Solar power to become even more attractive. | Image: cogdogblog, Public Domain
Uncertainty surrounding national energy policy has been blamed for a huge energy price hike in the ACT. This isn’t just bad news for those in Canberra – it’s perhaps a sign of things to come elsewhere in Australia.
Bellingen Shire Council Embracing Solar Power | Image: Public Domain
From bins to building rooftops, Bellingen Shire Council has been getting into solar power in various ways – with more to come.
UK’s First Solar Bus – A Big Lemon, But Not
The UK’s first fully solar-electric bus, operated by the curiously named transport service The Big Lemon, is now cruising the streets of Brighton and Hove.
Cnut from Energex1 tries to stop batteries.
Q. What does the Brexit mean for Australian Solar? A. Higher prices.
Well that was interesting wasn’t it folks? Just as the Australian election was drifting off into the sunset, we get hit by the arrival of an enormous, loud and dangerous elephant in the room. I’m talking of course of the surprise Brexit result where Brits voted to exit the European Union, a result that sent shock waves across the world.
Prime Minister Turnbull was quick to grace our screens (sans the hi-vis vest and hard hat this time) to assure us — in his most statesmanlike voice — that the vote would not affect Australia in any way. The fact that he looked like a kid hauled before the headmaster, with a trembling bottom lip and shaky “wasn’t me, wasn’t me” speech didn’t make him look that convincing though.
Next came Bouncing Billy Shorten, who will now see his chances of winning the election recede, also determined to tell us that his party’s policies are the best choice in these now choppy waters. [Read more…]
WA leads the way for solar power adoption
A recent study underlining the popularity of rooftop solar in WA has given Australians a glimpse into the country’s solar-driven energy future. For a survey conducted by Curtin University that has everyone talking is the one that shows power generated from rooftop solar systems in the state’s South-West Interconnected System (SWIS) produce as much energy as the state’s largest power station.
“We are in the extraordinary position of saying that Perth [SWIS] now has rooftop solar as the largest supplier of electricity, it’s the biggest power station in WA,” said Curtin University sustainability professor Peter Newman to the ABC AM program.
He added that the area currently has 20 percent coverage of solar panels, though this was just the beginning. [Read more…]
What do you think about the hoopla surrounding the signing of the Paris Climate Talks agreement readers? Happy? Deflated? A sense of the same old, same old? Or a new beginning for the planet? [Read more…]
Solar has been installed with a huge flywheel to smooth its output in WA. The result is a town that is 60% solar powered, and a 400,000 litre reduction in annual diesel usage. Great Aussie innovation!
We’ve all seen the success of solar energy in our cities and regional towns. Australians are voting with their rooftops for clean, green solar power and the trend is increasing as solar reaches grid parity. But what of communities in our vast Outback? What of our small remote towns currently reliant on polluting fossil fuels such as diesel? It is here that microgrids, solar energy and the Outback are coming together to create a new, cleaner energy future.
In doing so, these microgrids for remote communities are giving the country a glimpse of a new way of accessing energy. [Read more…]
Offices and Factories in QLD are installing solar at an increasing rate.
We’ve documented before the lack of love of the Newman government towards solar energy in Queensland. In the midst of a state election where the shrill rhetoric is matched only by the embarrassing speed of the election call, the level of antipathy has risen as the LNP seek to demolish the arguments of the pro-renewables lobby.
However, despite the LNP’s efforts, it seems an important chunk of their traditional electorate aren’t listening. [Read more…]
Taking whole streets (or villages) off the grid is likely to become more common.
What role will community-based solar microgrids play as Aussies look for environmental and affordable energy alternatives?
First, I should explain what a microgrid actually is. It is simply a cluster of buildings, all connected together electrically, but not connected to the wider electric grid. An example would be taking your whole street off the grid instead of simply your own home. If you do this, you can share solar generation and battery storage among other things. As feed in tariffs get lower, this becomes more attractive. Wouldn’t you rather your sell excess solar energy to your neighbour for a fair price than be forced to sell it to someone like Energex for a miserly 6c per kWh?
According to analysts Frost and Sullivan’s report “Analysis of the Asia-Pacific Microgrid Market” the microgrid electrification (including solar programs) is expected to reach a sales figure of $813 million by 2020, growing at an expected astonishing rise of 38.3 percent over that of 2013. Countries surveyed by Frost and Sullivan include Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and (yes!) Australia. [Read more…]
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