Murdoch’s world-first solar glasshouse uses ClearVue’s glass.Image: Daniel Carson | dcimages.org
The results from solar glass company ClearVue’s greenhouse trials at Murdoch University have found the company’s product performed better than predicted overall, demonstrating both strong power generation and thermal value.
Western Australian solar window company ClearVue said the results from its Murdoch University greenhouse trials, running for a year now, are strong and demonstrate the readiness of the company’s product for commercial applications.
With higher than expected power generation and thermal value – effectively insulation quality – the trials which were set up to prove the viability of solar windows have done just that.
Well timed, the company is actually already installing its solar window glaze technology at a commercial greenhouse in Japan via its licensed distributor, Tomita Technologies.
Tge Aqua Ignis Hot Springs tourism resort greenhouse is currently under construction in Sendai City, Japan. Image: ClearVue
The greenhouse at the Aqua Ignis Hot Springs tourism resort in Sendai City, Japan will be used to supply produce for the resort. Completion of the solar glazing there is expected over the coming weeks, ClearVue said, with overall completion of the greenhouse and its opening anticipated within the next months.
Murdoch greenhouse trials
Back to the Murdoch trials in Western Australia, the company has said Stage 1 is now complete with Stage 2 already getting underway. To that end, ClearVue said it has made “significant upgrades” to the greenhouse systems as part of the second phase and the aim now is to find the “optimum balance” between power generation, thermal efficiency, water savings and maximizing plant growth across a wide range of species through the adjustment to photosynthetically active radiation light.
The Murdoch greenhouse comprises of three ClearVue glazed rooms and one control room which acts as a baseline from which to measure the performance of the ClearVue product. Of the three ClearVue rooms, one uses the current commercially available ClearVue glazing product while the third and fourth rooms are variants of that product using different amounts of nano- and microparticles to look at optimization of power generation and impact on plant growth dynamics.
According to the findings, the ClearVue product generated 5.3 MWh of solar energy over the year from April 19, 2021 to now
The solar windows also displayed strong insulative or thermal value, proving to be around 2˚C warmer overnight and slower to heat up in the morning. This has a double benefit by minimizing electricity usage in the greenhouse, making it more efficient – a feature ClearVue has previously pointed out will be advantageous in the high rise building market it is targeting.
“The results from the ClearVue Greenhouse at Murdoch have demonstrated the power performance of the ClearVue’s PV glazing both as a power source for the project but also as a significant contributor to energy reduction within the operation of commercial greenhousing where growers are willing to invest into a long-term capital asset that can pay itself back – both financially and from a carbon perspective – something no other greenhouse covering product on the market can offer today,” ClearVue’s Executive Chairman Victor Rosenberg said.
“The recent upgrades made to the greenhouse will offer an even greater insight into the role the ClearVue glazing can play in commercial greenhousing,” he added.
“Whilst the results show that we still have a little work to do in finding the optimum balance between power generation, minimal water use, and optimized light conditions for maximum plant growth – we are confident that we are close to finding this equilibrium point and are looking forward to working with the Murdoch team on the Stage 2 plant science trials but also with Tomita on the commercial greenhouse at Sendai in Japan to round out this work.”
ClearVue’s Executive Chairman, Victor Rosenberg at the opening of the Murdoch University’s world-first solar greenhouse in April 2021. Image: Daniel Carson | dcimages.org
“The Tomita Technologies greenhouse installation is itself progressing very well and will in addition to offering a commercial greenhouse as a reference point it will also serve as a good demonstration of larger sized ClearVue PV glazing performing in a cold-climate real-world setting. We very much look forward to the finalization of this exemplar project and its opening in the coming months.”
SYDNEY (BLOOMBERG) – The sudden speed of the shift to clean power is forcing Australia, a global champion of coal and gas, to confront one of the energy industry’s biggest challenges – how to transition millions of fossil fuel workers to new roles in wind and solar.
