Research into floating solar: Agriculture research company AgEcon Australia, along with the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC), will conduct research into installing floating solar panels on irrigation dams to save the water from evaporating. Nearly half of the water storage volume is lost each year to evaporation, and relocating just half of the current 16.6 GW grounded solar panels to water storages could save 296 GL of water a year – which equates to more than 118,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools – and generate vast quantities of energy in the process, explains CRDC. It adds, “The water saved via the FVPs could be used for additional crop production, domestic needs during droughts, water trading, or water for the environment.”
Their AUD 13 million Novel Energy and Evaporative Storage Technologies for Irrigators (NEESTI) project has secured AUD 6 million from the Australian government’s AUD 5 billion Future Drought Fund Resilience Landscapes program. Through this program, the research team will consider the feasibility of installing floating solar panels on irrigation storage to mitigate evaporation and create energy. The team includes researchers from the University of Southern Queensland and Macquarie University.
115 MW solar project in Taiwan: Lightsource bp has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Star Trade for its 115 MW fishery solar project in Taiwan. Electricity retailer Star Trade will secure 100% of the contracted output from its 115 MW Budai Solar Project. The Budai project recently secured approximately TWD 6 billion in financing, is expected to create up to 750 direct construction jobs, and is scheduled for completion in 2026.
NSW’s Energy Security Corporation: The State Government of New South Wales (NSW) has established the Energy Security Corporation with a seed funding of AUD 1 billion. As a government-backed investor, the new entity will co-invest with the private sector to accelerate reliable and secure energy for the state. It will invest in large-scale storage and enabling assets, including big batteries, network infrastructure and scalable community energy resources. Key investment priorities include short- to long-duration storage projects, infrastructure upgrades for grid operation and coordination of consumer energy resources, such as virtual power plants, stated the government.
30 MW solar panels for Water project: Australian solar PV manufacturer Tindo Solar will supply 30 MW of its solar PV panels to Queensland’s historic Bowen Water Pipeline Project during 2026 and 2027. The Bowen project brings water from the Burdekin River at Home Hill to be used by the horticulture and agriculture industries. This water is also used by emerging green energy projects, including biodiesel, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and ammonia. Tindo will supply 52,174 of its Walara utility panels for the project that will power pumps and other machinery in the 182 km project. It aims to be Australia’s 1st net-zero pipeline.
