425W Trina Solar Vertex S+ Heading For Australia

Trina Vertex S+ solar panel

Australia will be the first country in the world to have the powerful 425W Trina Solar Vertex S+ panel available for installation on residential and commercial rooftops. [Read more…]

The Good Solar Guide: Now Available Online For Free

The Good Solar Guide - free to read online

In June I published everything I know about buying solar in Australia as a full-on, professionally edited and published book. We had a big, posh book launch – opened by the SA Environment Minister and I’m happy to report that the book has been selling steadily ever since. [Read more…]

2016 The Good News: CO2 Emissions Level Off, Cost Of Solar Falls

solar worker waving goodbye to 2016

It has become fashionable to refer to 2016 as a horrible year. An annus horribilis.

If your personal annus has been horribilis, then you have my condolences. But I think, for most of the world’s population, it has actually been a pretty good year. An annus prettigoodis if you will. [Read more…]

ABB and Sungrow Join Forces To Make Big-Ass Inverters

sungrow and abb logo

Sungrow and ABB announce a ‘strategic alliance’ to make big inverters.

Sungrow, China’s largest manufacturer of inverters, and ABB, a Swiss based company that is one of the largest engineering conglomerates in the world, have joined forces to create a strategic alliance which is expected to benefit both companies far more than a non-strategic alliance would.

On the 2nd of June they signed an agreement to work together to design a megawatt class 1,500 volt, central inverter system using Sungrow’s inverters and ABB’s transformers.

They have pinky promised to also promote each others’ products and improve cooperation between the two companies for a period of three years. [Read more…]

Solar brings down electricity prices says report

pylons

Without solar – wholesale electricity would be more expensive.

Last week we here at SolarQuotes HQ we were thrilled to bring you news of a major CSIRO report which found that solar energy intermittency — defined as when cloud cover causes a reduction in the efficiency of energy drawn from the sun — can be successfully managed.

To the great consternation of solar critics and the delight of solar fans, the major study found that, not only could proper management techniques limit the problem of solar intermittency, but it could also contribute to solar energy taking its rightful role as a major energy source in Australia.

This week we’d like to follow up that with another cracker study: this time from the REC Agents Association (RAA). According to this report, the increased takeup of solar by Australian consumers has contributed to a reduction in power consumption and a lowering of wholesale electricity prices across the National Electricity Market. [Read more…]

Learn About The Adelaide Solar Cities Project

If you live in Adelaide and want to learn what the pollies are spending your taxes on then come along to the Australian Solar Energy Society, South Australia Branch’s public meeting tomorrow 29th Feb in Goodwood and say hello!

  SOLAR CITIES – PUBLIC MEETING

Speaker:  Dario De Bortoli, Adelaide Solar City Program Manager

When:  Wednesday 29 February 2012 commencing 7:00 pm

Where: Goodwood Community Centre, 32-34 Rosa Street, Goodwood 5034

(Location Map:  http://is.gd/ZrLFfX.  Car Park, Tram, Train and Bus services all conveniently serve this venue)

Cost:  $5.00 payable at venue door – all welcome!   (AuSES Members – Free)

Reservations:  To assist with catering, please provide your name and the number of people in your party via email to AuSES.Adelaide[AT]yahoo.com.au

This presentation will discuss the background to the Solar Cities Program, the expected benefits, targets and progress to date, community engagement strategies, the solar trial, the cost reflective pricing trial, energy efficiency initiatives and the home energy assistance program.

Presented by: Dario De Bortoli, Adelaide Solar City Program Manager

Dario is an employee of Origin Energy Ltd and is responsible for the management and ongoing delivery of the $65 million Adelaide Solar City project.

What Races Like the World Solar Challenge Mean for the Future

All eyes are on the victors and their vehicles as the Japanese solar car from Tokai University cruises over the finish line to take out the 2011 Darwin to Adelaide World Solar Challenge. Much like the Melbourne Cup, the winning teams and owners are interviewed, their conveyances hailed as wonders of the modern age and we all look forward to the next race. But then what?

Twenty years after the first World Solar Challenge, solar panels have yet to make it on our everyday cars in a meaningful and viable sense and we still rely heavily on fossil fuels for our transportation needs. However the rigours of the race, through some of the most inhospitable terrain on the planet, provides an excellent test for teams, who are sourced mostly from research institutions. Throughout the World Solar Challenge’s history it has flown the flag of sustainability and encouraged research into the future of alternative energy-driven vehicles.

[Read more…]

Massive Solar Power Plant For Australia

According to the Reuters News Service, “Australia is going to build the world’s largest solar energy plant.”The solar energy plant will cost about 1.4 billion dollars to complete and the project should be in its earliest stages by 2010.

[Read more…]

World’s First 100% Solar City in Florida?

An extremely ambitious plan in the United States to create what has been described as the world’s first solar-powered city has, perhaps unsurprisingly, already run into a great many problems.

[Read more…]

Get The SolarQuotes Weekly Newsletter