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While participating in the Smart Energy Expo in Sydney (6–7 March), smart PV and energy storage company Trina Solar announced its involvement in two innovative Australian energy projects.
The first is the Goulburn Community Farm in New South Wales, an initiative organised by local residents under the Goulburn Community Energy Co-operative formed by Community Energy 4 Goulburn (CE4G). Developed by Komo Energy with design and installation carried out by Smart Commercial Solar, this 1.35 MW solar farm will be the first in the world to integrate Trina Solar’s Vertex N bifacial modules, TrinaTracker Fix Origin fixed-tilt racking and TrinaStorage Elementa 2.2 MWh battery energy storage system, according to Trina Solar.
“We’re thrilled to be involved in a project which shows what community will and persistence can achieve when it comes to accessing clean energy,” said James Duckworth, National-Business Development Manager, Smart Commercial Solar. “Community Energy 4 Goulburn and Komo Energy have worked hard for years to bring cheaper, cleaner energy to Goulburn and we’re excited to deliver this significant solar and storage project for them.”
The second project is a tracker testbed located at the Hills Educational Foundation (HEF) near Brisbane. The project was initiated by Robert Saunders (now at Elecseed), who brought together a group of diverse partners responsible for the testbed’s design, technology, construction, funding and research. The project consortium includes HEF, Queensland University of Technology and construction and civil engineering firm Diona.
The testbed aims to compare the performance of a modern solar farm — which uses Trina Solar’s Vertex DEG19 bifacial modules on single-axis Vanguard 2P trackers — with the performance of an eight-year-old solar farm that uses older modules and trackers. The insights gained from this testbed will help to determine when it is economically viable to replace older solar farms with new ones.
The testbed will also explore the albedo effect (the amount of energy reflected by a surface), experimenting with materials like recycled tin cans, pale-coloured ground covers and cement sheeting to enhance light reflectivity for increased energy yield. There are additional plans to investigate the field of agrivoltaics, using, for example, white-painted offcuts of shipping containers to cultivate mycelium, a protein-rich fungus widely recognised as a valuable feedstock.
“Agrivoltaics is something Australia’s farming community is interested to explore,” said Joseph Marinov, CEO of Hills Educational Foundation. “Creating an environment conducive for crops to grow under the solar modules will help the country’s farmers to embrace renewable energy.”
The two projects reflect the evolution of Australia’s renewable energy landscape, with the nation recording a 12.5% increase in total installed solar capacity to 34.2 GW in 2023 and an increased trend towards utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS). According to BloombergNEF, installations will more than double to 1.9 GW of batteries commissioned in 2024, propelled by robust government support, a growing demand for grid-balancing services and dynamic shifts within the volatile power market.
Trina Solar said it was well positioned to support Australia’s evolving energy needs as a total solutions provider that can supply modules, trackers and energy storage systems. As one of the world’s top PV module producers, its cumulative shipments amounted to more than 190 GW worldwide by the end of 2023. Its tracker (TrinaTracker) and BESS (TrinaStorage) solutions build on the company’s 27 years of experience in solar technology.
“Australia is one of the world’s more mature renewable energy markets and Trina Solar is increasingly seeing customers that are looking at renewable energy solutions beyond solar,” said Edison Zhou, Trina Solar head of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
“As solar projects become increasingly complex, having a single procurement source helps to streamline processes, allowing for faster delivery and unified after-sales service. This approach not only reduces costs but also ensures efficiency.”
Image caption: The team involved in the Hills Educational Foundation project (L–R): Andrew Gilhooly, Head of Utility, Commercial and Industrial Solutions for Trina Solar Asia Pacific; Chris Arrington, Sustainability Manager at Diona; and Edison Zhou, head of Australia, NZ and Pacific islands at Trina Solar.
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Team creates fuel from sunlight
A team of researchers from UNSW Sydney has come up with a novel way to produce synthetic fuel — directly from sunlight. The process involves using light and heat to induce a reaction that creates synthetic methane from CO2.
By leveraging renewable energy to power the conversion process, this method could help to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
The research was led by a team from UNSW’s School of Chemical Engineering: Professor Rose Amal, Dr Priyank Kumar, Dr Emma C Lovell, Yi Fen (Charlotte) Zhu, Associate Professor Jason Scott, Dr Bingqiao Xie and Dr Jodie A Yuwono. It has been published in EES Catalysis.
“Methane is the major component of natural gas, and already widely used as a source of fuel, but is also a powerful greenhouse gas. Creating synthetic methane using only the natural resource of the sun is a cleaner and greener alternative for usage in heavy transportation, shipping and other specific industries where gas usage is essential,” Lovell said.
“By employing specific catalysts and support materials, we have demonstrated a new pathway for visible light to drive the conversion of CO2 into methane. This not only contributes to the reduction of carbon emissions, but also adds value to the captured CO2 by creating a valuable chemical product.”
A closed-loop system
The transformation of waste CO2 into synthetic fuel creates a circular fuel economy — a closed-loop system that addresses environmental concerns while lessening reliance on fossil fuel extraction. The process also has the benefit of being relatively cheap, as the efficient utilisation of sunlight offsets power consumption and associated overhead costs for the reaction. This leads to reduced production costs for synthetic fuel, making it more economically viable and accessible.
“Being able to directly use sunlight reduces the costs required for energy generation to facilitate the reaction. This alleviates one of the major challenges in the pursuit and application of CO2-derived fuel, which is contingent on the availability of low-cost, low carbon energy inputs,” PhD candidate Zhu said.
Beyond fuel production
The team is currently applying their research to the creation of other high-value chemicals, potentially benefiting a wide range of industries from fuel production to pharmaceuticals.
“One of the most promising aspects of this research is its potential impact on industries like fuel production, cement manufacturing, biomass gasification and pharmaceuticals. I would say it represents a more sustainable fuel alternative by closing the carbon loop,” Scott said.
“In terms of converting the CO2 into value-added products, this represents a much cleaner alternative than products which currently rely on fossil fuel-derived precursors for their manufacture.
“Looking ahead, we are already envisioning a new future direction.”
Scott added that the biggest challenge lay in being able to effectively introduce the light into a larger-scale system to illuminate the particles completely. “We are exploring methods such as harnessing sunlight to drive multiple phenomena simultaneously, like solar-thermal alongside light assistance,” he said.
“Currently, we are conducting experiments at the lab scale, aiming to advance to demonstration/prototype scale within approximately a year. Following that milestone, our goal is to transition to pilot scale and ultimately to commercial/industrial scale.”
The research resulted from a collaboration between the UNSW School of Chemical Engineering and School of Photovoltaic & Renewable Energy Engineering, the University of Adelaide and CSIRO.
Image credit: iStock.com/bruev
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