By Andrew Blakers, Australian National University As Australia’s rapid renewable energy rollout continues, so too does debate over land use. Nationals Leader David Littleproud, for example, claimed regional areas had reached “saturation point” and cannot cope with more wind and solar farms and transmission lines. So how much land is needed to fully decarbonise energy…
Solar cell manufacturer and renewable energy project developer RayGen Resources has completed a $51 million capital raise, led by oil and gas services company SLB. In a statement on Monday from state government investment vehicle Breakthrough Victoria – which contributed $20 million through the round – it said that RayGen would use the funding “to…
The Queensland government has announced $2.5 million dedicated to a new solar panel recycling pilot program, which it says is the first in the nation, and comes alongside $3 million dedicated to renewable industry association grants. In a statement on Friday, the state government said that “thousands of solar panels” from the state’s homes, businesses…
5B, a Sydney-headquartered designer of prefabricated, relocatable solar PV systems, is deploying a 26 megawatt solar farm using its Maverick blocks at Bellevue Gold’s gold mine in Western Australia, which will form part of an 89.7 megawatt hybrid power station. The off-grid facility includes 528 5B Maverick arrays, and the combined wind, solar, thermal generation…
BlueScope Steel’s Orrcon Steel subsidiary will manufacture components for Nextracker solar trackers under an agreement announced today which will see the first local steel used in ACCIONA Energia’s 480MWp Aldoga Solar Farm to be built near Gladstone. The components for Nextracker’s smart solar tracker used on distributed generation and utility-scale solar farms will be produced…
CSIRO scientists have led an international team that set a new efficiency record for fully roll-to-roll printed solar cells. In a statement on Wednesday, CSIRO said the breakthrough result for flexible perovskite cells was published in Nature Communications (linked) and was achieved by a team including members from University of Cambridge, Monash University, the University…
CSIRO-developed printed flexible solar cells are travelling on Space Machines Company’s Optimus-1 private satellite, which flew as cargo aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched on Tuesday (Australian time.) A statement from the national science agency following the launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California explained that it is exploring such solar cells as a…
By Magnus Söderberg, Griffith University and Phillip Wild, Griffith University Building transmission lines is often controversial. Farmers who agree to host new lines on their property may be paid, while other community members protest against the visual intrusion. Pushback against new lines has slowed development and forced the government to promise more consultation. It’s not…
Perth-based building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) company ClearVue Technologies has achieved fire safe certification for buildings over 18 metres tall and in high-risk environments, In a statement on Tuesday, the company said their solar glazing unit was certified under “stringent classifications for non-combustibility, little or no smoke propagation, and no flaming droplets” by TÜV SÜD under the…
A technoeconomic analysis of four stages in the solar photovoltaic supply chain in the new Silicon 2 Solar roadmap shows a credible case for Australia becoming a viable solar manufacturer, according to the report’s authors. Research on the new Silicon 2 Solar roadmap is led by a non for profit member body the Australian Photovoltaic…
