This week in Solar: Grid instability, cyber threat, and more

1. Solar power contributes to cheaper energy but also ‘critical’ grid instability, warns ESB

The security and reliability of Australia’s power grid is now at a “critical” status, according to a report out this morning from the Energy Security Board (ESB), even as power prices start falling.

2. Why an Australian mining giant chose wind and solar over gas for $1 billion project

It’s basically unheard of in Australia: An Australian mining giant announcing that it will choose wind, solar and battery storage to provide 80 per cent of the power needs of a proposed $1 billion nickel mine in outback Australia.

3. Combating the cyber threat to Australia’s distributed solar grid ambitions

At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, cyber threats to critical infrastructure were listed as a top ten global threat and many experts believe that an attack on Australian energy infrastructure is a case of ‘when’ not ‘if’.

4. Solar technology breakthrough at UQ

UQ researchers set a world record for the conversion of solar energy to electricity via the use of tiny nanoparticles called ‘quantum dots’, which pass electrons between one another and generate electrical current when exposed to solar energy in a solar cell device.

5. Energy storage research hub launched at UNSW

The ARC Research Hub for Integrated Energy Storage Solutions has a broad research mandate as it looks for innovative energy storage solutions for the energy transition, but some of the nation’s finest minds are now working on them together.

6. RACV Solar teams with Enphase in major rooftop PV reboot

RACV’s major push into the Australian rooftop solar market continues to gain momentum this week with the announcement of a new partnership with US microinverter maker Enphase Energy.

7. 45 renewable generators affected by West Murray connection woes

Many more renewable generators than originally thought are in a holding pattern as a result of oscillation problems in the weak-grid, high-resource area known as the West Murray. State Governments, AEMO and the renewables industry have hunkered down to find solutions that will also find application elsewhere in the grid as connection fever mounts.

8. Blockchain, butchers’ paper and US$100 trillion: Energy Leaders Forum revs up net-zero by 2050

“Net-zero by 2050 is good, but that’s the minimum requirement. We need to move faster,” said Energetics’ CEO, Dr Mary Stewart.