Export industry potential for Victorian solar energy project, backed by Australian Renewable Energy Agency
Victorian solar project wins government grant to take its technology to world, The Age, April 24, 2016 –Tom Arup A Victorian technology company striving to produce more efficient and cheaper solar power has won financial backing from the national renewable energy agency to expand its plans.
RayGen Resources, based in Melbourne, will receive a new $2.9 million government grant to help it commercialise what the company says is ground-breaking solar technology that has already received overseas interest.
The technology involves laying out a large array of mirrors that tracks the sun throughout the day and creates a concentrated light beam onto a highly efficient solar photovoltaic receiver sitting on top of a central tower.
In March last year, RayGen opened a 200-kilowatt pilot plant at Newbridge, near Bendigo, to showcase the technology, which the company has dubbed “PV Ultra”. The pilot was built with support from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, also called ARENA.
The company has now won another ARENA grant, to be announced on Monday, to upgrade the Newbridge project with later versions of the technology and to bolster its solar receiver manufacturing operations at its Blackburn headquarters.
All up it is expected to cost $5.8 million and be completed by December.
RayGen chief executive Alex Wyatt said the expansion would help the company deliver its solar receivers to overseas buyers, including solar-concentrating projects in China.
The RayGen solar PV receivers use a compound called gallium arsenide, commonly used in satellites and space stations, instead of the more typical silicon-based technology. While gallium arsenide is more expensive than silicon, it is also more efficient and when enough sunlight is concentrated it can become cost effective to use, particularly in very sunny areas.
RayGen and ARENA were also partly involved in a 2014 project at the University of NSW, called Power Cube, which set a world record for converting sunlight into power for a solar PV system……
The Turnbull government recently announced it would retain ARENA, dropping Abbott-era plans to axe the agency. But it is seeking to slash the $1.3 billion that ARENA was still due to receive in coming years to help foster new renewable energy development. http://www.theage.com.au/environment/victorian-solar-project-wins-government-grant-to-take-its-technology-to-world-20160422-god18z.html
Malcolm Turnbull – fine words, but actually retreating on climate action
‘Walking in the other direction’: Malcolm Turnbull’s broad retreat on climate, The Age April 22, 2016 Peter Hannam Environment Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald When Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull rose to address the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris late last year, he told the world Australia would meet the challenges of global warming “with confidence and optimism”.
You don’t turn off R&D spending when there’s a revolution under wayAndrew Blakers, Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems, ANU
Australia’s carbon emissions target – slicing 2000 levels by about 19 per cent by 2030 – would halve pollution on a per capita basis, “one of the biggest reductions” of any G20 nation, Turnbull said. The government would also double “clean energy innovation” investment over the next five years, and carve out $1 billion from the existing aid budget to help threatened Pacific neighbours build “climate resilience” and cut emissions……….
The pact, which the government plans to ratify later this year if re-elected, aims to limit global temperature increases to between 1.5 and 2 degrees of pre-industrial levels – even if current national offers fall far short of the greenhouse gas reductions needed.
But in the four months since Turnbull’s speech, climate news from abroad and at home has been anything but positive………..
For policy areas directly under Turnbull’s control, it’s been a dismal few months for climate action, not least CSIRO’s assault on climate science launched on February 4 that will see dozens of leading researchers sacked among as many as 450 jobs to go.
Despite pleas of budget penury, the government somehow managed to find $15.4 million a couple of weeks later for a new Oil, Gas and Energy Resources Growth Centre to, among other things, “foster community support” for non-renewables, including coal and nuclear energy.
It is also forked out $3.3 million to two researchers to examine the effects of wind farms on health. Just four researchers made submissions for the cash, a remarkably small number, according to Sydney University public health expert, Simon Chapman.
Taken for granted
And a fresh concern surfaced this week with 61 leading scientists writing to Turnbull decrying the government’s decision last month to end grants from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
Set up by the Rudd-Gillard government, the agency still had $1.3 billion in funding to disperse by 2022.
