Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) funds Victoria’s revolutionary solar cell printing technology
The Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium is a collaborative effort between CSIRO, The University of Melbourne, Monash University, BlueScope Steel, Robert Bosch SEA, Innovia Films and Innovia Security and is supported by the Victorian State Government and the federally funded Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
VIDEO Next Generation Solar Cell Printer In Australia http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3747 20 May 13 A new solar cell printer installed at CSIRO in Clayton, Victoria is now cranking out A3-sized flexible solar cells.
The $200,000 printer is the next stage in the evolution of solar cell printing in Australia. In just three years, researchers from the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC) have progressed from making cells the size of a fingernail to cells that are now 30cm wide.
Using semiconducting inks, the cells are printed on thin flexible plastic or steel at a rate of up to ten metres per minute or one large cell every two seconds. Current studies have shown stable outdoor performance beyond six months and the consortium anticipates lifetimes of several years will be achievable soon. Current module power output from printed devices is 10-50W per square metre; but over 80W has been achieved on small lab-scale devices.
The technology doesn’t have to be a competitor when it comes to traditional silicon based solar panels. Thin film solar can be used to enhance the efficiency of standard solar panels as the different types of cells capture light from different parts of the solar spectrum.
The researchers have a grand vision for their printed solar cell technology.
“Eventually we see these being laminated to windows that line skyscrapers,” says VICOSC project coordinator and University of Melbourne researcher Dr David Jones. “By printing directly to materials like steel, we’ll also be able to embed cells onto roofing materials.”
A screen printing line is also being installed at nearby Monash University and combined will see Clayton Manufacturing and Materials Precinct one of the largest organic solar cell printing facilities on the planet.
The Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium is a collaborative effort between CSIRO, The University of Melbourne, Monash University, BlueScope Steel, Robert Bosch SEA, Innovia Films and Innovia Security and is supported by the Victorian State Government and the federally funded Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
Busting the anecdotal “evidence” of the Waubra anti wind energy campaign
Anti-wind groups and others hostile to renewable technology wish to deem anecdotal evidence inscrutable – consequently, they must accept all claims of health effects, no matter how improbable. If those professing this fallacy were bound by a scientific framework, this attitude would be indefensible.
Wind farm sickness: anecdotes versus evidence KETAN JOSHI ABC 7 MAY 2013 Anedotes are concerning, but should not be immune to scrutiny. A family’s experience of illness they attribute to a local wind farm is concerning, but is no substitute for medical research and hard evidence. “……
“I know this lady and her husband, as I’ve said, I’ve known them the majority of my life, and, this woman looks twenty years older than her husband now……This woman is absolutely tormented by the things, and she’s got two of them, near her. There’s only two turbines.”
– Australia DLP Senator John Madigan, Booroowa District Landscape Guardians Meeting, May 2012
Fear spreads better with a dash of human tears. As you visualise a weeping mother, her voice wavering as she speaks, the impact is instantaneous and potent. Millions of years of natural selection breathe life into the visceral salience of human suffering. Our ancestors, dwelling on the savannah, knew that the cost of ignoring a potential threat could be very, very high………..
Anti-wind lobby groups (such as the Waubra Foundation, headed by ex-GP Sarah Laurie) travel to communities facing wind farm developments, and present direct testimony from individuals attributing a range of symptoms to the presence of wind turbines. Anecdotal evidence is their key instrument in spreading fear of wind energy.
This is stated explicitly by Peter Quinn, a South Australian barrister who regularly represents anti-wind lobby groups:
“That experience is in itself, evidence. If you dragged in thirty people from Waubra, twenty from Waterloo and put them in a court room, to talk about the loss and the suffering, it will support a claim to obtain an injunction against any wind farm being proposed”
The implication is quite clear – anecdotal reports and emotional recitations are powerful tools in the fight against wind farm developments. Consequently, a large number of claimed health impacts, attributed to wind turbines, exist in the public domain.
Chapman began compiling these symptoms in early 2012. His list grew rapidly – it currently numbers 216, and features a bewildering array of symptoms, involving adults, children, cattle, sheep, chicken, dogs, peacocks, cats, pigs, earthworms, crabs, goats, crickets and horses (pdf).
These symptoms are collectively referred to as “Wind Turbine Syndrome” (WTS), originally coined by Nina Pierpont (a paediatrician married to an anti-wind activist). It has become the fundamental claim of groups working to stifle the development of renewables in Australia.
The ‘disease’ is not recognised by any medical authority in the world. It is purportedly caused by infrasonic (less than 20 Hz) noise from wind turbines. The South Australian Environmental Protection Agency recently measured levels of infrasound near wind farms(pdf), and compared them to rural and urban environments. Wind farms had some of the lowest recorded levels in their study. Some of the highest levels of infrasound were recorded inside the EPA’s office in Adelaide.