Clean energy could create more than 38 million jobs worldwide by the end of the decade and meeting that demand without a labour shortage requires accelerating efforts to not only lure new entrants, but also to create a clearer plan to retrain the industry’s veteran workforce as traditional fuel sources decline.
That’s a task getting underway in Australia, where coal’s supremacy is finally under threat from cheap clean power, and with lawmakers who once defended fossil fuels now trading promises over green jobs in campaigning ahead of a May national election.
“The light is just going on across governments and industry” that more investment in training is needed, with a lack of skilled workers already emerging for some existing projects and challenging plans to add more clean energy to help nations meet climate commitments, said Dr Chris Briggs, research director at the University of Technology Sydney’s Institute for Sustainable Futures.
In the southeastern city of Ballarat, a key 19th Century gold mining hub, companies including Vestas Wind Systems A/S – the world’s biggest turbine manufacturer – have funded the country’s first wind power training tower, where students and ex-coal workers can use a 23m-high platform to acquire the expertise needed for roles in renewables.
“At the moment, with these skills, you have to fly them in from outside, or send Australians overseas,” said Mr Duncan Bentley, a vice-chancellor at Federation University, which hosts the site.
The facility is the first local training institution that can provide a key safety qualification needed to work in the wind industry.
Renewables accounted for almost a third of the country’s electricity generation in 2021, double the share four years earlier, and utilities are bringing forward plans to retire coal-fired power stations years ahead of schedule.
About 10,000 coal jobs in Australian mines and power plants related to domestic electricity generation will be lost by 2036, according to Dr Briggs. More will surely also exit as coal exporters eventually shutter.
In the same period, around 20,000 to 25,000 new jobs will appear in the construction, maintenance and operation of renewable power, he said.
Legislators, too, are starting to adapt. Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison won a 2019 election in part because his defence of fossil fuel jobs helped secure decisive support in coal communities.
Ahead of May’s election – with his government trailing the opposition Labor Party in opinion surveys – he’s still supporting coal, but also touting prospects for workers to win new roles in clean hydrogen.
There is a catch in the rush to new sectors. Most roles in solar and wind power promise only a fraction of the salaries in the minerals industry. Mining is in the blood in Australia, fostering almost every economic boom since the gold rushes of the 19th century.
“As a young fellow it made sense to go straight to the mines, trying to chase money,” said Mr Dan Carey, who spent 12 years working in the remote iron ore hub of Port Hedland as well as the oil and gas town of Karratha in Western Australia.
In January, in search of a better lifestyle, he became a service technician at a wind farm in Warradarge, a three-hour drive north of Perth. Now “it’s about enjoying the work”, Mr Carey said. “In the mining world, everyone does sort of live for the money.”
For example, the starting salary for an operator at AGL Energy’s Loy Yang A coal power station in Victoria is about A$164,500 (S$164,750) while a technician for wind turbine builder Suzlon would earn between A$100,000 and A$120,000, according to recent Fair Work Commission enterprise agreements.
In mining there are also a raft of perks, that could include 6 weeks paid leave, subsidised housing and utilities, free vacation air tickets and big bonuses.
“It’s definitely going to be hard to retain people that have come from that world,” Mr Carey said.
Also, while mining and coal power have provided work for generations of Australians, many new jobs in renewables are temporary.
“The challenge is that there are hundreds of jobs in construction and only a handful of jobs in operations and maintenance,” said Ms Anita Talberg, director of workplace development at the Clean Energy Council, an industry group. And some of the highest-skilled jobs in fossil fuels have no direct equivalent in renewables, she said.
Yet the sheer size of the energy transition will mean construction of large new solar and wind farms will continue for decades, steadily increasing the number of ongoing positions as the new plants come online.
Fossil fuel veterans are well positioned to prosper, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. Staff on gas platforms typically have expertise suitable for offshore wind, while coal workers have been recruited into solar and oil reservoir engineers can use their knowhow for geothermal power.
Australia’s first offshore wind farm, the Star of the South, is scheduled to open in 2028 in the Bass Strait, off the country’s southern coast. At about the same time, Hong Kong-based CLP Holdings will close the ageing Yallourn coal-fired plant nearby after more than 100 years of operation.