Instead, it will now work with the Clean Energy Finance Corp to offer $100 million in loans annually for 10 years to foster “clean and renewable energy”. ARENA still has $130 million to be allocated, with “high interest” from potential proponents, Hunt says.
The proposed end of ARENA’s grant funding removes “an essential component of technology innovation”, the mostly solar researchers said in the letter obtained by Fairfax Media.
Forty years of such grants over had allowed Australia to contribute “very far above its weight” in renewable energy. By contrast, reliance on equity returns “have rarely been effective” in advancing early-stage research, the scientists said.
Richard Corkish, chief operating officer of UNSW-based Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics, said his facility faced “an existential threat” if the $4 million in annual ARENA funds ended. The school continues to spawn world-leading technology, including new types of solar cells using abundant, non-toxic materials.
“ARENA is our major funding source,” Corkish says.
Andrew Blakers, who led development of the solar PV technology being adopted by the world’s largest producers, said all new electricity investment in Australia over the past five years had been in solar or wind energy.
“This is incredible”, says Blakers, who heads the Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems at the Australian National University. “You don’t turn off R&D spending when there’s a revolution under way.”
………Greens deputy leader Larissa Waters said there’s “an obvious disconnect between the Prime Minster’s rhetoric in Paris last year and his actions in Canberra”.
“Presiding over cuts to CSIRO’s world-leading climate research and gutting renewable technology research is stupid on so many levels.
“The government is tipping new money into fossil fuel research so that the big mining companies profiting off the world’s warming don’t have to pay for research themselves,” Waters says……..http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/walking-in-the-wrong-direction-malcolm-turnbulls-broad-retreat-on-climate-20160420-goat2p.html
Australia can save money by switching to 100% renewable energy by 2030
New report shows 100% renewable by 2030 can save Australia money, REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson on 19 April 2016 A new report from the Institute for Sustainable Futures in Sydney says a rapid transition to a 100 per cent renewable energy system can save Australia money – with avoided fuel costs to quickly offset the extra capital expenditure of building wind, solar and other renewable energy installations.
“The transition to a 100 per cent renewable energy system by 2050 is both technically possible and economically viable in the long term,” the report says. And by 100 per cent renewable, it means all energy use, including transport and heating.
The report canvasses two renewable energy scenarios, one based on a high level of renewable energy in the electricity grid, but with transport largely reliant on fossil fuels. The second is the Advanced Renewables scenario, which canvasses a totally renewable electricity system by 2030 and a fully renewable energy system by 2050. Continue reading
Solar powered vehicles for Australia – energy utilities now supportive
Australia Could Be World Leader In Solar-Powered Electric Vehicles Claen Technica, April 12th, 2016 by Giles Parkinson Originally published on RenewEconomy
The shift from petrol cars to electric vehicles appears to be more than a consumer-driven,Tesla-inspired phenomenon. The big utilities are also getting on board.
Origin Energy, one of country’s big three utilities, says Australia could a market leader in solar-powered electric vehicles, given the right incentives and policies that could encourage the uptake of renewable energy and force the closure of the most polluting brown coal power stations. “With an already high penetration of residential solar PV systems in Queensland and South Australia and the emergence of home battery technologies, there is an exciting opportunity for Australia to be a market leader in electric vehicles powered by solar energy,” the company says in a submission to the Climate Change Authority.
