Australian households led the installation of more than 31,000 battery energy storage systems around the country in 2020, a 20 per cent jump on total numbers in 2019, despite – or perhaps because of – the impact of Covid-19.

These are questions worth asking because of where microgrids sit in the renewable energy generation equation. It is acknowledged that alternative renewable generation is needed to meet electricity demands that continue to grow - a recently released, Transpower-commissioned report predicts electricity demand in New Zealand will double by 2050. Added to that is the fact that microgrids being trialled in New Zealand tend to be solar powered and solar, it appears, is king. In 2017 solar became the leading form of new utility energy generation in the world. Energy sources, other than solar, can feed microgrids. For example, wind turbines, mini and micro hydro, biogas, bio mass can all be part of the microgrid energy generation picture, but the reality is that solar and batteries are utilised in the vast majority of microgrids around the world.

15 March 2021

Improving visibility helps networks prepare for megashifts in electricity

Something flat, sunny, and spacious was on Campbell McMath's shopping list in Marlborough.

The Kea Energy managing director was not looking for a new home, but rather a site to develop the country's biggest solar power farm.

It took him almost a year, but McMath found what he was looking for in the Wairau Valley.

Meeting the carbon budgets proposed by the Climate Commission requires a fit-for-purpose electricity system and market able to cope with the heavy lifting required for rapid electrification and uptake of renewable, distributed energy resources (DER).

Midwest Renewable Energy Association Files Lawsuit to Open Solar and Other Clean Energy Opportunities for Wisconsinites

Earthjustice represents MREA to remove barriers preventing Wisconsinites from accessing the benefits of local clean energy development. 

A VPP uses software to better control renewable electricity generation.

The Climate Change Commission has released draft advice to the government calling for "transformational and lasting change across society and the economy".

Two residential developments being built in suburban Brisbane will feature “futuristic” new homes fitted out with rooftop solar, battery storage and heat pump hot water systems, a standard the Queensland government hopes will become “the norm” in the state as it aims for net-zero emissions by 2050.

2020 was the year that Australian businesses got serious about accelerating the transition to renewable energy, according to a report by Greenpeace.