Importantly, research conducted by Professor Simon Chapman of Sydney University seems to show that complaints of ill-health seem to cluster around wind farms that have been subject to the presence of anti-wind lobbyists. Continue reading
Clean Technology Investment Program funds Bendigo solar system
Australian Vaccine Manufacturer Going Solar http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3720, 3 May 13 Veterinary vaccine manufacturer, MSD Animal Health, has been awarded funding under the Clean Technology Investment Program to install a 250kW solar panel system at its manufacturing facility in Bendigo East, Victoria.
The solar array will slash carbon emissions intensity from the facility by 22 per cent and result in savings of around $44,000 on electricity bills each year. The government’s contribution of $335,660 will be matched by the company. Continue reading
Southern hemisphere’s biggest wind farm opened in Victoria
Australia’s biggest wind farm – the vital statisticshttp://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/australias-biggest-wind-farm-the-vital-statistics-35976 By Giles Parkinson 12 April 2013 Macarthur wind farm – the largest in Australia and the southern hemisphere – was officially opened in south western Victoria on Friday by the local member and state premier Denis Napthine. The 420MW wind farm, built at a cost of $1 billion by AGL Energy and New Zealand company Meridian, is the biggest single investment in renewable energy in the country since the Snowy Mountain hydro project was completed in the 1970s, the companies say. Continue reading
Victoria’s Premier Napthine hypocritically toes the fossil fuel line on wind energy
I love them, but we can’t have them everywhere: Premier on wind farms, The Age, Tom Arup, 13 April 13, Premier Denis Napthine has declared his personal love for wind turbines, but says his government’s restrictions to where they can be built won’t change….. ”
“I think they are majestic, and I actually love them.”..…
A review by the National Health and Medical Research Council found in 2009 that there was no published scientific link between wind farms and adverse health impacts. The council is now updating its review to
be released later this year.
A report by Sydney University public health expert Professor Simon Chapman this year concluded heath impacts attributed to wind farmswere more likely the result of alarm caused by activists circulating health warning. http://www.theage.com.au/environment/energy-smart/i-love-them-but-we-cant-have-them-everywhere-premier-on-wind-farms-20130412-2hq81.html#ixzz2QNN2B3sA
Good riddance to Ted Baillieu, Victoria’s anti renewable energy Premier
The anti-wind campaign was viewed very much as “Ted’s show”, to the point where other government ministers would pass off their responsibility: It’s not my call, it’s Ted’s”
New Premier Dennis Napthine knows the wind industry and many Victorian wind jobs and has a track record of standing up for local manufacturing in the wind industry, and seeking to protect it from foreign imports.
“I think we can expect a more rational approach to wind industry, and more broadly renewable energy policy, whereas Ted Baillieu appeared to have a personal vendetta against renewable energy,” Wakeham said. Environment Victoria has a scorecard on Baillieu’s record on the environment and clean energy.
Why Baillieu’s exit could be good news for wind energy, REneweconomy By Giles Parkinson 7 March 2013 It is deeply 
ironic that on the very day that Ted Baillieu made his shock decision to resign as Premier of Victoria, the latest economic data showed the state had officially entered a recession: the man who had turned his back on the burgeoning clean energy industry had left the state with a shrinking economy.
It’s a moot point whether embracing the wind industry would have kept Victoria out of recession – although Friends of the Earth estimates Baillieu’s anti-wind decisions cost around $887 million in lost or stalled investment, and the 650 direct jobs and a further 1,400 indirect jobs lost in the process would have been useful for a state suffering the highest unemployment rate in the country.
But Baillieu’s opposition to wind is a parable for our times. Economies are changing, whether politicians like it or not, or believe in climate change or not. The clean energy transition is a global phenomenon that has been embraced by nearly every company not dependent on fossil fuels, and is recognised as such by the leaders of the major economies – US, China, Japan and Germany.
Ideological opposition and the bestowing of favours to some rich landowners may stop a few turbines, but it is nothing more than just pissing into the wind. Baillieu was so entrenched in the past he even favoured digging up half the state and exporting the brown coal reserves. As Deutsche Bank pointed out this week, economies like China will likely soon not want our black coal, let alone the more polluting brown mud found in Victoria. Continue reading
Mildura area(Victoria) to get revolutionary new solar spin cell project
Solar Spin Cells To Be Manufactured Near Mildura http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3609, 25 Feb 13, A major solar project has been announced for north-west Victoria’s large-scale industrial hub at Thurla, south of Mildura. SIL Global Limited (SILG) has acquired a 20-acre site at Thurla Industrial Park and a licence to manufacture solar products for the US technology developer V3Solar Corporation.