Nearly one quarter of Australian homes are equipped with rooftop solar, and Australia is seen as the likely first “mass-market” for battery storage – because of that high solar penetration and because of the country’s high electricity prices, courtesy of its high-cost grid.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that many of the early adopters of electric vehicles are already charging their EVs with their own rooftop solar, and utilities are already switching controlled loads for electric hot water systems back to the day-time from overnight to take advantage of excess solar power. Continue reading
Tasmania’s Bruny Island residents to sell solar power to the grid
after $2.9m renewable energy grant http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/residents-on-bruny-island-to-sell-solar-power-after-29m-renewable-energy-grant/news-story/945d59a87250bbfc2d533e8ff9009ace April 14, 2016 RESIDENTS of Bruny Island have the chance to turn their homes into mini-power stations and trade on the national electricity grid to boost the island’s energy security and offset their power costs at the same time.The Australian Renewable Energy Agency yesterday announced $2.9 million to help a project to help fund solar panels and batteries for up to 40 households on the island.
Harnessing the surplus power they generate is hoped to help take pressure off Bruny Island’s power system during peak times.
The systems will include software that allows homeowners to sell their power back to the grid during times of peak demand — and hence prices — on the National Electricity Market.
“The reason Bruny Island was chosen was because of the constraints they have from their undersea cables,” he said. “A battery with a solar panel can be converted into a remarkable power station. It’s fast and can both produce and consume power in an instant — it’s the type of power station the future needs.”
He said the benefit for households was they could sell their power into the market at a price of about $1 per kilowatt hour — compared to the much lower 5.5c per kilowatt hour feed-in tariffs available at present.
TasNetworks will begin consulting Bruny Island residents about the project over the coming months and seeking expressions of interest via public forums on the island this year.
New board and chairman for Australian Renewable Energy Agency
Australian Renewable Energy Agency gets new board and chairman
The environment minister, Greg Hunt, announces six new directors who have been appointed for a two-year term, Guardian, Paul Karp, 13 Apr 16, The government has appointed six new directors to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) board, to be headed by a new chairman, Martijn Wilder, an environmental markets lawyer.
The appointments of Arena’s former board members expired in January, leaving it governed by the environment department secretary, Gordon de Brouwer.
On Wednesday the environment minister, Greg Hunt, announced six directors who have been appointed for a two-year term.
Wilder was appointed both a director and chairman of the Arena board. He is the head of Baker & McKenzie’s global environmental markets practice, an adjunct professor at the Australian National University, and board director of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).
The other five directors are Susan Jeanes, Meg McDonald, Katherine Woodthorpe, Maria Atkinson and Jonathan Jutsen.
The appointments follow the government’s decision in March to restructure Arena and the CEFC by setting up a clean energy innovation fund. The fund will in time take over Arena’s role of providing grants to help commercialise emerging technologies.
The government said Arena would “continue to manage its existing portfolio of grants and deliver the announced $100m in large-scale solar projects”. Arena would then move from a grant-based role to predominantly a debt and equity basis under the new CEFC…….http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/13/australian-renewable-energy-agency-gets-new-board-and-chairman
A solar world first for Perth: solar panels and battery storage on apartment buildings
Apartments set for solar world first https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/31335712/apartments-set-for-solar-world-first/ Daniel Mercer – The West Australian on April 13, 2016 Dozens of apartments will be able to use, store and trade power under a world-first trial of micro-grid technology to be unveiled in Perth’s south.
Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt will today announce the Commonwealth’s green energy fund ARENA has tipped $1 million into a micro-grid project in White Gum Valley.
The $3 million project will have solar panels and batteries installed across four separate apartment developments. It would be up to the strata companies managing the apartment buildings to on-sell the electricity to tenants, rather than State-owned power provider Synergy. The strata companies could sell the electricity cheaper than Synergy or at the same price, currently set at 25.7¢ for every unit of electricity sold. Homes owners and tenants would also be able to trade power to other apartments within the complex during the day and night.
Headed by Curtin University and backed by Western Power, LandCorp, the City of Fremantle and Balance Services Group, the project aims to establish a viable model for the uptake of solar panels on apartment buildings.
Demand for solar panels has exploded across Perth, with more than 170,000 homes installing the systems on their roofs. Apartments, which make up a third of Perth’s housing stock, have been much slower on the uptake.
