Home Archive by category "Solar Power" (Page 2)

Category Archives: Solar Power

NT Labor proposes 50% renewables by 2030 ahead of election.

The Northern Territory Labor party has promised to adopt a renewable energy target of 50 per cent by 2030, in new policy detail released ahead of the NT’s August 27 election that they are expected to win easily. The proposed target would put the NT in line with most other Labor state’s and territories in Australia – as well as federal Labor – and puts it ahead of the federal Coalition government, which is aiming for just 23 per cent renewables in 2020, with no target set for beyond that date. Giles has also weighed in on the South Australian …

Read the full article

Sheep Cutting Solar Farm’s Maintenance Costs

University of Queensland is saving $50,000 a year in mowing costs at its Gatton campus solar farm by using sheep to keep the vegetation down. In May last year,  the largest solar photovoltaic (PV) research facility in the southern hemisphere was switched on at Gatton. Comprising of more than 37,000 solar panels, the facility covers a fair bit of ground. The ABC reports that to mow the grounds used to take 4 days – and cost a significant chunk of change. Ten sheep were brought in to help cut mowing costs and seem to be enjoying their new digs; a …

Read the full article

People power is the secret to reliable, clean energy.

Australia’s energy watchdog, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), has issued a stark warning: more wind and solar power will demand new approaches to avoid interruptions to electricity supply. In its annual Electricity Statement of Opportunities, released this week, AEMO indicated that the overall outlook for reliability has improved. So far, so good. However, South Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales are potentially at greater risk of interruptions within ten years if the current trend of shutting down old coal-fired power stations accelerates, as we can expect from Australia’s efforts to meet national and international climate targets. The threat of power blackouts is reliable …

Read the full article

Solar cell efficiency race is on

Solar cell efficiency: If you haven’t already heard, the solar cell efficiency race is on, and once you’ve dusted off your periodic table, it’s a race as scintillating as any big-ticket derby. The stakes, however, are much, much higher as reported by Ceridwen Dovey. The scientists who are globally acknowledged to be the best at developing solar cells – tweaking them, goading them to perform better at converting sunlight to electricity – have been quietly doing their work for four decades in a laboratory at the University of New South Wales, just up the road from Sydney’s Royal Randwick Racecourse. It’s here …

Read the full article

Australia’s Largest Solar Crowdfunding Campaign a Success

For-purpose business, The People’s Solar has helped iconic Melbourne Not for Profit, the Abbotsford Convent raise $120,000 for its renewable energy project in the biggest crowdfunding project of its kind in Australia. The People’s Solar, part of Energy for the People, is a platform for delivering community-owned solar power to schools and Not for Profits as reported by Probono Australia. Director and co-founder Tosh Szatow told Pro Bono Australia News this was the biggest solar crowdfunding project of its kind in Australia to date. It was also the largest project his business has been involved in. “It’s really exciting. We’ve …

Read the full article

Remote community transformed after swapping diesel generator for solar panels

Graeme Smith was mulling over a long-standing problem at the end of 2015: how to provide affordable power to his tiny, off-grid community. Despite having freehold title to 170 square kilometres of land east of Tennant Creek and plenty of money in the bank, members of the Munungurra Aboriginal Corporation could not afford to live on their country as reported by ABC News. The cost of providing power to such a remote location prevented them building an economy on their land. “We originally had no power and no water, because we’re not on a grid. We put houses on it, …

Read the full article

CSIRO’s Solar Hackathon brings 100 Aussies together to create clean energy startups

With hackathons proving their worth as a way to nurture creativity and spur innovation, CSIRO is getting in on the action, inviting potential clean energy innovators to #hackthesun for $10k in prize money. This will be Australia’s first solar hackathon, with the same model internationally already having produced a number of successful solar startups. The hackathon will present teams with a challenge centring around renewable energy, as part of their goal to continue the conversation around solar and sustainable energy at this crucial time. To run the event, CSIRO has partnered with Silicon Valley-based Powerhouse (formerly SfunCube), a solar-centric incubator …

Read the full article

The WTO ruling against India’s booming solar program

On the heels of the recent global summit in Paris to tackle climate disruption, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled against an important piece of the climate solution puzzle: India’s ambitious program to create homegrown solar energy. The ruling shows that decades-old, over-reaching trade rules are out of sync with the global challenge to transition to 100 percent clean energy as extracted by a Huffington Post news report. In just five years, thanks to India’s National Solar Mission, India has gone from having virtually no solar capacity to boasting one of the world’s fastest-growing solar industries. In just the …

Read the full article

Are sustainable houses worth more?

AFR, 11 September 2015. Jeremy Spencer built a house for his family and parents to move into last year. The three-bedroom, two-storey house in Seaholme, in Melbourne’s west, meets several needs – it’s accessible in its design, with wide passageways, ramps and counter-hung benches that permit his wheelchair-bound father to fully participate in the family life. It’s also sustainable. The house is built with materials such as a recycled concrete-and-glass slab and recycled bricks on the inside to create a thermal mass that absorbs northern sun in winter and diffuses it at night. It also has a solar panel system on the roof. “Our …

Read the full article

Energy minister vows to curb the spread of solar farms

Solar farms must not become “the new onshore wind”, Greg Barker, the energy minister has said DECC admits that the spread of solar farms has been “much stronger than anticipated in government modelling” and some have been sited “insensitively”. Ministers have vowed to curb the growth of massive solar farms that blight the countryside, pledging they will not allow it to become “the new onshore  wind”.  In a solar strategy released on Friday, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said: “We want to move the emphasis for growth away from large   solar farms.” It unveils plans to instead put more …

Read the full article