This Week in Solar: Renewable Energy Industry Thriving Amidst Uncertain Times.
Solar Trust Centre Team
1. Shift to quality leaves metal roofs primed for 'direct attach' solar installs
With the abundance of metal rooftops and an increasing appetite for quality components and installations, the Australian rooftop solar segment is primed for the adoption of "direct- attach" mounting systems.
2. Tesla's Virtual Power Plant Is Already a Success
The pilot virtual plant is distributed across the rooftops of 1,000 low-income homes in South Australia, and Tesla says its goal is to eventually have 50,000 solar rooftops there. That number might sound small, but South Australia only has about 1.6 million residents.
By hosting panels that feed into the virtual plant, low-income South Australians are seeing up to 20 percent drops in their energy bills, according to a new report from the Australia Energy Market Operator.
3. Solar energy boom tipped to 'stall then accelerate' amid pandemic
Energy companies are confident the decline could be short-lived as customers look to solar panels and batteries to keep a lid on power bill blowouts during home isolation.
The growing view in the sector, buttressed by the volume of customer inquiries during the lockdown, is that the decline could be "relatively short-term", even less than 12 months, before bouncing back and possibly accelerating.
4. Bundaberg most solar-friendly area in Australia
Bundaberg has been named Australia's rooftop solar capital for the second year running after topping the nation's list of the most solar-friendly suburbs.
The region came in at number one with 13,942 solar panel installations in the past 12 months, according to research by the Clean Energy Council.
5. Australia opens USD-44m funding round for green hydrogen
The Australian government has launched an AUD-70-million (USD 44.3m/EUR 40.6m) funding round aimed at supporting the large-scale deployment of renewable hydrogen capacity in the country.
The goal of the funding round is to fast track the development of renewable hydrogen projects, in line with the government's intention to create "an innovative, safe and competitive hydrogen industry" and help reduce the costs of electrolyser installations.
6. Australian renewables nudge milestone 25% share in last 12 months
Renewable energy is just a fraction of a percentage point away from generating one-quarter of the electricity supplying Australia's main grid.
The March 2020 National Energy Emissions Audit (NEEA), published this week, shows that in February 2020 grid scale renewables – wind, solar, hydro and some biomass – supplied 19.7% of all generation to the National Electricity Market states, or 24.3% of all generation if rooftop solar is included.
7. Australia's Only Solar Panel Factory to Expand
Australia's only solar photo voltaic panel manufacturer, Tindo Solar is expanding its Adelaide factory after an uptick in demand as consumers turn to locally sourced products.
8. Australia deploying new renewables at ten times global average
Recently released capacity statistics from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) for 2019 confirm the special status of Australia as the global pathfinder for renewable energy.
9. The world's energy order is changing — and China is set to reap the strategic benefits
Historians will look back on this period as an epoch in capitalism, when oil-producing nations were powerful because they were necessary to keep the whole engine running. But the global shift towards renewable energy will change all that.
Solar Trust Centre is an Australian based, renewable energy, predominantly solar focussed blog and news curation project. Our aim is to highlight the latest and most interesting solar industry news, with a bias towards Australian stories.