Curtin University’s Jemma Green said that with battery systems rapidly becoming commercially viable, there was an unprecedented opportunity for apartments to get in on the act.
And she said the implications could be huge, with micro-grids such as White Gum Valley popping up everywhere and transforming the way electricity was generated, transported and sold.
“These kinds of innovations are not only making solar power a viable option for everyone, but potentially reflect the future of power utilities,” Ms Green said.
Carbon Disclosure Project lists Canberra as a global climate change leader
Canberra ranked as a global climate change leader, http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-ranked-as-a-global-climate-change-leader-20160408-go1utu.html, James Hall Canberra’s ranking as a global climate change leader by the Carbon Disclosure Project is an “important acknowledgement”, Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie says.
The CDP placed the capital among the top 10 cities in the world for its “quality and completeness” of environmental risk reporting.
“It’s not just that one area of the policy is doing well [to be ranked so highly],” Ms McKenzie said. “Reducing emissions, adequately reporting and disclosing internationally, a renewable energy policy, a risk assessment of what the climate change impact will be and have a plan to adapt to those consequences.”
Despite the ACT being significantly smaller than other states and territories and not having coastal environmental concerns, she said the city had substantial environmental elements affecting its climate.
She said Canberra’s recognition by the CDP is significant because its size is more common globally and it provides a more realistic comparison on how to implement sustainable technologies and processes. “Our view is that it is a very good example of how you transition a community that has previously been reliant on fossil fuels and moving towards more renewable energy,” Ms McKenzie said.
ACT Environment and Climate Change Minister Simon Corbell said the government had shown Canberrans and the world it was committed to tackling climate change. “In doing so we are also showing the world that moving to a low-carbon economy is not only achievable and affordable, but also can be a benefit to both the community and our economy,” he said. “By attracting renewable energy companies to Canberra and fostering a positive environment for renewable energy operation, research and development through our progressive policies we have positioned the territory to take advantage of growth in the renewable energy industry”.
Much of the sustainable energy being harnessed by the nation’s capital is being supplied by interstate facilities, but Ms McKenzie said it was the implementation of the energy being produced which is both environmentally responsible and economically innovative.
“It depends on why those projects have been built and if Canberra has played a significant role in making those projects get off the ground,” she said. “And then if the electricity is then being used by Canberra, the ACT has then brought in the investment for plants.”
“That is also reflected in some of the local businesses that now exist in Canberra, like Reposit Power for instance, businesses are being attracted to Canberra because it is a better investment environment for renewable energy than other parts of the country.”
Queensland pioneers electric car chargers – free for public use
Queensland’s first solar-powered electric car chargers available and free for public use http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-07/qld-first-solar-powered-electric-car-chargers-free-for-public/7307430 By Lexy Hamilton-Smith Queensland’s first solar-powered electric vehicle chargers have been installed on campuses of the University of Queensland at St Lucia and Gatton.
They charge 10 times faster than a home charger and will be free for public use. About 15 minutes of charging can provide a range of up to 70 kilometres.
UQ manager of Energy and Sustainability Andrew Wilson said it was a game changer.”The first inter city charger in Queensland enabling long distance electric vehicle travel outside of the city,” he said.”Hopefully this is the start of an electric vehicle highway throughout the state.”
Energy Minister Mark Bailey said sales of electric cars were currently slow, but said the Government would look into how it could develop the sector. “It is a bit like the chicken before the egg,” he said.
Electric cars start from around $50,000 but one sport version is selling for more than $400,000.
Tritium, which designed and built the Veefil charger in Brisbane, said the initiative would kick-start the electric vehicle revolution in Queensland. “It allows easy inter-city electric vehicle travel between Brisbane and Toowoomba,” chief executive David Finn said.
