumps Solar Hot Water Incentives
The Federal Government has abruptly dropped its incentive for Solar Hot Water. The Renewable Energy Bonus Scheme (REBS) offered rebates of $1000 for solar hot water systems, or $600 for […]
100% Renewable Energy: Campaigning for large-scale solar power in 2012
Since 2010, 100% Renewable Energy has been working to build up grassroots capacity to effectively campaign for a complete transition to clean energy in Australia. Galvanised into action by the lack […]
Construction on Silex Solar Systems concentrating PV demo plant underway, PV production resumes
Australia’s Silex Systems has announced both that construction on its Mildura, Victoria concentrating photovoltaics (CPV) demonstration plant, and also that subsidiary SilexSolar will resume production of solar panels at its […]
South Australia Solar Feed-in Tariff: Minimum retailer payment comes into effect
A provision for a mandatory ‘retailer payment’ under South Australia Solar Feed-in Tariff scheme has come into effect as of 29 January 2012. The state’s Solar Feed-in Tariff scheme is […]
Solar PV system prices reaching unprecedented lows. Why? And how long will it last?
Solar PV system prices have hit all-time lows in Australia, according to Solar Choice’s team of Solar Energy Brokers. These solar price declines are due to a perfect storm of […]
Solar power sees major growth across Australia in 2010-2011
Australia’s installed solar power capacity has grown 35 times what it was in 2008, according to a report (pdf) recently released by the Clean Energy Council of Australia. The report covers […]
Australia to see 37% average rise in electricity prices by 2014
The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has released a comprehensive review of the future of electricity prices across Australia. This report lends substance to speculation about the topic of energy […]
ACT Large-scale Feed-in Tariff details released
The Australian Capital Territory government released the detailes of its feed-in tariff (FiT) for large-scale and commercial solar power systems. Feed-in Tariff rates will be determined by an […]
Increasing electricity disconnection complaints in NSW and Victoria
The number of complaints related to electricity and gas disconnections due to financial hardship has increased significantly in both NSW and Victoria, according to the states’ Ombudsman’s offices. The two […]
8-10c/kWh: NSW Solar Bonus Feed-in Tariff amount draft determination
The New South Wales Independent Regulatory and Pricing Tribunal (IPART) has announced its draft determination on a ‘fair and reasonable price’ for grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) systems today. The voluntary […]
Silex, Australia’s only solar PV panel manufacturer, stops production
Update 21 February 2012: Silex Solar has resumed production of solar panels. Silex Solar, the solar photovolatic (PV) manufacturing wing of the Silex group and Australia’s only PV panel manufacturer, […]
Construction begins on Australia’s largest solar farm
Construction began on Australia’s first and largest solar farm in Western Australia on 4 November. The Greenough River Solar Farm is a utility-scale generation plant, meaning that it produces enough […]
How much is the new Transitional SA feed-in tariff? ESCOSA
South Australia’s independent industry regulatory body–The Essential Services Commission of South Australia, or ESCOSA–has released a draft determination about its recommendations for the electricity retailers’ contribution to the state’s Transitional […]
Carbon Price legislation passes in Australian senate
In an historic move that is expected to usher in an era of investment in clean technology investment, the Australian senate has passed legislation to put a price […]
$4 billion in coal subsidies in NSW?
The Auditor-General of NSW released a report today condemning the previous Labour government’s implementation of the Solar Bonus Feed-in Tariff Scheme, which became political hotpoint last year when it was […]
‘Solar Energy Zones’ announced for US desert regions
In a proactive policy move, the US government’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has released maps of areas that have already passed most or all requisite environmental and cultural conditions […]
The future of the Queensland Solar Feed-in Tariff
Update 25 June 2012: The Queensland Solar Bonus Feed-in Tariff scheme will be reduced from 44c/kWh to 8c/kWh. Applications to connect to the grid must be submitted by midnight 9 July 2012. […]
Off-grid solar power system in Sydney’s Western Suburbs
Nev and Linda Sweeney have been living on their 500-square-meter suburban plot in Sydney’s St Clair Suburb since the early 1980s, and have been trying to live sustainably using the […]
Silex Solar to outsource solar cell production, modules still to be assembled in Australia
Silex Solar, Australia’s sole solar cell and module manufacturer, has decided to move its solar cell production facilities offshore, citing a ‘tough’ solar market in Australia and its need to […]
IEA: Majority of world’s energy could come from solar by 2060
The majority of the world’s energy be supplied by solar power–both photovoltaics and concentrating solar power (CSP)–by the year 2060, according to a Cedric Phillbert senior energy analyst at the […]
Solar power reaching grid parity in parts of NSW
Even taking into account the overhead cost of purchasing a solar power system, the price of solar has for the first time dipped below below that of coal-fired generation in […]
Ford and SunPower: Solar Power and Electric Vehicles made affordable
Automobile manufacturer Ford and the US solar panel producer SunPower have teamed up in a strategic partnership to encourage both renewable energy and electric vehicles (EVs). The program, given the […]
NSW Solar Update: IPART terms of reference released for next feed-in tariff
The NSW government bureaucratic machinery has been set into motion to determine what will be “a fair price for solar power”–‘fair’ depending of course on whose interests you happen to […]
Solar Panels Stolen: Solar Panel Insurance?
Last week news news broke that solar panels and inverters with an estimated value of nearly $550k had been stolen from a Gold Coast business in what was described as […]
ACT feed-in tariff closes–again
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) feed-in tariff scheme has reached its cap yet again, a mere two days after small-scale solar power systems were allowed into the eligibility envelope of the territory’s […]
ACT Solar Feed in Tariff Reopened to Small-scale systems
Australian Capital Territory households and small businesses have been given another chance to tap into the territory government’s ACT Solar Feed-in Tariff scheme. The ACT small-scale (‘micro-generator’) Feed-in Tariff scheme, for systems […]
Solar Flagship Program Winners: Moree Solar Farm, Chinchilla CSP plant
The Federal Government has announced the recipients for funding from Round 1 of the Solar Flagships Program. Moree Solar Farm in NSW’s Central Tablelands is a 150MW photovoltaic installation, and […]
NSW govt reconfirms obligations to connect solar power systems to the grid
Following the NSW Solar Bonus Scheme feed-in tariff debacle, the NSW government has reaffirmed its legal obligation to connect residential solar power systems to the electricity grid on a net-metering system, […]
