House with solar, batteries and 'halo' watering system was saved from ravaging Australian bushfires.

 

The aftermath (Source: One Step off the Grid)

Last summer a house with a big solar system, batteries and smart watering system saved a house and its occupants from the horrific bushfires in the Kangaroo Valley, NSW, Australia. Not only did the system save the house but it provided off-grid power for some days after the network power went down due to fire damage.

The house has a 28kW ground-mounted solar system and a 50kWh energy storage system. The carefully designed 'halo' watering system around the house and solar panels saturated the whole area and was able to keep operating during the blaze. 

For details of the systems and more images, please see: How solar and batteries helped save a home, and its people, from a fire storm. One Step off the Grid, November 12, 2020.

Woolworths joins Renewable Energy 100 (RE100) and AGL joined EV100

Source: 'Solar Quotes' for Woolworths

 A growing number of companies worldwide are committing to 100 percent renewable energy by joining the RE100 membership list. Similarly, companies are joining the EV100 membership list when they commit to zero emissions transport by a certain date.

The Australian supermarket chain, Woolworths, has just joined RE100 by committing to 100 percent renewable energy by 2025. They will do this by adding solar panels to their buildings and by buying Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) possibly from solar farms, wind farms or stored renewable electricity. In doing this, they will reduce their greenhouse emissions and save on electricity costs. 

To date, there are 268 members of RE100 worldwide with 14 members from Australia. The Australian membership includes: Westpac, Suncorp, QBE, NAB, Mirvac, Macquarie, Interactive, Dexus, Commonwealth Bank, BINGO Industries, Bank Australia, Atlassian, ANZ, and Woolworths. 70 international companies operating within Australia are also members such as Apple, Facebook and Google.

The number of international companies that pledge to having fleets of zero emission vehicles is at 92 to date. Of those we have one that is Australian and that is AGL Energy which is to transition its fleet of over 400 vehicles to EVs by 2030.

References: 

- RE100 members: https://www.there100.org/re100-members  

- EV100 members: https://www.theclimategroup.org/ev100-members