Mobile solar system – a boon to off-grid users
the combination of the financial and carbon benefits of solar with the flexibility and modularity of conventional diesel or gas power was “music to the ears” of off-grid electricity consumers. Systems can be provided on offtake agreements as short as five years
Mobile solar to take on diesel power http://www.smh.com.au/business/energy/mobile-solar-to-take-on-diesel-power-20160406-go0cbe.html April 8, 2016 Angela Macdonald-Smith Energy Reporter
Laing O’Rourke has successfully piloted a mobile solar-diesel project and is set to roll it out commercially under new subsidiary SunSHIFT, writes Angela Macdonald-Smith. Making solar power a realistic economic option for short-term projects that would otherwise wholly rely on polluting diesel energy is the mission of a new mobile solar system to be commercially rolled out by construction company Laing O’Rourke.
Outback mining sites, remote communities and disaster relief projects are all potential users of the system, which has been developed with the help of funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
The Australian arm of UK-based Laing O’Rourke has successfully piloted the moveable solar system, which it combined with diesel power back-up, and has set up a new clean energy business, SunSHIFT Pty, to commercialise it.
Plans for the launch of the system on the market are to be officially announced on Friday and Laing O’Rourke said it had already fielded inquiries for “multi-megawatt” systems, including some from emerging overseas economies.
ARENA chief executive Ivor Frischknecht said the plant’s ability to be rapidly set up, relatively cheaply moved and easily scaled up made it suitable for many off-grid applications where power was needed for only a few years. Continue reading
Australia wasting over $2.5 million investigating “wind turbine syndrome’ ?
True cost to taxpayers of investigating wind farm complaints tops $2.5 million, The Age April 2, 2016 –Nicole Hasham Environment and immigration correspondent The price of the part-time wind farm commissioner created by the former Abbott government is three times more than first thought, costing taxpayers more than $2 million to monitor and investigate complaints against the wind industry.
It has also emerged that the Independent Scientific Committee on Wind Turbines, which advises the government on potential health and environmental effects of the industry, has held just two short teleconferences in five months and provided no advice, despite costing up to $174,000 a year.
The hefty bill has fuelled criticism over the commissioner and committee, which Environment Minister Greg Hunt agreed to establish as part of crossbench negotiations to pass the government’s revised Renewable Energy Target. Senators John Madigan and David Leyonhjelm were the key proponents of the policy.
Critics said the measures were a bid to thwart the roll-out of clean energy under Mr Abbott, who had called wind farms “visually awful”. Former treasurer Joe Hockey also decried them as “utterly offensive”.
As Fairfax Media reported last year, the part-time National Wind Farm Commissioner Andrew Dyer will be paid $205,000 annually over three years to monitor the wind industry and respond to community complaints about turbine noise and health effects.
However this sum is just a small proportion of the cost of establishing the role.
Official figures provided to a Senate committee show the wind farm commissioner’s office is expected to cost $2.03 million over four years, including $680,000 in 2017-18.
This cost includes travel, IT, office accommodation and four staff as well as Mr Dyer’s part-time salary, which is more than an average full-time federal backbencher……
The figures also show the independent scientific committee is expected to cost $507,000 over four years, comprising administered and departmental expenses.
Late in March the Department of the Environment told Fairfax Media the committee had held “two short meetings” in December and February and “has not provided any advice to government at this stage”.
The meetings were held by teleconference or videoconference, and the committee is expected to meet about every two months.
Announcing the committee last October, Mr Hunt said it would “build on the work of the National Health and Medical Research Council”.
Reviews by a number of state and federal government health bodies including the NHMRC have so far found no clear evidence of a link between wind farms and medical conditions. The Australian Medical Association last year released a statement saying the available evidence did not support the concept that wind farm noise harmed humans.