The wind project is aiming to capitalise on the pool of potential workers, and has sought talks about retraining opportunities. “You’ve got the workers with the skill sets,” said Ms Erin Coldham, Star of the South’s chief development officer.
More than $226 billion of Australian assets are estimated to be exposed to coastal erosion and flooding, with the cost to protect these assets expected to increase.Source: Professor Richard Manasseh
What can wave energy converters do that no other form of renewable energy can? Well, they can remove waves’ energy. For a country like Australia, where much of our population and wealth is concentrated on coastlines evermore frequently battered by extreme weather, this proposition is particularly attractive. Especially if the technology is able to offer both protection and green electricity without radically altering marine ecosystems and aesthetics. “No one has looked at what we’re looking at before: combining power generation with coastal protection and trying to control it,” Professor Richard Manasseh told pv magazine Australia.
The viability of protecting Australia’s coastlines using underwater electricity-generating machines working on the principle of resonance is now being examined as part of a mammoth research project incorporating stakeholders from across the continent.
In February, researchers from Melbourne’s Swinburne University, Adelaide University, and the University of New South Wales announced their collaboration with Victoria’s Moyne Shire Council and Western Australia’s Mid West Ports Authority looking into whether the centuries-old technology concept of wave energy could be recast for our new world.
Western Australian company is one such company which has developed resonator wave energy technology. Source: Carnegie Wave
Wave energy converters
The promise of wave energy is neither new nor mastered. In fact, attempts to harness the ocean’s power document all the way back to 1799. Since then, thousands of patents have been filed and as many inventors risen and fallen. Today, there are about 250 companies tenaciously grappling with the problem, according to Swinburne’s Professor of Fluid Dynamics and project lead, Richard Manasseh.
The first issue wave energy converters face is the nature of wave movements, sucking in and out. “So there’s not a simple and obvious mechanism [to capture that energy], like the turbine,” Professor Manasseh tells pv magazine Australia.
The world is full of inventors though, and many designs have solved this muddle. It is the second hurdle where they fall. “The machines don’t work at all unless they are gigantic,” Manasseh says. “So there’s a mismatch between the amount of capital companies tends to have and the size of what they have to build.”
Precisely how big wave energy converters need to be depends on the “frequency” of the wave in the targeted region. Putting aside issue of needing region-specific adjustments, Manasseh says the converters tend to follow two design patterns, though “they all look totally different, so it’s difficult for people to get their heads around.” For the simplicity’s sake, it is enough to say a single machine may be the size of an eight storey building, extending 25 to 30 metres under the sea.
It could cost anywhere from a few hundred thousand to a few million to build, depending on the design’s sophistication and efficiency.
Infrastructure isn’t built for entrepreneurs
It’s hardly surprising then that wave energy has stranded many on the shores of financial ruin. The primary reason for that is not because the designs aren’t good enough or the technology unviable. The issue, Professor Manasseh says, is that our current model for commercialising innovations sees governments take a back seat, letting inventors invent and capitalists provide capital.
This pathway doesn’t work for wave energy converters, Manasseh says, because the machines are actually forms of infrastructure, not products. They’re more comparable to highways than wind turbines. “It’s infrastructure that has to be done on a large scale.”
This doesn’t mean the projects have to be paid for by taxpayers, the professor adds, there are many different financial models which could be used – but it does mean that governments need to make the call.
Wave energy real life case study
Since its inception, there have been numerous trials connecting wave energy converters to grids across the world. Many of these have successfully generated electricity, but none have stood the test of time.
That is, all but one important exception: where the technology was used for coastal protection. In the northern Basque region of Spain, the Mutriku harbour was regularly damaged during storms before it built its wave energy infrastructure. The Mutriku project looks like a modified sea wall and Professor Manasseh is quick to point out that is not the design the Australian research project will examine.a975aaf60720&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2582c61%3A1645036219416&width=500px
Why he thinks it’s important though is firstly because the trial uses the technology in a two-fold way, for protection and electricity generation, and because it is an example of a wave energy project being realised through government backing.
