Solar

As the federal government continues to court coal, state-owned Energy Queensland has partnered with Melbourne tech start-up GreenSync to tap state's distributed renewable energy customers, including the nearly 30% of homes with rooftop solar, and create a virtual power plant ahead of peak summer demand.

Fremantle City says it is proceeding with negotiations to install up to 2MW of solar on a former landfill site, as part of plan to be 100% renewable by 2025.

NSW community-owned retailer to buy excess rooftop solar from customers, as well as from local community solar farms and gardens, to sell on to other customers who can't generate solar themselves.

Eight companies short-listed to tender for job to develop, operate 5MW solar farm on former landfill site at Newcastle.

New data has shown that in North Sydney, alone, 74% of residents can’t access solar because they are renters or live in apartment buildings. But there are ways to solve the problem – as well as new companies making it their mission.

Fluid Solar's Adelaide HQ - powered by a combination of thermal and battery storage, along with solar PV and wind energy - has cut its connection to the grid in what its owners claim to be a world first.

Giles Parkinson and Nigel Morris discuss the fire risks in rooftop solar systems, and some dodgy sales practices for solar panels and battery storage.

Tesla and LG Chem are leading the battery storage market in terms of brand recognition, but the issue of quality throws up some other names.

ZEN Energy says business demand for power at "about one-fifth" the cost of the grid driving commercial solar boom.

Digital mortgage broker claims a homeowner with $600,000 mortgage who added $16,544 to install solar and battery storage would be more than $1800 better off a year.

As Australian households flock to solar, interest in battery storage is starting to ramp up, as a way to minimise grid electricity consumption and to provide a reliable source of back-up power.

An Australian-first project in Melbourne is trialling a new method for installing solar panels that allows what would otherwise be unused land to become home to a solar farm.

New-build Qld suburb offers houses with solar + Tesla Powerwall 2 included – enough to make them energy self-sufficient from “dawn to dusk.”

Italian startup's $15,000 all-in-one modular solution can supply 16kWh solar power a day, plus 24,000 liters of filtered, sterilised drinking water – enough to provide for a remote village of about 300 people.

Responding to climate change, networks of decision-makers, such as the C40 collective of major cities, have begun adopting strategies to promote the uptake of renewable energy. Yet land use planning has seemingly begun to lag behind.

John Kobylec believed that installation of a solar system at his Bruny Island retirement home would be prohibitively expensive, but is now a now total convert.