Here are some solar news stories you may have missed from this week. Click on the links to read these stories in more detail.
- Getting (almost) all our energy from the sun by 2050
PV Magazine Australia: Solar could meet approximately 68% of global energy demand with other renewables making up the rest, according to a new report. A 100% renewable energy system could also create 22 million solar jobs by 2050, the study claims. Keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees C, though, would require FITs for projects up to 40 MW in capacity, auctions for bigger systems, removing fossil fuel and nuclear subsidies and providing more education and R&D and less red tape.
- Major progress on Townsville battery “gigafactory” study
PV Magazine Australia: Significant progress has been reported on the feasibility study which aims to progress the establishment of a 15 GWh lithium-ion battery factory in Townsville. The study is conducted by the Imperium3 Townsville consortium.
- High energy prices set to grow Australia’s rooftop PV installations by 2 GW in 2019
PV Magazine Australia: First-quarter data from Green Energy Markets shows double the uptake of small-scale rooftop solar on the same period last year as record numbers of residential and business consumers seek to reduce their electricity bills. The tendency for installations to increase toward year end suggests that more than 2 GW of solar will hit the rooftop tiles this year. How could this become a cautionary tale?
- ARENA to fund redeployable rooftop solar
Energy Magazine: ARENA is providing almost a million in funding for Australian startup Solpod to trial installing redeployable rooftop solar on commercial and government buildings across Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland. The $5 million project will see Solpod’s redeployable solar panel systems installed at 25 sites across the three states totalling nearly 2.5 MW capacity, with each site possessing up to 100 KW of solar PV.
- 2020 vision: Rooftop solar panels to exceed output of Liddell power station says Green Energy Markets
Energy Matters: Rooftop solar panel systems could generate more energy than the retiring Liddell coal-fired power station by the end of 2020, according to Green Energy Markets (GEM). The GEM March Renewable Energy Index shows rooftop solar on track to add 2,000 MW of capacity to the grid in 2019. These rooftop solar panel system installations would more than compensate for the AGL-owned Liddell plant, which retires in 2022.
- Genex enters connection agreement with Essential Energy
Energy Magazine: Renewable energy company, Genex, has announced a binding connection agreement with Essential Energy for the 50mw Jemalong solar project in NSW. The connection agreement allows for connection of the project into the National Electricity Market (NEM) via Essential Energy’s distribution network, which is one of Australia’s largest.
Solar Trust Centre Team