Resonance
A far cry from the blunt technology of a wall, the Australian researchers are looking into using a physics principle called resonance to quell the force of storm waves.
Before we plunge into that concept, build a mental image of a beach in which some 20 or so floating shapes from submerged machines are evenly spaced parallel to the shore. They are not connected, there is no wall or net running between them.
Now we can come back to rather poetic notion of resonance to explain how individual things bobbing in the ocean could be capable of stopping waves.
Carnegie’s CETO 5 unit being towed to site for installation at the Perth Wave Energy Project at Garden Island. Source: WA government
Oceans have their own frequency; like a pendulum or swing, it rocks to and fro at a unique pace. Most of the world’s wave energy converter designs tap into this. Engineers can tune wave energy converters like giant musical instruments to have roughly the same natural pace or frequency as the ocean swell, Professor Manasseh says.
“When these frequencies are similar, the machine’s movement becomes very large. It is like pushing a child on a swing: we instinctively push only when the swing reaches at the end of its travel,” he adds. “The arc through which this resonating swing then moves can become very large, and certainly larger than the distance you extend your arms.”
“Likewise, the resonating wave-energy converter moves much more than the water around it, representing wave energy extracted from an area of ocean much larger than the physical size of the machine.”
Using resonance, converters maximise the energy they draw from the wave. The other side of this is that by dropping the machines slightly out of resonance, it would be possible to deflect waves by breaking their rhythm.
“Spaced the correct distance apart, [the machines] can effectively function as a wall without touching.”
The key word is control
“Integral to what we are doing is the word: control,” Professor Manasseh says. That is, controlling one fleet of machines well enough for them to be used for two radically different purposes.
“When there’s a storm with potential for a disaster, you probably don’t care at all about generating electricity during that time, so you could potentially operate these machines in a completely different way where you’re not actually extracting power from waves at all, but you are deflecting the waves.”
“If the primary imperative is protecting the coast, it’s not how efficient your electricity generation is, it’s how well you can control the machines.”
Australian research project
Given this, it’s clear wave energy could be as much the domain of governments and stakeholders as of entrepreneurs. Which is why Victoria’s Moyne Shire Council and Western Australia’s Mid West Ports Authority are supporting the Australian research project with both funding and with personnel.
“With wave energy having significant impact on the operations at Mid West Ports, we are eager to work with Swinburne on this research project to identify options that could potentially have dual benefit to our coastline and the operating environment at the port,” Mid West Ports Authority Acting CEO Damian Tully says.
The $2 million project is also being supported by a $436,000 grant from the federal government through the Australian Research Council. While the granularity of the study and the scope of its partnerships are unique, its findings will remain on paper for now.
During its three year evolution, Swinburne researchers will undertake a mathematical modelling exercise to find how well different machine types couple together. Sometime towards the end of this year, they will give those numbers to their control engineering collaborators at Adelaide University.
In Adelaide, the team will start to derive modes of operation, looking at the machine’s electricity generation mode versus its wave blocking modes and tuning their individual settings.
The coastal engineering team at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) will then build lab models, essentially dioramas, to simulate how it works while also looking at the movement of sediment. The results of these lab models will then be compared to the predictions generated at Swinburne and Adelaide universities.
At the end, the team is hoping to have a sound understanding of how much such dual purpose project would cost, how much it could save governments and corporations by protecting coastal assets, and how the machines’ modes could be balanced.
The question of how well the machines survive in gnarly ocean conditions remains further down the road. Plus, the 250 odd companies playing in the space are already moving to find answers there.
“There’s been a lot of tech push from the entrepreneurial community over the past 40 plus years, and there’s been fundamental studies similar to ours, but no one has looked at what we’re looking at before: combining power generation with coastal protection and trying to control it,” Manasseh says.
