In this week’s issue of Solar Tidbits: (1) Solar Expansion Continues to Eat Into Coal’s Market Share in Australia as Prices Rise (2) Australian Researchers Gather “Night-time Solar” to Supply Power in the Dark (3) Queensland’s “World first” Solar and Battery Grid Project Changes Ownership
Solar Expansion Continues to Eat
Into Coal’s Market Share in Australia as Prices Rise
Source: Genex Power
In Australia’s National Energy Market (NEM), solar PV and other renewables account for more than a third of energy output in Q1 2022, with coal’s share falling by five percentage points year on year.
However, high gas costs, demand outstripping supply, outages at thermal units, and curtailed north-south power-sharing drove average prices up to AU$87/MWh (US$60.23/MWh), according to the latest edition of the Australian Energy Market Operator’s quarterly energy dynamics report.
The average wholesale power spot price in the NEM jumped to AU$87/MWh in the second quarter, up from AU$52/MWh the previous quarter. This is the highest price since AU$89/MWh in Q2 2019.
More about this article: https://bit.ly/38n7ASv
Australian Researchers Gather “Night-time Solar” to Supply Power in the Dark
Source: UNSW
Researchers from the University of New South Wales have made a huge breakthrough in renewable energy technology by generating power in the dark using the Earth’s radiant infrared heat.
The results of a team of researchers from the UNSW School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering’s research on radiant infrared heat have been published, detailing a key breakthrough in creating electricity from so-called “night-time solar power” — heat radiated as infrared light.
To create power from the emission of infrared light, the researchers employed a semiconductor device known as a thermoradiative diode, which is made up of components found in night-vision goggles.
More about this article: https://bit.ly/3wRDd07
Queensland’s “World first” Solar and Battery Grid Project Changes Ownership
Photo credit: CSIRO
A project in Australia has been awarded grant funding to investigate the potential revenue streams and consumer interest in secondhand solar PV panels.
After receiving AU$42,869 (US$29,478) in funding from Energy Users Australia, which represents residential and small business energy consumers, a team from the University of Queensland will try to uncover market or policy impediments to reusing, repurposing, and recycling panels.
The study also intends to discover the potential to leverage a circular economy for panels in order to better involve consumers who can’t currently afford solar.
More about this article: https://bit.ly/3z2HKyb
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