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As of 2018, a total of 6GW residential solar systems are installed in the country. So, what is the total Australian solar capacity? In fact, the collaborative study by University of NSW, Australian PV Institute and Solar Citizens tackles this question. Currently, the country leads in global household PV system installations – 21.6% of all […]

Founded in 1981, SMA is a global PV brand employing over 3000 employees in 20 countries. As of 2017, the company has sales of over 900 million euros. The brand has become a household name and a staple in the residential and commercial solar PV installations. The SMA Solar technology is listed in the Frankfurt

Queensland is well known for being the leader in the Australian solar revolution. With a high solar irradiation, the region of Western Downs has significant acclaim for its pro-solar movement.  On last Thursday, Cameby solar farm received approval from the council. This is the 15th large-scale solar project that showcases the region’s unwavering support for

As per the latest Bloomberg report, the world electricity demand will increase to 38,700 terawatt-hours by 2050. This is approximately 54% increase from 2017. The major contribution in this increase will be from the developing economies due to their population and GDP growth. However, the developed nations will only contribute a minority. Slowing economic rate

Over the years, the concept of feed-in tariffs has become pretty clear to the public. After on-site use, we get paid for the excess energy that our rooftop PV system produces and export to the grid. During the beginning of the solar revolution in Australia, the high feed-in tariff was one of the lucrative reasons

It was just 38 years back, Chernobyl, a city in the Ivankiv Raion of Ukraine, became a world stage for the ill-effects of nuclear power generation. The malfunction due to various reasons like design flaws, inadequate personnel training resulted in an explosion at reactor 4. Over the years, the ensuing radiation poisoning cumulated in various

Mining is an extremely energy intensive process and is a cornerstone for the modern industries. After labor, power requirement (electricity) forms the majority of the operational expenses – roughly 20 to 25%. In the recent mining crisis, there is a significantly higher pressure on commodity sales prices. As a result, the priorities have moved from

Roughly speaking, the traditional solar cell technology in mass production includes the monocrystalline and polycrystalline varieties. Thin Film still remains as the tertiary option owing to its efficiency-price-space ratio – more about it in a bit. There are other classifications based on the manufacturing processes and the materials in use. However, they all fall under the

Updated Electrical Installation Wiring Rules for PV Solar Installers (AS/NZS 3000:2018) includes changes to reflect new technologies, equipment, and installation techniques. This article explores some of the most significant changes that will impact Australian electrical PV Solar Installations. There is a six-month transition period from 26 June 2018 to January 2019. The transition period will

On Monday (20th Aug), the last steps in the installation of 3.6MW turbine was completed in Flinders Shire (Queensland). Having blades of 67 meters and a 136 meter rotor. this is one of the twelve similar capacity Vestas V136 that constitutes this project. With this, we are a step closer in completing the world’s first

On May 2017, plans to replace the Collinsville coal plant with a solar farm was put into effect. The project had a $60 million investment through the Large-Scale Solar Program of Clean Energy Finance (CEFC). This initiative of CEFC has a total value and capacity  of $900 million and 400MW respectively. Nearly a year later,

On July 27, AEMC published its review of electricity supply-demand structure in the country. With the rapidly evolving generation landscape, Reliability Frameworks Review, which started on July 2017, provides a series of recommendations to improve the reliability (demand response and network capacity) of energy supply, consumer affordability, and transparency in energy forecasts. The report concludes

In its latest electricity trends report, the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) predicts prices across the country will rise sharply in the first quarter of 2018, before falling by 6.2% annually (on average) over the next two years. This is mainly due to the falling wholesale energy costs in every state except for WA, NT,

Constituting 18% of the total annual electricity generation, the current clean energy growth trend in Australia is exponential. In 2017 alone, 700MW of renewable energy was connected to the grid. This translates to a record breaking investment of USD 9 billion. Hydro, wind and solar constitutes the largest share of renewables. Small- and medium-scale solar

WA is one of the Australian states that has the highest solar power adoption rate. State treasurer Ben Wyatt has announced that, as of July 2018, there will be a 7% Western Australia electricity price hike. This translates to  28.32 cents per unit. The forecasts by Australia Energy Market Commission (AEMC) predicted this trend back

Setting up a battery energy storage system for specific behavior requires considerable knowledge of battery programming and available technology. AC coupled systems are most popular and use a common solar inverter coupled to a multi-mode inverter or inverter/charger to charge the battery. Although simple to setup and very powerful they are slightly less efficient at