Newsletter (copy 44)

An Aussie solar redistribution scheme put to the test

September 11, 2024

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Happy Wednesday, dear reader.

Some good news to kick things off:

Plug-in models accounted for 54% of new car sales in China in August.
For the first time, coal accounted for less than half of Australia’s electricity mix in the week through last Monday.
In August, the share of fossil fuels in the UK’s electricity output fell to a record low of 21.6%.
US gasoline demand, the world’s single largest pool of oil consumption, has almost certainly peaked for good, Bloomberg reports.

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Thanks for reading.

Nick Hedley

Editor, The Progress Playbook

One year on: The dual benefits of Western Australia’s solar redistribution scheme

In mid-2023, the Western Australian government said it would start giving qualifying low-income households free electricity between 9am and 3pm each day – essentially by redistributing excess solar from the roofs of wealthier homes.

The move was aimed at boosting the disposable incomes of struggling families while also making it easier for the electrical grid operator to keep supply and demand in balance.

A spokesperson for Synergy, Western Australia’s largest energy retailer, tells The Progress Playbook that 790 households are now on the scheme, and they’re saving close to A$40 (US$27) a month, on average.

In effect, the programme is expanding access to solar energy, the spokesperson says. It’s also “driving behavioural change” by incentivising participating households to shift their energy consumption to off-peak times of the day, when there tends to be surplus energy in the system.

On its own, Synergy’s “community energy tariff” scheme isn’t moving the demand needle much, but it has nevertheless added another tool to the grid operator’s arsenal as the energy transition accelerates.

- Read the full story here.

Agrivoltaics come of age

Agrivoltaics — where solar energy and food is produced on the same tract of land — have graduated from small-scale pilot projects to mega installations involving an increasingly wide array of crops and livestock.

Among the innovative new applications is a solar array in South Africa that doubles as shading for abalone tanks.

- Read the full story here.

We are supporting the third edition of Africa’s Green Economy Summit, which will bring together investors, governments, project owners, and business leaders, with the aim of shaping a climate-resilient Africa. You can pre-register here.

Renewables meet 75% of Portugal’s electricity needs in first eight months of 2024

Domestic renewable energy facilities covered 75% of Portugal’s electricity needs in the first eight months of 2024, data from the grid operator shows. Gas-fired power production was down 68%.

- Read the full story here.