Tuesday 26 December 2017

CEFC passes 1GW big solar milestone In Australia

Majura Solar Farm, Canberra (photo Julie May)

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), set up by the Australian Government, has reached 1GW of large-scale solar energy investment across the country.

The CEFC announced the major milestone on Friday 15 December, alongside its latest investments in the 110MW Wemen Sun Farm near Mildura in Victoria, and the 90MW Clermont Solar Farm west of Rockhampton in Queensland..
“With these latest commitments, the CEFC has invested in 20 large-scale solar projects since 2013, becoming Australia’s largest solar investor, supporting projects across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia,” the CEFC said in a statement on Friday.

Read more at: CEFC passes 1GW big solar milestone, after backing two new projects. By Sophie Vorrath, RenewEconomy, December 15, 2017.

Monday 18 December 2017

Australian red meat sector sets 2030 carbon neutral target

Beef cattle (photo Julie May)

Research and marketing group, Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) has funded a CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) research project to identify ways the industry could become carbon neutral. After a year of study, the managing director, Richard Norton, announced that the industry could become carbon neutral by 2030. He was addressing the MLA annual general meeting in Alice Springs on November 22, 2017.

According to MLA, potential strategies for reaching the target will include offsetting emissions with carbon farming, genetic selection and a potential vaccine to reduce methane production. Expanding the use of legumes and dung beetles in pastures could also be used to offset emissions.

Wednesday 13 December 2017

SA's big Tesla battery goes full discharge (100MW) for first time


South Australia's Tesla battery (Hornsdale Power reserve) readings (RenewEconomy). 

The largest lithium-ion battery in the world to date (100MW/129MWh), a Tesla, was officially switched on Friday 1 December, 2017, in South Australia. Then on Wednesday, December 13, it discharged its maximum capacity of 100MW during a heatwave. The battery is a back-up for the large amount of renewable energy in the state.


The injection of 100MW into the grid from what is known to the market as the Hornsdale Power Reserve, occurred just before midday (NEM-time). It followed some charging overnight and a brief spurt of discharging and charging earlier in the morning. The battery receives electricity from Neoen’s Hornsdale wind farm, near Jamestown in South Australia.

Read more from RenewEconomy: Tesla big battery goes the full discharge - 100MW - for first time. By Giles Parkinson, December 14, 2017.
Also: What is the Tesla big battery actually selling? It is not just energy. RenewEconomy, December 13, 2017.

Tuesday 12 December 2017

China's solar surge hits new heights

A 40 MW floating solar farm in China's Anhui province. (Sungrow Power Supply)
“It's no secret China has been installing solar panels at a record-breaking rate—it's been happening for years now. But in 2017 China took its solar drive even further, deploying more PV capacity in one year than any other country has—or at least had at end of 2016.

Last week, Bloomberg New Energy Finance revised upwards its projection for new solar capacity in China, taking it from the pretty impressive 30GW it forecast in July to a gargantuan 54GW. It appears that China exceeded BNEF's initial estimate for the year in just the first nine months (34.5GW).
That latest figure compares favorably to every other country's total solar capacity—topping the 40GW the U.S. had in place at the end of last year. In fact, with the Solar Energy Industries Association expecting 12.4GW of new solar in the U.S. this year, if China does meet BNEF's projection then it will have outstripped total U.S. solar capacity with just one year of new additions…."

Read more from EcoWatch: China's Solar Surge Hits New Heights. By Zachary Davies Boren, Unearthed. November 28, 2017.

Sunday 10 December 2017

Turning prawn shells into plastic

Angelina Arora with her plastic made from prawn shells (photo by L. Kennerley)

Having already worked with degradable plastics, chemistry student Angelina Arora from Sydney Girls High School, Australia, experimented with discarded seafood wastes she collected from a fish and chip shop. She came up with a strong, light, biodegradable plastic.

This is using a plentiful, renewable source of waste organic material to make biodegradable plastic, instead of using fossil fuels. The plastic could be a sustainable form of shopping bags and possibly other plastics that may not harm the environment by hopefully being totally biodegradable.

Source: Turning prawns into plastic: schoolgirl Angelina Arora fights science stereotypes. By Liam Mannix, The Sydney Morning Herald, 9 Dec 2017.
Postscript: Indian-origin student wins Australia's top Science and Engineering Award. SBS Your Language, March 8, 2018.