Labor’s environment spokesman Mark Butler said it did not support the commissioner’s appointment and “it is ridiculous that the Turnbull Liberal government will waste money on this commissioner, but is happy to rip money out of the renewable energy sector”. http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/true-cost-to-taxpayers-of-investigating-wind-farm-complaints-tops-25-million-20160401-gnvwoc.html#ixzz44bwvO1oa
China’s State Grid Eyes Australia
China’s State Grid Eyes Australia (VIDEO) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2016-04-01/china-s-state-grid-eyes-australia April 1, 2016
It has more than one billion customers and sales bigger than Apple’s and Boeing’s combined. But not many people have heard about State Grid. It’s a Chinese-owned power company with ambitious plans to expand, especially in Australia. Bloomberg’s James Paton reports on “First Up.” (Source: Bloomberg)
Australian Capital Territory funding battery storage in homes
battery storage in homes http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-01/canberra-energy-auction-funds-battery-storage-in-homes/7290834 A new ACT Government renewable energy auction will help pay for battery storage in thousands of Canberra homes.
The auction for 109 megawatts of renewable energy feed-in tariff capacity begins today.
Minister for the Environment and Climate Change Simon Corbell said it would complete the Territory’s investment to meet its commitment of using renewable sources to supply 90 per cent of Canberra’s electricity needs by 2020.
He said successful bidders would provide the money needed to establish a photovoltaic battery storage program in the ACT.
“We expect up to $25 million to be available to support about 26MW of battery storage to be rolled out in more than 5,000 Canberra homes and businesses over the next four years,” Mr Corbell said.
“This will represent the largest deployment outside of Germany.”
Mr Corbell said photovoltaic battery storage would put renewable energy on demand when it was needed and reduce the need for network investment.
“It is exciting to see the 90 per cent renewable energy target on track to be completed on time and with minimal flow-on cost for the Canberra community,” he said.
Mr Corbell said the request for proposals would close in May.
Australia’s home solar battery company launches new product
Australian company launches home solar storage battery to take on electronics giant Tesla With the number of depleted home solar batteries being thrown away tipped to rise over the coming years, one Australian company is taking on electronic giants such as Tesla and Panasonic with the launch of an easily recyclable power source.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-30/recyclable-solar-storage-battaries-to-take-on-giants-tesla/7284518?section=environment
Australian designed ZCell home battery storage system to be available by midyear
AN Australian-designed battery system partly built in Adelaide will allow householders to use stored solar power during the night. But it will cost you.
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/simon-hackettbacked-redflow-launches-zcell-home-battery-storage-system/news-story/c5cc9be96f517103b02c363adae6a6b5
At last Victoria might now get going, farming solar energy
Has Victoria’s moment in the sun finally arrived? http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/has-victorias-moment-in-the-sun-finally-arrived-20160327-gnrs6l.html, The Age, Tom Arup March 27, 2016 Despite a decade of promises and plans from governments, policy uncertainty and project collapses has meant very little has materialised but now a handful of proposed Victorian projects are again on the table.
Phil Galloway stands in an open field between vast stretches of almond trees. The empty land is marginal and the sun above it bright.
One day soon he hopes to roll out 220,000 solar panels across the empty space on the Almas Almonds farm at Bannerton, generating enough electricity to power about 30,000 homes.
“The sun is really just another crop”, Mr Galloway, a former BHP executive, said during a meeting with the local council this week.
“And we’re utilising land that would have otherwise stood empty.”
His company, Syncline Energy, is the latest in a long line of proponents that have sought to kick start a large-scale solar industry in Victoria’s sunny north west.
But despite a decade of promises and plans from governments, policy uncertainty and project collapses have meant that very little has materialised. And a celebrated concentrated solar project near Mildura was axed by its proponents in 2014, with the land and equipment later sold.
Now a handful of proposed Victorian projects are again on the table.
The latest bout of activity was sparked by $100 million in competitive grants on offer from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), which is looking to drive innovation in large-scale solar and drive down costs.
It is understood seven Victorian projects were among the 77 that registered initial interest with ARENA. Syncline Energy’s proposal, and another from Solar Choice located near Kerang, were the only two from Victoria to make a recently announced shortlist of 22. Continue reading
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