Construction of the manufacturing and assembly plant will begin this year says President of V3 Solar, Michael Neistat.
“The facility will enable production of spin cells for the second stage of the SILG solar power generation plant. The plant will allow us to implement our plan to build a solar generation plant comprising 800,000 spin cell units – the largest power station of its type in the world.”
The Thurla Industrial Park is evolving as a hub for large-scale industrial development in north west Victoria and the estate’s developer, Col Beasley, says the new interest from solar heralds what will be the strongest year of employment and economic growth in the park’s history.
“The new players in the solar field are going to be the catalyst for a lot of other industries going in out here,” he said. “It’s exciting that the vision we had when we started the industrial estate is starting to come together now.”
The Thurla Industrial Park has attracted a strong mix of industrial and technology clients, due mainly to its location and large lot sizes.
“We’re getting more and more inquiries. It’s been surprisingly strong and seems to be generated mostly by these solar announcements and by our location as a cross-road between Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide,” Mr Beasley said.
Thurla Industrial Park is located at Red Cliffs in Victoria’s Sunraysia region, 16 km south of Mildura and 544 km north-west of Melbourne.
For 75% of breast cancer patients, genetics is not a factor. Environmental causes look more likely
This is a very important research finding. For decades, Australian women have been fed stories on how breast cancer is probably genetically caused. Each women is advised to look into the cancer background of her family. OK. Still a good idea.
So the cancer is supposed to be initiated from inside us. But how about environmental causes? How about the chemical bath in which we all swim? In food additives, in chemical sprays on fruit and vegetables. And how about ionising radiation – some from (often necessary) medical radiation, some from France’s Pacific atomic bomb testing 1960 to 1996?
We’re always being urged to donate to breast cancer research. How about some research into environmental causes of breast cancer?
Genetics not a factor in three-quarters of breast cancer cases Herald Sun, Susie O’Brien, 16 Feb 13, FAMILY history plays no role in breast cancer in three out of four women, a shock new Victorian survey has revealed.
Analysis of the breast screens of almost 20,000 women over two decades shows 72 per cent of women who got breast cancer had no family history of the disease.
The findings contradict the popular belief that genetics plays a key role in determining which one in nine women will get breast cancer….. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/genetics-not-a-factor-in-three-quarters-of-breast-cancer-cases/story-e6frf7kx-1226579439609
Solar photovoltaic plant for Mildura region, in Victoria
Green light for solar farm near Koorlong http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-24/green-light-for-solar-farm-near-koorlong/4481736
Jan 24, 2013 A planning application has been approved for another solar farm in north-west Victoria.The Mildura council has given German company Belectric the nod to build a five-megawatt photovoltaic plant near Koorlong.
A similar project, Solar Systems’ 1.5-megawatt station, is also being built at Carwarp.
The Mildura Development Corporation’s Anne Mansell says it is an important project for the region.
“This is classed as medium scale, five megawatts is classed as medium scale,” she said.
“It’s still quite significant for the area, one thing I would add, it certainly complements the solar systems development at Carwarp and it shows we’re developing into a solar hub in this region.”
Victoria’s Baillieu government is making the State’s climate problem worse
Environment Victoria chief executive Kelly O’Shanassy accused the Baillieu government of neglecting efforts to
reduce Victoria’s greenhouse gas emissions – such as by dumping the
state’s emissions reduction target.
”It defies logic that our government could understand the risks
climate change poses to Victorians and then knowingly make the problem
worse.”….
Climate threat to state assets, The Age, January 7, 2013 Tom Arup
VITAL public infrastructure in Victoria including hospitals, schools
and police stations is under increased threat of damage as climate
change intensifies.
A consultancy report has warned that billions of dollars worth of
infrastructure covered by the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority is
exposed to the impacts of natural disasters such as bushfires and
floods.
The intensity and frequency of such disasters are forecast to increase
as the planet warms. Continue reading
New fossil fuel plant shelved, as Victorians use less electricity, (and more from solar power)
Solar Helps Delay Power Station Construction http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3532 28 Dec 12, In another example of solar power helping to stave off construction of fossil fuel based power plants, Energy Australia has decided to put the brakes on what was originally to be a 1GW gas fired power station. According to The Age, Energy Australia had applied to build the station at Yallourn in Victoria, but then revised plans to construct a smaller peaking power plant – which it has now also shelved due to suppressed wholesale electricity prices and demand for electricity less than expected.
The company says there is no need to build the facility until much later this decade.
