RenewEconomy

South Australia is becoming a magnet for world-leading storage investments that surely signal the permanent demise of fossil fuel "base-load" generation in the electricity system. And by tapping into home solar and storage systems, utilities are changing the way people think about energy.

Bob Brown says he will be on front line of protests if Coalition finances Adani project; issues challenge for Frydenberg on whaling; and is set to join protests against BP drilling in Great Australian Bight.

Andrews government calls for consultation from business, community on design of renewable energy auction scheme – a first step towards its VRET of 40% by 2025.

AFL team Kangaroos will cut grid power consumption by nearly 25% with 200kW solar system installed at Nth Melbourne HQ.

DP Energy has been given the green light by SA govt to develop 375MW solar and wind Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park.

Darwin Airport has completed first phase of 5.5MW solar farm, switching on 4MW installation that will ultimately supply 25% of airport's power needs.

AGL Energy to install 1,000 centrally controlled battery storage systems in South Australian homes and businesses with a total capacity of 7MWh – equivalent to a 5MW solar peaking plant. A foretaste of what many expect to be the energy system of the future.

French energy minister Ségolène Royal has inaugurated a manufacturing plant that will produce the so-called "Wattway" paving, made of solar PV.

Despite giving tours to press and customers in the past few weeks, many details about developments at Tesla Motors and Panasonic’s “gigafactory” near Reno are still murky, and little light was shed by Elon Musk in Tesla’s Q2 results.

Besides record heat, the world saw many other unwanted records tumble in 2015, providing ever more evidence for the effect humans are having on climate.

There are synergies between EVs and solar, so the basic concept of merging Tesla and SolarCity seems sound. The biggest risk is that somebody else might execute it better.

As the Senate shapes up to be heavy on Hansonites and climate skepticism, and light on support for renewable energy, retaining a fully-funded ARENA could be the best the industry can hope for.

For the first time in its history, Suncorp has listed climate change as a specific business risk. But it's still not convinced by the science.

What if humans could invent a leaf-like solar cell that could turn carbon dioxide pollution from the atmosphere into fuel for electric power plants? Researchers led by University of Illinois-Chicago might have developed just that.

Net zero energy buildings have been gaining momentum around the world. However, there still remains an industry-wide perception that net zero energy is too expensive, or comes at a much higher incremental cost over business as usual.

New regulator report notes electricity price spikes caused by sudden loss of output at coal-fired generators, caused by "trips" and coal "quality" issues.

Electricity market operator says there are no technical barriers to having more wind and solar on the national grid, but the market design and regulations need to catch up with new technology, rather than servicing a century-old system.

Technique developed at Aalborg University creates a component resistant to high temperatures and able to capture broader spectrum of solar irradiation.

ASX-listed engineering group joins with ZEM Energy to form new company focused on developing large-scale renewables projects in the race to meet the RET.

So how did an international environmental champion fail to meet the promises of a sustainable Rio in time for the city’s biggest international event in decades?