Tuesday 5 December 2017

German wind power beats hard coal + nuclear for the first time


Power generated this year by onshore and offshore wind in Germany exceeded the amount of electricity coming from hard coal and nuclear plants for the first time, the Fraunhofer ISE institute (Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems) said on its website.


Hard coal production was paused in preference for lignite production, which is dirtier but cheaper to run. Nuclear production went offline for extended periods.

German onshore and offshore wind power has an installed capacity of about 54 gigawatts -- outstripping all other main sources of power capacity. About 46 percent of Germany’s generation came from wind farms on Thursday, 23 November 2017, according to Wind Power Europe.


Read full article from Bloomberg Technology. By Brian Parkin, 25 Nov 2017.

Monday 4 December 2017

From garbage to energy at the Woodlawn Bioreactor, NSW.

This old mine pit is used to collect methane gas from garbage to run electricity generators (photo Julie May)
The Woodlawn zinc and copper mine was shut in 1998 (although the mine has reopened this year). The original mine left a large pit which Veolia (Australia and New Zealand) uses to store garbage from Sydney. The garbage is covered with soil and methane gas made from the bacterial decomposition of plant and animal matter is collected, then used to run 7 landfill gas engines (92% of the methane is captured). This bioreactor started operation in 2004.

For every tonne of waste deposited at the facility, 1.33 megawatts of clean electricity can be produced. Since opening, over 4.1 Mt of waste has been processed most of which has been used to generate green electricity.

Although burning methane has carbon dioxide as a waste product, it is 21% more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas, so overall greenhouse gas effects are reduced. In addition, electricity is made from waste, a renewable resource, and production is 24/7 so it is base load power.


The landfill gas engines (photo Julie May)
Other sustainable and energy saving mechanisms and products are employed:

  • The garbage is compressed into containers at two highly efficient rail transfer terminals in southern Sydney. Trains, on the original Sydney-Canberra line, carry the containers to Tarago where they are put on trucks for the short journey to Woodlawn.
  • Waste heat from one gas turbine is used to warm the water of a barramundi fish farm. (Some of the fish are sold at the Belconnen Markets in nearby Canberra.)
  • There is a new, separate 'waste to compost' facility, which separates out the organics from household waste to create compost and soil. The soil will be used to help rehabilitate mine tailings to grassland.
  • The land supports a sheep farm which uses rotational grazing.
  • The land also has 23 wind turbines owned by Infogen, producing 48MW.
  • Soon the facility will have its own 2.5MW solar farm.
For more information see: Veolia's Woodlawn Bioreactor, NSW

Thursday 30 November 2017

Canberra switches on its virtual 1MW power plant

Reposit Power phone app (Source - One Step off the Grid)
Australian internet of things company Reposit Power and network operator ActewAGL Distribution said on Thursday, 30 November, they had switched on a virtual battery made up of behind the meter energy storage installed in Canberra homes that could deliver more than 1MW of power to the ACT grid, supporting it at times of peak demand.

It’s the latest of a raft of battery storage demand response projects that are firing up around the country, pulling together Australia’s rapidly growing distributed solar and battery storage resources to help get the National Energy Market through the coming summer – as well as through the transition to renewables. The providers are paid a premium rate of 100c/kWh for their home battery power.

For full article see: Canberra switches on its own Big Battery - 1MW of household variety demand response. One Step off the Grid, November 30, 2017.
See also:
- Canberra trials world’s largest residential ‘virtual’ power plant. ACT Government, November 30, 2017.
How I learned to slash my power bill, with solar and storage.
- My House as I am part of this virtual power plant as well.

Postscripts:
- Canberra Virtual Power Plant awarded top engineering honours. Reposit Power, September 19 2018.
- Ausgrid seeks to expand virtual power plant to cut back on network costs. RenewEconomy, May 22 2019.

Monday 27 November 2017

Tesla semis to be ordered by Walmart and Loblaw: this truck changes everything

Source: Tesla
This Tesla electric semi trailer doesn’t jack-knife, can do 0-100kms in 6 seconds (without load), can go up inclines at a steady 100 km/hr (with load), has a cool centralised driving position, wrap-around armoured glass windows, touch screens, and doesn’t pollute. It beats diesel trucks in just about every measurable way. The range can be with a 500 mile (800km) option (fully loaded), or a 300 mile option. In North America, at first, there will be a network of “megachargers” that will be able to give the truck 400 miles of range in 30 minutes.

