Richard Chirgwin is a journalist with more than 30 years' experience covering a wide range of technology topics, including electronics, telecommunications, computing and science.
Table salt could hold the key to bigger, cheaper Li-ion batteries.
Just before Australia went into its traditional summer stupor, someone from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in America got in touch with me about research into single-crystal technologies for Lithium-ion batteries.
Jason’s garage in Geraldton. Those funky looking black tubes are 4 x 1.93 kWh Zenaji batteries.
Jason Bertelsen isn’t a name in the renewables sector – he’s a customer. However, his story, in particular his decision to put money into Zenaji batteries, intrigued us enough to get in touch for an interview. [Read more…]
Ten years ago, a “couple of sparkies” from the Riverina headed north and set up an electrical services business in Mackay, Queensland, catering to the mining industry.
Today, Jason Sharam (managing director) and Peter Shaw (CEO) run an electrical services business with a very noticeable difference: they now have what is probably close to unique – an off-grid solar-powered manufacturing facility with “100% renewable” as its goal. [Read more…]
When I asked Solar Analytics’ head of business development Nigel Morris for a chat about the company’s partnership with Sungrow, I didn’t expect to end up in a conversation about system interoperability and standardisation. [Read more…]
I’ve heard lots of predictions about electric vehicles’ role as storage in a renewable energy future. But it’s never before occurred to me that networks might encourage EV owners of the future to fill up their cars at a charging station during the daytime, specifically so they can use that electricity to power their home at night. [Read more…]
Will solar sales soon go to the dogs without batteries? Image: Adelaide Solar Safe
Australia has seen a decade of explosive growth in renewables, but there’s another big change coming. According to Green Energy Trading chair Ric Brazzale, we’re very close to the peak of new rooftop solar PV. [Read more…]
Maverick electricity retailer Amber Electric can automatically switch on your appliances when wholesale electricity prices are low or negative.
Years ago when people first started talking about exposing consumers to the wholesale electricity price, I thought it was a bad idea as I felt most households weren’t up to the challenge of managing the risk of price spikes. [Read more…]
A big problem with ducted air-conditioning is the ducts compromise the thermal envelope of the room, wasting precious energy. A new Australian invention solves that problem.
An asthma attack following a child’s night-time popcorn mishap set Adelaide engineer Dean McGurgan wondering why, in his ducted-aircon-equipped home, he even copped smoke exposure all the way from the kitchen to the bedroom.
And that set him on a development project he reckons could save money for others with ducted air-conditioning. [Read more…]
With a smart 3rd party controller, your air conditioner can help a solar-laden grid balance supply and demand.
While regulators fret about the impact of solar power on low voltage distribution networks, developers are looking at ways to use household loads to relieve the stress.
Last week, I chatted to an NZ-founded company called Paladin, whose focus over the last four or five years has been a controller that diverts excess power from PV to a customer’s electric hot water service. [Read more…]
Good solar monitoring has a long list of benefits. Now we can add ‘solving high voltage problems’ to that list.
The phrase “the power of data” is already a cliche, but only because it’s true. This week, we recount the story of how Solar Analytics’ R&D head Jonathon Dore used his company’s monitoring data to dramatically reduce curtailment of output from the solar power system at his Blue Mountains home. [Read more…]
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