This week in solar: surf parks and zoos go solar, and more

1. All Energy Conference

This October, Melbourne hosted the All Energy Australia Exhibition and Conference with leading companies in the clean energy sector. We met up with exhibitors and speakers to get a glimpse at the newest renewables-based technologies on offer for residents and businesses across Australia.

2. Australia’s main grid reaches 50 per cent renewables for first time

Rooftop solar provided nearly half the renewables output, or 23.7 per cent, followed by wind (15.7 per cent), large-scale solar (8.8 per cent) and hydro just 1.9 per cent.

3. Australia’s first urban surf park seeks power from wind and solar

The Tullamarine surf park already has solar panels installed across the facility’s buildings – including a surf academy, an all-day restaurant and a surf shop – to help minimise their grid power usage.

4. Best and brightest: CEC Solar Awards winners for 2019

GEM Energy principal electrician Christopher Hackett says the brief for this job was simple: “We have been awarded the Australia Zoo Project…Delivering this project on the roof of the café and Crocoseum using entirely in-house resources meant we had control of quality from engineering stage all the way through to commissioning.”

5. Rooftop solar smashes Australia installation record in October

“The national market smashes its previous record, and rises above the plateau we’ve been experiencing for the past 12 months,” says Warwick Johnston, the director of industry statistician Sunwiz.

6. Solar carpark to cover shopping center’s energy needs

As more and more shopping centres across Australia starts to utilise solar PV atop their premises, carparks are becoming increasingly popular amid a lack of rooftop space.

7. Evergen is offering its solar system for free to eligible Queenslanders through the Energex HEMS pilot program

The HEMS pilot program includes panels and battery storage installation by Evergen, as well as Evergen’s intelligent energy management system, developed in partnership with the CSIRO, which optimises the performance of solar and battery systems to reduce grid energy consumption.

8. This solar farm has to switch off every second day due to negative prices

The sight of wind and solar farms being switched off when wholesale electricity prices fall into negative territory has become increasingly common over the last few months, particularly in Queensland and South Australia.