Search Results for: nsw

Election renewables roundup Week #3

May 31, 2016 2017-10-25T08:25:07 by 2 Comments
pollution from coal power station

As the polling gap closes, climate and renewables are conspicuously absent from the mainstream debate.

Our election renewables roundup for week 3 sees the polling gap between the two major parties to be the width of a cigarette paper with Bouncing Billy Shorten closing the preferred prime minister margin.

The closeness of the campaign shows a single issue cuts across party and demographic lines, is popular amongst the majority of voters and may be the difference between winning, losing or a hung parliament. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Policy Tagged With: ,

Enphase Battery Is Impressive But Very Unlikely To Save You Money

May 26, 2016 2024-07-19T17:30:52 by 57 Comments
Enphase AC Battery

The Enphase AC battery. image: Enphase

Until now, if you have been one of the highly intelligent and undoubtedly good looking people with a grid connect solar system and you wanted to add batteries, you were looking at spending at least $10,000.

But that will no longer be the case in August when the teeny tiny $2,000 Enphase AC Battery becomes available in Australia. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Battery Storage Tagged With: , , ,

Election renewables news roundup Week #2

May 22, 2016 2017-10-25T08:25:19 by 5 Comments
turnbull

Whilst pollies spent the week campaigning, Aussie researchers made the biggest breakthrough in solar efficiency in years.

Used to being marginalised during election campaigns, the renewables sector hasn’t exactly sprung to the centre of attention during the latest most important election since the last one. However there are signs that the two major parties are taking notice of the Australian electorate’s overwhelming support for a strong renewable energy policy as we dip into the election renewables news roundup for the second week. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Policy Tagged With: ,

GCL’s E-KwBe Battery, Or Something Similar, Will Change The World

May 17, 2016 2024-06-04T15:38:47 by 22 Comments
gcl e-kwbe battery

The GCL E-Kwbe battery may be unpronounceable – but it may also save the world. Kind of.

GCL, a large Chinese company, has unveiled a new lithium-ion energy storage system at a price point that some consider to be shocking. Called the EKwBe, it has a seven year warranty, a ten year expected lifespan, and comes in two varieties. A 2.5 kilowatt-hour system that wholesales excluding GST for $1,499 and a larger 5.6 kilowatt-hour system that wholesales for $2,999.  This is the lowest price that has been offered for any comparable energy storage system and I believe that it, or something similar, has the potential to change the world.

Update: 1st December 20016.  The GCL EKWBE battery currently appears to be retailing for around $3,600 inc GST.  This doesn’t give it a cost per warranted kilowatt-hour as low as the announced Tesla Powerwall 2, but it will be interesting to see if GCL will cut its price further in response once the Powerwall 2 is actually available for installation.

[wpdtable id=”5918″] [Read more…]

Filed Under: Battery Storage Tagged With: , , ,

Revealed: Ausgrid’s Devious Strategy To Keep Solar Customers Confused

May 13, 2016 2017-04-18T18:15:09 by 6 Comments
ausgrid complaints

Want to ask Ausgrid what the rules are for connecting solar? Then be prepared to enter their infinite loop of hell.

In order to help out people who are considering installing rooftop solar in Sydney, I took it upon myself to find out what people need to know if they want to install a system in the Ausgrid Electricity Network area. I did it for the benefit of humanity. Well, specifically for the benefit of people in the eastern half of Sydney, but if it results in more clean solar electricity being generated, then it will benefit all humanity. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Panels Tagged With: ,

Perovskite solar cells in commercial production just around the corner says report

May 2, 2016 2017-10-25T08:26:07 by 1 Comment
Perovskite

An unassuming lump of perovskite. “The fastest improving solar cell technology there has ever been.”

We’ve previously covered the novelty of perovskites as a potential game changer for solar cell cost and efficiency, and also asked why, with such a name, they haven’t as yet debuted in the latest James Bond blockbuster. But perovskite solar cells in commercial production as the “Next Big Thing” in solar cell technology? Surely that’s a long, long way off? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Innovations Tagged With: ,

Think tank predicts end of fossil fuel in a decade

April 26, 2016 2017-10-25T08:26:24 by 9 Comments
renewables-in-10

No fossil fuels from 2026?

Most supporters of the clean energy revolution have never wavered in their belief that renewables will be the dominant energy source of the future. The only question is how long before we wean ourselves off fossil fuels.

Now a think tank based in the United Kingdom has had a stab at answering this $64 question by predicting that fossil fuels could be phased out almost completely over the next decade.

The Sussex Energy Group, based at the University of Sussex, has said that a co-ordinated effort could see the switch to clean energy brought in much earlier than previously thought. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Policy Tagged With: ,

Enphase’s Cunning Plan: Make Micro Inverters Cheaper than String Inverters.

April 14, 2016 2016-05-30T14:05:55 by 17 Comments

enphase costs: half price by 2017When it comes to Australian solar installations, conventional string inverters tower over the competition like a current converting colossus. But microinverters, which are tiny in both physical size and market share, are shaping up to beat string inverters on both price and reliability. Enphase, the world’s largest producer of microinverters, plans to beat conventional inverters on price within two years. If they meet their goal of cutting micro inverter costs in half, it will change the way Australians install solar power. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Inverters Tagged With: , , ,

The race is on as Panasonic snatches lead as most efficient solar panel

March 9, 2016 2017-10-25T09:25:59 by 8 Comments
panasonic most efficient panel

Panasonic snatch the title for most efficient panel from Sunpower.

Well that didn’t take long! No sooner had we published our article on SunPower grabbing the unofficial prize of most efficient solar panel for commercial use, than Japanese manufacturer Panasonic surprises with a late sprint to the line.

The Japanese manufacturer has now jumped into the lead in the solar conversion Premier League with not one but two records. The new record, which was verified by the Japanese government-funded National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, is an eye-catching photovoltaic module conversion efficiency of 23.8 percent. This leaves SunPower’s previous record in the dust by a full percentage point. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Panels Tagged With: , , ,

Trina Solar Panels deliver (yet another) efficiency record

January 2, 2016 2017-10-25T09:28:07 by 3 Comments
trina solar logo and panels

Trina Solar Panel Efficiencies Keep On Rising,

Trina Solar panels look set for a big 2016 with news that the company has achieved yet another solar cell efficiency record.

Fresh from trouncing its previous record for efficiency for a p-type polycrystalline silicon solar cell, Trina Solar announced last week they had achieved an efficiency of 22.13 percent for a 156 x 156mm² solar cell for a mono-crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell. This beats the company’s previous record of 21.40 percent, set in November 2014. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Panels Tagged With: ,
Get the latest solar, battery and EV charger news straight to your inbox every Tuesday