For decades, copper was the material the solar industry knew it needed but could not manufacture at scale. That barrier has been lifted. What follows matters for every rooftop, every supply chain, and every gigawatt the energy transition still requires.

As Australia accelerates its shift toward renewable energy, attention has largely focused on generation – scaling solar, deploying storage, and integrating distributed energy resources. But a quieter constraint is emerging beneath this transformation: the grid’s limited ability to see its own condition in real time.

Most of Australia’s existing homes are old, uncomfortable, and expensive to run. Too many are energy inefficient, and rising electricity and gas prices are making things worse. Mainstream programs are supporting home energy upgrades but the transition isn’t happening quickly enough and risks leaving behind the households that could benefit most. New research shows how local initiatives can make solar and electrification more accessible.

The war on Iran has made crystal clear how shaky our reliance on fossil fuels is. It’s no surprise electric vehicles and transport have become more appealing. In Australia, sales of electric vehicles surged 40–50% in March.

Most Australians now understand the basic promise of rooftop solar: lower power bills, cleaner electricity and, for some households, the option to charge an electric vehicle at home for far less than the cost of petrol. But that promise was built around a particular kind of housing – the detached house with a privately controlled roof, a private meter board and a driveway or garage where the owner can install whatever equipment they need.

Analysis from Wiki-Solar finds the world’s 33 largest utility-scale solar markets had a cumulative capacity of 1,008 GWac by the end of last year.

Australia’s rooftop solar market has surged 19% in the past month with the latest data revealing a record 341 MW of small-scale rooftop PV capacity was registered across the country in March as consumers also raced to install battery energy storage systems.

Aggreko has unveiled plans to build what it says will be Australia’s biggest off-grid renewable hybrid power facility after signing a long-term power purchase agreement with the owner of Queensland’s largest proposed copper mine.

Output from Australia’s utility-scale solar assets jumped almost 22% in the past 12 months with new data showing the country’s large-scale PV assets generated 1.82 TWh of clean energy last month.

Spark Renewables has secured final state planning approval for a solar and battery project that will add 800 MW of PV and 356 MW / 1,574 MW of energy storage capacity to the grid in the New South Wales Riverina region.

South Australia has opened up more than 11,000 square kilometres of land for the potential development of renewable energy projects as it continues the march towards its target of 100% net renewables by 2027.

Latest figures from the International Renewable Energy Agency show solar contributed the majority of a record 692 GW of renewables capacity added worldwide last year.

LONGi has launched LONGi ONE, an integrated solar-plus-storage product strategy for grid-scale, and commercial and industrial projects, which will be supported by a growing network of 30 new service centres opening in key locations globally by 2028.

A local Victorian council has pre-empted future large-scale renewable energy project proposals by developing a comprehensive clean energy guideline, based on community consultation.

The Australian Energy Council has released its Energy 2050 report addressing what policy makers and industry might do to deliver a net zero system, while balancing affordability, reliability and sustainability.

A UNSW-led team found that annealing conditions significantly affect stress, strain, and microstructure in copper-plated heterojunction solar cell contacts, with fast annealing increasing microstrain in both copper and indium tin oxide.

Trucking company New Energy Transport says electric road freight is possible now and already commercially viable in Australia after completing what it is calling the country’s first fully electric ‘end-to-end’ heavy road freight delivery.

UNSW researchers developed a chemically selective, nitrate-based, single-sided accelerated ageing method for TOPCon solar cells that replicates the mildly acidic environment inside EVA-encapsulated modules. The proposed approach enables rapid, physically meaningful screening of front-side metallisation stability, reliably predicting module-level degradation and reducing development time and costs, according to its creators.

Tongwei is partnering with GS-Solar and Golden Solar to develop a large-scale manufacturing facility for hybrid heterojunction back-contact solar cells that combine HJT passivation, tunneling oxide and polysilicon structures used in TOPCon designs, and the grid-free front-side architecture typical of back-contact technologies.

A multibillion-dollar pipeline of electricity transmission upgrades is being proposed by South Australia’s network operator ElectraNet as it seeks to keep pace with “unprecedented” levels of connection demand.

Building-integrated PV technology company ClearVue Technologies is a step closer to commercial deployment of its metal-backed solar panels after securing global IEC certification for the integrated rooftop system.

Australian solar and thermal energy storage company RayGen says it has achieved a major international milestone with the commissioning of a 1 MW concentrated solar plant in Brazil.

Chinese clean tech manufacturer Sungrow has introduced a hybrid solar energy storage solution that integrates Sungrow’s 1+X modular inverter with a dedicated storage interface, PowerTitan 3.0 with built-in DC/DC module, and the solar-ESS Synergy Management System.

The result was certified by China’s National Photovoltaic Industry Metrology Test Center. The cell utilises a perovskite top device with MBT-ligand-controlled crystallisation on a TOPCon silicon bottom cell, achieving a void-free, high-efficiency tandem structure.

While the world reels from interruption to crude oil supply chains, a new International Energy Agency report shows clean energy technology manufacturing supply chains are at risk, largely due to the world’s reliance on China’s advanced manufacturing and distribution expertise.

New South Wales transmission company Transgrid has shortlisted nine battery energy storage projects with a combined capacity of 2 GW to provide essential system strength services to the state’s electricity grid from later this year.

Australia’s massive battery pipeline continues to grow, with projects being filed and making their way through key approvals.

Enphase Energy has introduced to Australia and New Zealand an artificial intelligence software platform that helps homeowners reduce costs, up clean energy self-consumption and grant control of key home appliances.

The Australian Rooftop Valuation Report, published alongside the official launch of AI-powered platform GreenSketch, finds Australian homes could be saving a collective $26 billion a year on electricity through solar – more than $3,000 annually for an average household.

Mining giant Rio Tinto will underwrite $7.5 billion of investment in new renewable energy generation and storage in Queensland after inking a deal with the federal and state governments to secure a long-term future for one of Australia’s largest aluminium smelters.