This Week in Solar: Australia and Solar

1. Ikea’s full home solar offer arrives in Australia

Ikea has launched its turnkey home solar offer in Australia, making it the first market outside of Europe in which consumers can purchase home solar kits from its website. The company has partnered with Solargain to bring solar to as many Aussie rooftops as possible.

2. New 3.6 GW PV-powered hydrogen project announced in Australia

Austrom Hydrogen, a newcomer to the Australian renewable energy scene, has unveiled plans to develop a large solar project, battery storage system, and hydrogen generation facility in Queensland.

3. How aluminium smelters can help decarbonise Australia’s industrial economy

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) reports that this is the moment to invest to revitalise Australian heavy industry and grow jobs. Cue renewable energy.

4. Solar Trees grow in Townsville

Townsville in North Queensland is set for two stunning new tourist attractions, two ‘solar trees’.

‘Solar trees’ are highly effective beautification projects because of their naturally sublime multi-functionality. Not only is a solar tree a technological rendering of nature but a promotion of solar technology and an architectural and beneficial complement to any locality.

5. Australia’s best performing wind and solar farms in May

According to data put together by David Dixon from Rystad Energy, the best performing grid-scale solar plant in Australia in the month of May (in terms of capacity factor) was the 52MW Broken Hill solar farm near the city of the same name in western NSW.

Overall, the share of renewables in the month of May rose to 26 per cent in the National Electricity Market, and 20 per cent of W.A.’s Wholesale Electricity Market.

6. QLD Govt backs renewable energy hub to empower western economies

The Palaszczuk Government is helping to fund a feasibility study into the proposed Barcaldine Renewable Energy Hub, a project with the potential to revolutionise the economy of the state’s south-west and turbo-charge the post-Covid-19 economic recovery.

7. Facade solar panels with ‘mimic design’

Dutch startup Solar Visuals and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) have developed new “mimic design” facade modules that reproduce the features of building surfaces.