Tesla claims significantly lower maintenance costs (similar to EV passenger cars) and is offering charging at fixed electricity prices, thus virtually guaranteeing operating costs for truck fleet operators and 1 million miles of break-down free use. A company could save tens of thousands of dollars if the Tesla semi is, as Musk said, 25 cents cheaper to operate per mile than a standard diesel truck. The average number of miles driven a year per large truck is just over 100,000, according to industry analysts. That means each Tesla semi could save a company at least $US25,000 a year.

However, Don Ake, vice president of commercial vehicles at FTR, an industry economics research firm, said: “The 500-mile (800 km) range between charges that Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk promised ...... for the Tesla semi is about half the range between fill-ups of a diesel Class 8 truck. Heavy batteries cut payload and add cost, potential deal killers for fleet buyers focused on operating cost per mile.”

At least two companies are to order the semis for pilot studies. Walmart is to order 15 and Loblaw 25. Loblaw, a Canadian grocery chain, earlier this month committed to have a fully electric fleet as part of the company’s commitment to reduce its carbon footprint by 2030. That would involve adding 350 zero-emission vehicles and more than 2,500 trailers to the fleet.

For further reading please see:
Darth Vader or not, the Tesla truck changes everything. RenewEconomy,
Walmart to order 15 Tesla semi trucks, Canadian Grocer Loblaw to order 25. CleanTechnica,
Wal-Mart says it’s preordered 15 of Tesla’s electric tractor trailers. CNBC,
Loblaw says it ordered 25 Tesla electric trucks, wants fully electric fleet by 2030. Financial Post.

Wednesday 22 November 2017

100% percent electric buses to be in Chinese city by end 2017


Image from CleanTechnica
The move to electric vehicles (EVs) in China is happening quickly with reduction of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions the main motivators. Shenzhen city with a population of 11.9 million people has a love of EVs and already has 14,000 electric buses but plans to have its entire bus fleet electric by the end of this year.

Read more: 100% Electric bus fleet for Shenzhen (population 11.9 million) by end of 2017. By Nicolas Zart, 12 Nov 2017, CleanTechnica.

Tuesday 21 November 2017

Graphs of my home energy use and costs updated

Home Energy Graphs: left usage from the grid and right energy costs (supply + service - feed in tariff)
With the arrival of my spring bill, I have added the data for that quarter to my graphs on My House page. On the left is the average daily energy use from the grid and on the right are the costs of the energy supply plus the service fees less the feed in tariffs.

I moved into the house in May 2015 and gradually added solar panels, solar hot water (thus quitting gas), home battery and double-glazed windows. The reduction in energy use and costs was achieved while charging a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and cordless electric lawn mower.

For features of my house and explanation of graphs, see My House. For the details of estimated costs of charging my PHEV by using renewables and the grid, see My Car.

Postscript: A similar outcome: How I learned to slash my power bill, with solar and storage. One Step off the Grid, March 14, 2018.

Monday 20 November 2017

Victorian water treatment plant now has large-scale solar on its utility water tank

Solar panels on utility water tank, Wannon Water, Hamilton, Victoria. (photo from One Step off the Grid)
Victorian utility, Wannon Water, is laying claim to the first large-scale solar system to be put on a utility water tank in Australia, with a 100kW array newly installed on its water treatment plant at Hamilton.
Wannon Water says this initiative will help to unlock the future potential for this type of installation for the Australian water sector. It expects the 344 “high-efficiency” panels on the roof of the clear water storage tank will reduce the plant’s demand on the electricity grid by 25 per cent and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 150,000 kilograms each year.

It expects the A$120,000 system to pay for itself in seven years through reduced energy use, and will mean that on some days the entire water treatment plant can be powered by renewable energy.

Read more: Victoria utility installs first large-scale solar system on water tank. By Giles Parkinson, November 15, 2017 from One Step off the Grid.

