A minor concern it may be, compared to the tragic loss of life, livelihoods and biodiversity caused by the bushfires still ravaging parts of Australia, but reduced output by PV systems due to smoke haze is an unwelcome bi-product of blazes that have burned at a scale and ferocity never seen before.

As the world responds to the climate crisis and ramps up investment in solar energy, the industry is still struggling to address sustainability. A new Arup Group report on Australia looks at how the country can apply circular economy principles to current and future PV waste management.

The cataclysmic bushfire season ravaging the nation is a reminder of the risk climate change poses to Australia’s economic and social prosperity. An international roadmap to freedom from fossil fuels by 2050 produced by the U.S.’ Stanford University says Australia needs another 280 GW of solar and tens of billions of dollars of investment to turn down the heat.

Australian startup Power Ledger wants to scale up its offerings for much larger communities, as it has already verified its technologies in projects around the world. The Australian Energy Market Commission last week proposed a similar agenda.

With sun the common component of solar energy production and agriculture, a new company in northern New South Wales is set to combine the benefits of sowing PV and forage crops in the same soil.

With hundreds of billions of dollars in assets and funds under management, Macquarie Group is seeking to amplify its considerable influence, bringing investment and reporting to bear on accelerating climate mitigation and adaptation.

The Australian Energy Market Operator constrained the output of several large-scale solar plants by 50% on Friday, in response to voltage fluctuations in a 220 kV network spanning the states of Victoria and New South Wales.

Researchers in the US have published a study that brings 20 years of renewable energy (solar PV and/or wind plus storage) generation into line with historical energy-demand profiles, to ascertain at what storage cost point renewables can cost-effectively consistently meet 100% demand.

ReNu Energy signed an agreement last week for the sale of its Australian solar assets to CleanPeak Energy, a commercial rooftop solar startup.

The U.K. is leaping ahead in its deployment of EV charging infrastructure. Box Energi has chosen Australia’s Tritium Veefil-RT technology to ramp up the number of refill sites around the U.K. in a move which will boost not only accessibility and driving range but confidence in emissions-free driving.