The Australian Energy Market Operator stated earlier this year weakening demand was due to a number of factors, including uptake of rooftop solar panel systems and households and businesses stepping up energy efficiency efforts. Continue reading
Kerang, Victoria, getting two solar farms in 2013
Another 30 MW Solar Farm For Victoria http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3530, 27 Dec 12, Gannawarra Shire Council last week approved plans for another 30MW solar farm to be constructed near Kerang, Victoria. The latest 30MW PV solar project will be situated on 36 hectares south of the town and is expected to produce 52 gigawatt hours of clean electricity annually; enough to power 14,300 homes and avoid 62,000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year.
“Construction of the $38 million solar farm is expected to commence in mid 2013, with an expected construction timeframe of around 14 months. The project is likely to provide significant employment and service opportunities for Kerang,” Manager Economic Development Roger Griffiths said.
Gannawarra Shire Council Mayor Cr Neville Goulding said Council is actively encouraging utility scale renewables in the area.
“The development follows strategic work by Council’s Economic Development unit to facilitate and promote the option of large scale solar projects within the Shire, to Australian and overseas companies seeking to invest in the Australian green energy market. Council looks forward to further developments in the renewable energy sector.”
Albury based ECO for LIFE will be developing the project.
Another 30MW solar farm is already under construction in the Kerang region after being approved in August. The facility is being developed by AKK Consulting Group and is located off the Loddon Valley Highway, 4 kilometres south of the town centre.
Kerang is situated 279 kilometres north-west of Melbourne. In addition to substantial solar radiation resources, the town has access to a large capacity sub-station, a 220kV transmission line that runs from Bendigo to Broken Hill in NSW, two 66kV sub transmission lines running directly to Swan Hill and one 66kV sub transmission line to Cohuna.
South Melbourne’s community owned large solar project
Community solar projects allow people who cannot install solar panels on their own homes for whatever reason to directly participate in the solar revolution.
Community funded solar projects have already been successfully rolled out in the UK and the USA. Closer to home, the communities of Hepburn Springs and Daylesford in Victoria raised $13.5 Million to build the Hepburn Community Wind Park; winner of the 2012 World Wind Energy Award.
Australia’s First Community Owned Large Scale Solar Project http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3513 12 DECEMBER, 2012 | A new community project aims to cover South Melbourne Market’s new roof with solar panels. 150 solar panels have already been installed, funded by Port Phillip Council.
LIVE (Locals Into Victoria’s Environment) wants to cover the remaining 95% of the rooftop with solar (around 3,000 panels) via community investment. “Currently we think a Co-operative structure for LIVE Community Power best matches the principles to which we aspire,” states the group’s web site.
The group envisions selling around 1,000 shares at $1,000 each to the community. Electricity generated by the installation would be sold and provide a return to shareholders. Continue reading
25 anniversary of Australia’s oldest operating wind turbine, and still going strong
These days, the wind turbine that could delivers around 80,000kWh a year to the grid, with an estimated 90-95 per cent availability
Blow out the candles: Australia’s oldest wind turbine turns 25 REneweconomy, By Sophie Vorrath 4 December 2012 November might have been a milestone month for solar, with cumulative PV installations reaching 2GW, but it also marked a reasonably big milestone for wind: 25 years since the Breamlea Wind Turbine, near Geelong in Victoria, was commissioned. Continue reading
Woodend Integrated Sustainable Energy sets the pace for Victorian community wind energy
Insight: How communities can take lead in green energy REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson 30 November 2012 This is the second in a series looking more deeply into issues which affect the development of the clean energy industry in Australia. The first was on the 2kms set-back rule imposed by the Victorian government and at least partially adopted in NSW.
For the past 12 months, a digital display located behind the counter of the newsagent in High Street in the Victorian town of Woodend has logged what Barry Mann describes as a major lost opportunity. Real time data 
from a wind mast located in an old timber mill a few kilometres out of town documents the amount of electricity that would have been produced if a proposal to install three wind turbines in a harvested pine forest 6kms from town had been allowed to go ahead.
Before the mast was taken down earlier this month: the data stood at this: 12.6 gigawatt hours of electricity generated over 12 months and four days (12.630 million kilowatt hours) – about enough electricity to satisfy the needs of 2,037 homes and generate $1.5 million in revenue from selling the electrons to the grid. (You can find the data on their website)
Mann is a director of WISE (Woodend Integrated Sustainable Energy) – a local not-for-profit group that says its goal is to ”assist communities to take responsibility for their energy and carbon future.” It is one of dozens of similar groups in Australia that are hoping to implement their own local plans, but don’t have so many electrons to show for it yet.
For the moment, Woodend’s own plans have been frustrated by the election of the Baillieu Conservative government, and the introduction of a 2km setback ruling and the declaration of a “no-go” zone through large slabs of the Mt Macedon ranges – two initiatives that local member Donna Petrovich is proud to take responsibility for. (See addendum below) Continue reading
1 This month
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