The Australian Electricity Market Operator (AEMO) has indicated that Australia has seen the addition of 1.2GW of new large-scale solar projects brought online and connected to the National Electricity Market (NEM) in the past 12 months.
The New South Wales (NSW) government has approved plans for solar developer Lightsource bp’s proposed 450MW Goulburn River Solar Farm, in the Upper Hunter region.
News from the US state of Indiana, where two electricity utilities have made moves in the state energy market. CenterPoint Energy has issued a call for energy generation project proposals, whilst NIPSCO has brought a 200MW solar PV project online.
Analyst firm BloombergNEF has cautioned that Australia requires around A$2.4 trillion (US$1.6 trillion) investment to reach net zero, with solar PV and wind installations to reach 290GW by 2050.
Rinnai Australia, owned by Japanese appliance manufacturer Rinnai Corporation, has expanded into the solar PV and energy storage space by acquiring Smart Energy Group.
Australian renewable energy and storage developer Genex Power has been acquired by Japanese power company J-Power in a deal worth AUS$351 million (US$229 million).
The Australian Energy Market Commissioner (AEMC) is proposing to enable virtual power plants (VPPs) to directly compete with large-scale generators in the energy market, which could aid solar PV’s role in decarbonising Australia.