Wednesday 15 November 2017

Two mini hydro electricity systems to help the ACT reach 100% in renewables

Googong Dam Mini Hydro (photo from Icon Water)
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has a goal to have 100% renewable electricity by 2020. This sustainable electricity will supply Canberra’s population of over 400,000 people. It is well on the way to achieve that goal with the main contributors being a number of large-scale solar and wind farms.

However, small initiatives and a mixture of approaches to providing renewable energy all contribute as do these two mini hydro systems. They were commissioned by Icon Water which is owned by the ACT Government and provides water and sewerage services to the territory.

The Googong Dam Mini Hydro system generates 600 kW to power the water treatment plant, pump station and Googong Dam. The hydro system uses the gravity fed environmental flows from the dam to run two turbines and generators.

The Mount Stromlo Mini Hydro system generates 630 kW of electricity which is connected to the grid. The gravity fed water to power the system is a bypass of the west main inlet from Bendora Dam which is at 80 metres higher elevation. The mini hydro is located in a small building at the bottom of the Mount Stromlo Water Treatment Plant.

Tuesday 14 November 2017

EU to slash vehicle carbon emissions by one third more.

The European Union is to slash vehicle carbon emissions one third more from 2021 through 2030. Europe already has tough standards for reducing carbon-dioxide emissions in current and future vehicles.

Under the newly adopted plan, passenger cars and light trucks must cut CO2 emission by 15 percent over their 2021 levels by 2025, and by 30 percent by 2030.

The EU commission acknowledged that these levels would be hard to meet, and would increase the cost of cars sold to all buyers. It estimated that by 2030, an average new car could cost roughly €1,000 (US$1,160, A$1,530) more, and an average light van about €900 (US$1,050, A$1,377) more. As is common with such rules, savings in fuel costs over the vehicles' lifetimes would make up for the additional upfront cost several times over.

The region's auto industry is at "a turning point," said EU internal market commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, noting in particular China's plan to end sales of gasoline and diesel-powered cars at some point in the future. The United Kingdom and France are also to phase out diesel and petrol-fuelled cars by 2040.

See more detail from: EU to slash vehicle carbon emissions one third more from 2021 through 2030, by John Voelcker, Green Car Reports, 10 Nov 2017.

Monday 13 November 2017

Wave energy to the electricity grid: new Australian renewable energy projects

CETO renewable wave energy generator (from Carnegie Clean Energy).
Two enterprises in Australia have developed the technology to convert wave energy to electricity for the grid.

One is CETO developed by Carnegie Clean Energy, Perth, Western Australia. CETO is named after a Greek sea goddess and harnesses the renewable energy present in our ocean’s waves and converts it into zero-emission electricity and zero-emission desalinated water.

Carnegie has been asked to give a 15MW commercial demonstration of CETO 6 at the world-class Wave Hub facility off the coast of Cornwall in the United Kingdom.
See also: Carnegie Wave wins $15.5m towards 15MW UK facility, by Sophie Vorrath, 7 Nov 2016.

Also Carnegie is currently contracted to deliver a renewable energy roadmap for Mauritius, including technical, commercial and financial feasibility of high penetration renewable energy; an assessment of the Mauritian wave energy resource and the identification of a preferred site for a commercial CETO wave energy project and the design of a microgrid powered desalination plant on the Mauritian island of Rodrigues.

The other wave energy development is by BPS, based in Sydney, which has developed the bioWAVE concept and is running a pilot project off Port Fairy in Victoria. The Port Fairy Pilot Wave Energy Project involves the design, construction, installation and testing of a full-scale bioWAVE pilot plant equipped with a 250kW O-Drive module. It is being tested during 2017.

Postscript: Carnegie jacks up CETO capacity in bid to take wave power mainstream, by Sophie Vorrath, 14 Nov, 2017.

Sunday 5 November 2017

Flinders Island to switch on a renewable energy hub

Flinders Island hybrid energy hub (photo from ABC News: Rhiannon Shine)
A Tasmanian island (Australia) is about to swap fossil fuel for renewable energy as its major power source.
Flinders Island off Tasmania's north-east coast has traditionally been powered solely by diesel fuel, which has been expensive to transport to the island.

In December, Hydro Tasmania will flick the switch over to its Hybrid Energy Hub, which will enable the island to be powered by 60 per cent renewable energy on average. The hub will provide a combination of solar, wind and battery storage with diesel generators as a back up. When conditions are right the diesel generators will be switched off.

