Unplanned outages across Australia’s increasingly unreliable fleet of ageing coal power plants and extreme weather events are helping to make Australia’s electricity market the most volatile in the world, new research from Rystad Energy has found. Rystad Energy says a comparison of 39 electricity markets globally reveals that Australia’s NEM has the widest spreads between…
Western Australia gentailer Synergy has seen an “overwhelming response” to its offer of $100 credit to customers who allow it to temporarily turn off their grid-connected rooftop solar systems to help stabilise the grid. Synergy launched its Solar Rewards program on October 1 and has already had to close new applications, having reached capacity for…
The growth in renewables over the past year has had a major impact on Australia’s main electricity grid, with wholesale prices tumbling from their 2022 peaks, and grid demand and coal output sent to record lows, according to the latest update from the Australian Energy Market Operator. The latest Quarterly Energy Dynamics report published by…
Rooftop solar is grabbing a lot of headlines, and setting lots of records. It’s also eating the traditional feeding lots of the fossil fuel industry, and reshaping the way the grid is being managed. But it’s also presenting some interesting challenges. Last week, Australian Energy Market Operator chief Daniel Westerman called emergency rooftop solar switch-off mechanisms…
Wind and solar power reached an instantaneous peak of nearly 70 per cent of generation on Australia’s main grid on Monday, setting new output records and sending fossil fuel generation to a new low. The share of renewables in the National Electricity Market hit a new record of 71.55 per cent at 11.50am (AEST) on…
German energy company EnBW has promised that all future solar projects will be paired with battery storage, with plans to expand the new standard to all future wind farms as well. EnBW, a publicly traded energy company in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, made the announcement at the delivery of a battery storage system to…
Global energy giant Engie and South Korea steel maker Posco have agreed to work together on a major green hydrogen project in the Pilbara in an important step towards the creation of a green steel industry in Australia. The two companies announced late Friday that they would conduct a feasibility study into building a “significant”…
REC Group has launched a new 470 watt rooftop solar panel, the highest power residential PV module the Norway founded and Singapore based manufacturer has yet produced. The Alpha Pure-RX, which REC will showcase in Australia at the All-Energy conference in Melbourne next week, is the latest from the company’s Alpha Series of panels. Like…
The construction of a solar farm in regional New South Wales has helped bring “generational change” to a local Aboriginal community and set a new benchmark for how renewable energy developers go about the vital business of engagement and building social licence. For the Wiradjuri people of Narrandera in regional New South Wales, who make…
The energy market participation of customer energy assets through coordinated virtual power plants could shave $6 billion off electricity costs, tame the solar duck, and remove the need for remote rooftop solar switch-offs, a new report has found. The massive potential energy cost savings, calculated by Deloitte, are based on a comprehensive three-year research project…
After nearly two decades of stagnation, US electricity demand is surging, driven by growing numbers of electric cars, data centers and air conditioners in a warming climate. But traditional power plants that generate electricity from coal, natural gas or nuclear energy are retiring faster than new ones are being built in this country. Most new…
Rooftop solar PV has reached a new production milestone, producing more than 12GW of electricity for the first time on Australia’s main grid. The new peak of 12,261 MW (12.26 GW) for the National Electricity Market was reached in the five minute trading period at 12.30pm (AEST) on Wednesday, according to data provided by GPE…