Western Australian mining company Sandfire Resources is set to build a 10.6MW solar PV array, with “6MW” of battery storage, to power an existing off-grid copper mine 900kms north east of […]
Tag: WA
Commercial PV Price Index – January 2015
Echoing residential solar system price trends since the end of last year, commercial solar system prices have remained remarkably steady since November 2014 and January 2015. While there was some price […]
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 […]
Residential Solar PV Price Index – January 2015
Average residential solar system prices have held steady into the new year since flattening out in November of last year. Canberra is home to the most expensive systems, while Perth is […]
Solar Choice brokers 79kW of solar across five sites for Galvins Plumbing Supplies in & around Perth
The Solar Choice Commercial team has brokered a total of 79kW of solar capacity across five separate sites owned by Galvins Plumbing Supplies in and around Perth, WA. Galvins contacted […]
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 […]
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 […]
Commercial PV Price Index – November 2014
Commercial solar prices continue to drop steadily month-by-month, according to data from the Solar Choice installer network. Prices in the tables below incorporate incentives available for systems up to 100kW in […]
Magellan power’s Solar Smoother deployed at Carnarvon’s new Police Complex
WA-based power product engineering company Magellan has seen its Australian-made Solar Smoother put to use for the first time at a new Police and Justice Complex in regional WA. Carnarvon, whose […]
Commercial PV Price Index – October 2014
In addition to the Residential Solar PV Price Index that Solar Choice publishes monthly, we also publish pricing data for commercial systems (10kW, 30kW, 50kW and 100kW). This article contains […]
Prof Ray Wills says 80% of world’s energy needs will be met through self-generated renewables by 2040
A WA academic and energy advisor has predicted that 80 per cent of the world’s energy will come from self-generated renewable energy, like rooftop solar, by as soon as 2040. Ray […]
Residential Solar PV Price Index – October 2014
With the exception of Brisbane and (in some cases) Perth, average solar PV prices have continued to drop across all of the cities included in Solar Choice’s monthly analysis, falling down […]
Perth suburb votes to mandate on-site solar for all new-build homes & major renovations
The City of Nedlands in Western Australia will make it compulsory to install at least 1.5kW of rooftop solar or other on-site renewable energy generation capacity on all new-build, or […]
Solar PV Price Index – September 2014
Average residential solar system prices took a dip across the board between August and September, with almost no instances in which they increased. The trend was likely spurred by the recent […]
As solar industry braces for RET review results, solar boom looks imminent
The Australian Solar Council, in preparation for the the announcement of the recommendations of the Renewable Energy Target (RET) review panel, has urged installers across the country to ‘sell solar’ in […]
16,000 new rooftop solar systems installed in July 2014, including 14MW commercial capacity
More than 16,000 Australian households and businesses installed rooftop solar systems in July, adding a total of 70MW of small-scale PV capacity to the national total. The latest data from […]
Solar PV Price Index – August 2014
Average solar system prices continued with little fluctuation between July and August. Although some regional variability was still observable, numbers held remarkably steady in all cities and across all system […]
Moree Solar Farm reaches financial close, construction to begin ‘immediately’
One of the largest solar farms in Australia’s pipeline has reached financial close and will begin construction immediately, according to a press release from its developer, FRV. Moree Solar Farm […]
Commercial PV Price Index – July 2014
Solar Choice’s Commercial PV Price Index is published monthly to act as a bellwether for commercial-scale solar PV system pricing trends across Australia. Systems of 10kW, 30kW, 50kW and 100kW in […]
Solar will dominate new generation capacity buildout to 2030: BNEF
Solar looks set to dominate new electricity capacity and investment in Australia, with a new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicting solar PV will account for nearly half of […]
Solar PV Price Index – July 2014
Although higher average system prices in Melbourne and Hobart between this and last month resulted in an apparent increase across all system sizes included in our calculations (except for 1.5kW), […]
Rooftop solar will slow or reduce electricity demand in WA
Western Australia’s Independent Market Operator says it expects the state’s electricity demand to increase by nearly 2 per cent cent a year over the next decade, depending on the impact […]
New solar connection guidelines for Queensland come into effect from 1 July
From 1 July 2014 Queensland’s two state-owned electricity network companies, Ergon and Energex, will jointly implement new standards for new solar system owners seeking to connect to the grid. The […]
Aussie solar growth continues with Queensland leading on residential installs
The Australian solar market is still showing signs of healthy growth, according to the latest report for Green Energy Markets, with a rising share of commercial based systems, particularly in […]
Solar PV Price Index – June 2014
On the whole, system prices fell slightly between May and June. 1.5kW system prices look more or less steady across the board, while average pricing for 4kW, 5kW and 10kW […]
Murdoch Uni develops algorithm to predict solar output in SW Australia
Researchers at Murdoch University have developed a web-based simulator to calculate the hourly power output of photovoltaic and concentrated solar thermal (CST) power systems for south-west Australia that accounts for […]
Sunny Australia’s solar uptake lags behind dreary UK’s
Queensland continues to remain the hot-spot for rooftop solar installations in Australia, accounting for much of the installs in the month of March, and showing an increase as falls were […]
What would a solar system cost without the Renewable Energy Target?
“Is the Renewable Energy Target going to survive this review in reasonably good shape?” There are only so many times you can shake the Magic 8 Ball to try to […]
Australia’s top solar post codes are in areas with below-average incomes
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]