The island has a goal to be 100% renewable in the future by adding tidal energy to the hub. Tasmania has a goal to be self-sufficient in renewable electricity by 2022.

For more information see the full article from ABC News by Rhiannon Shine, 5 Nov 2017.

Tuesday 31 October 2017

World-first 'solar train' about to be launched in Byron Bay

Photos from RenewEconomy
A two-carriage train with lightweight, flexible, 6.5kW solar panels and 77kWh batteries will be travelling 3 kilometres on a disused railway track by the end of this year. It will transport clients to and from the Byron Bay town centre and the Elements of Byron resort in NSW, Australia. The main station also houses 30kW of solar which charges the train’s battery during stops and exports excess power to the grid. The solar panels on the train will also charge the battery. The solar/battery option was decided upon after community consultation indicated that there was resistance to the idea of a diesel train.
For more information see the full article from RenewEconomy, By Giles Parkinson, 27 Oct 2017.

Postscript: Byron Bay's world-first solar train gets ready to trundle. RenewEconomy, December 15, 2017.
From RenewEconomy

Thursday 26 October 2017

Puerto Rico children's hospital gets solar and battery power from Tesla

Solar array at San Juan's Children's Hospital (photo by Tesla)

In the wake of two hurricanes (Maria and Irma), the San Juan's Hospital del Niño (Children's Hospital) in Puerto Rico was struggling for power when relying on two generators and diesel rations. Now Tesla has installed a large array of solar panels and batteries which are enough to supply the needs of the hospital which cares for up to 3000 children.
Elon Musk says this is the ‘first of many’ similar projects that Tesla will set up on the island. The company will therefore create a series of microgrids with independent solar power. Maybe this approach is viable for disaster prone areas as large scale electricity networks are costly and time consuming to restore.

For more information see:

Tuesday 24 October 2017

Don't write off hydrogen as a storage of renewable energy for transport

Hydrogen Fuel cell electric car, Copenhagen (photo: Julie May) 

A number of car makers and industries are looking to use hydrogen as a renewable energy source but one of the challenges is transporting it over long distances. According to ABC News renewable hydrogen could fuel Australia's next export boom after a CSIRO breakthrough.


How renewable hydrogen is produced (From ABC News)
The Australian CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) has come up with a way to transport renewable hydrogen that has been converted to liquid ammonia (NH3) by ‘cracking’ the conversion of ammonia back to pure hydrogen at the destination making it ready to be used for transport.

There have been many improvements made in handling hydrogen as a 'fuel' such that it is no longer dangerous. For example, it is not burned as a fuel in a vehicle but used in a fuel cell to make electricity to drive an electric motor. Fuel cells use an electrochemical process to convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity and water. They have no moving parts and no open flames. See the simple illustrations in Team Macquarie: Hydrogen Myth Busters. Some advantages of hydrogen include a much faster time to refuel vehicles, a longer range between recharging and it is more applicable to larger forms of transport.

Some car companies are looking at hydrogen fuel cell vehicles such as General Motors, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes and possibly others. A good argument for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) vs battery electric vehicles (BEVs): Why the automotive future will be dominated by fuel cells. Of course there are arguments against FCEVs in favour of BEVs. It will be interesting to see what happens. All I know is that the battery in my plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) will not last that long and will need to be replaced after a few years!

Monday 16 October 2017

Using renewables on my house to drive my car (2015-2019)

Audi A3 e-tron (photo by Julie May)
My first plug-in car, the Audi A3 e-tron, was a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) that drove in pure electric for up to 50 km and then in hybrid mode using petrol and battery. My house has solar panels and home battery installed which partly charged the car. The details of these renewables are to be found on this website page called My House. All these items were purchased to reduce my carbon footprint and my bills in retirement.

Being retired, I charged the car in daylight to make use of the solar panels and battery. For four years of driving, 81% was done in pure electric and 19% in petrol. By using my renewable energy power to charge the car, I calculated that it cost 3 cents per kilometre to drive whereas petrol and diesel cars cost 10-12 cents per kilometre. The fuel consumption for 37,000 km was 1.5 L/100km as most driving was around town. For a long trip, say Melbourne to Canberra ,the fuel consumption was 5.6 L/100km

Canberra’s electricity grid is moving towards 40% powered by renewables in 2017 as it heads towards 100% renewable electricity by 2020. [Canberra reached 100% renewable electricity on October 1, 2019] This means that with my own use of renewables and some renewables from the grid, the CO2 emissions from the car were much reduced. It feels good to do my bit but the bonus is - it is a pleasure driving in electric, so the next car is all-electric with some autonomous features. See 'My Car'.
Updated: October 3, 2019.

Thursday 12 October 2017

India taps renewable energy to ensure all homes have power in 2018

Source: India Energy Storage Alliance

“The Indian government has pledged to broaden the roll-out of solar and battery storage to households without power in rural and remote towns and villages, as a part of a newly launched $2.5 billion project to electrify all of the country’s households by the end of 2018.”
One quarter of all homes in the country are yet to be electrified, that is 300 million people are not yet on the grid. Many homes will be eligible for free electricity connections but 80% of the funds will go towards electrifying rural homes. Here solar power packs of 200-300W will be added with battery banks to un-electrified homes, along with LED lights, a DC fan and a DC power plug, and repair and maintenance for five years.

India originally had a goal to have 40% renewable energy by 2030 but now believes it can surpass this goal by 2027. It has currently cancelled the development of new coal-fired power plants as it is less expensive for them to install rooftop solar and solar farms. From the article entitled “India joins the renewable energy revolution, accelerates targets”.

To read the full article from RenewEconomy see India taps solar, storage to ensure all homes have power in 2018. By Sophie Vorrath, 27 Sept, 2017.

Monday 9 October 2017

Off-grid trial gives Western Australian farming community cheaper, more reliable power

Ros and Bernie Giles trialling off-grid power on their farm (from ABC News)

Western Australia (WA) is a large, sparsely populated state so providing reliable power to the fringes of the WA network is a challenge.
  • Fed up with frequent outages and voltage spikes, six farming households in Ravensthorpe, 500 kilometres south of Perth, chose to take a leap of faith and try living off the sun and lithium batteries.
  • WA's energy utility Western Power offered the systems for free in the search for alternatives to the massive cost of replacing ageing poles and wires.

For more information see the report from ABC News, by Katherine Diss and Mark Bennett, 19 Sept 2017.
See also a similar report: Horizon Power extends WA off-grid solar and storage trial from RenewEconomy.

Friday 6 October 2017

Energy Queensland managing distributed renewable energy to become a 'virtual power plant'

Energy Queensland is a large Queensland government-owned utility that is working with GreenSync to manage distributed renewable energy resources, such as rooftop solar, to help manage demand and drive down prices. GreenSync is a Melbourne-based start-up business which will use a cloud-based, load control internet system to manage extreme electricity demand during severe temperature events and, in general, add grid support. This will create Australia’s largest 'virtual power plant'.

There are many potential customers with rooftop solar or other distributed energy sources in Queensland. For example, the so-called Sunshine State leads the nation on rooftop solar uptake, with 34% of houses said to have put PV panels on their roofs. Distributed renewable energy customers, such as these, would be enrolled into the virtual power plant platform ahead of peak summer demand.

The Queensland government has a goal to achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and to have 50% renewable energy for electricity by 2030.

For more information see Energy Queensland taps people power to shore up summer grid. By Sophie Vorrath, 6 September, 2017 from One Step off the Grid.

Thursday 5 October 2017

New solar farm opened for the Australian Capital Territory

Williamsdale Solar Farm (from RenewEconomy)
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government has a goal to have the territory’s electricity provided by 100% renewable energy by 2020. It is well on the way towards that goal by already having several solar and wind farms providing electricity now. The latest of these is the 11MW Williamsdale solar farm which was officially opened today. It was funded by investors led by Australia’s Impact Investment Group which aimed to deliver a return of 10% per annum. The government has pledged to buy the electricity for 20 years. With this success, Impact aims to launch a second solar investment fund. The ACT Government (Canberra) is keen to help mitigate climate change and also has a goal to have zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

For more information see Impact plans second solar investment fund as Williamsdale opens. By Giles Parkinson, 5 October, 2017, RenewEconomy