More than $226 billion of Australian assets are exposed to coastal erosion and flooding, with the cost to protect these assets expected to increase. While the question of whether wave sizes will increase with climate change is a complicated one and depends on the hemisphere, it is agreed extremes will become more common, meaning coasts will need all the protection they can get.
Scientists in Australia have developed an optimization framework for building-integrated photovoltaics that allows the selection of design variables according to user preferences. Their model considers PV-related features such as tilt angle, window-to-wall ratio (WWR), PV placement, and PV product type, as well as objective functions and constraints such as the net present value and the payback period.
Researchers at the RMIT University in Australia have developed a multi-objective optimization (MOO) framework to maximize the life cycle energy (LCE) and life cycle cost (LCC) of different building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) products and applications that is claimed to offer the best BIPV envelope design alternatives at the conceptual stage.
“In recent years, the building sector across the world has shown increasing interest in placing PV on building façades and roofs by either closely integrating PV panels with conventional building materials or replacing them,” researcher Rebecca Yang told pv magazine. “The interests are driven by electrification and decarbonization of the built environment, growing demand for self-consumption, and the need for architecturally ‘good’ integration of PV, as well as technological innovations in PV materials and systems leading to better design options and feasibilities in the adoption.”
According to her, the enthusiasm of the downstream value chain stimulates upstream advances and opens dialogues between the solar industry and building professionals. Leading PV manufacturers have started to collaborate with major building entities aiming for mass production and customization for massive application potentials on building facades, roofs and shading devices of new developments as well as renovations. “In Australia, I observed that many large property developers, leading design and engineering firms and local councils are very interested to apply BIPV, but the market is still not open yet due to some issues which are common in other similar countries,” she also explained.
In the paper A multi-objective optimization framework for building-integrated PV envelope design balancing energy and cost, recently published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, Yang and her colleagues explained that the design variables for a BIPV envelope optimization model are related to either the building envelope or the operational setting of the building. “A set of envelope design features, as well as PV-related features such as tilt angle, window-to-wall ratio (WWR), PV placement and PV product type, are included as design variables in the framework,” they pointed out, noting that the proposed module includes objective functions and constraints such as the net present value and the payback period. “The selected design variable set for each optimization scenario may vary according to the selected BIPV application type or inputted user preferences.”
After applying the model to several business cases, the scientists concluded that there is no best alternative design or, better, that the ideal design can only be found when all user preferences are considered. “The study provides BIPV designers and building professionals with a method to produce and compare different BIPV designs based on their preferred application types, design preferences and criteria,” they stated.
The dialogue was co-chaired by India’s Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy, R.K. Singh, and Australia’s Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, Angus Taylor.Source: PIB, government of India
India and Australia have agreed to jointly work towards reducing the cost of new and renewable energy technologies and scaling up deployment to accelerate global emissions reduction.
The two sides signed a letter of intent (LoI) in this regard during the 4th India – Australia Energy Dialogue, co-chaired by India’s Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy, R.K. Singh, and Australia’s Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, Angus Taylor.
The focus of this LoI will be scaling up the manufacture and deployment of ultra-low-cost solar and “clean” hydrogen.
“Clean hydrogen,” a term frequently used by the Morrison government, refers to hydrogen made from fossil fuels where emissions are claimed to be captured by carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. It is otherwise known as blue hydrogen, and not to be confused with green or renewable hydrogen.*
Energy transition was a major area of discussion in the dialogue and both the energy ministers spoke in detail about the ongoing energy transition activities in their respective countries with a focus on renewables, energy efficiency, storage, electric vehicles, critical minerals, mining, etc. The Indian side also highlighted the need for climate finance for meeting the energy transition goals of developing countries.
The two sides agreed on a forward action plan for areas like energy efficiency technologies; grid management;R&D collaborationon flue gas desulphurisation, biomass or hydrogen co-firing, water cycle optimisation, renewables integration, batteries, and electric mobility.
ARENA has opened round two of its Future Fuels Program, allocating $127.9 million in funding to support fleets to shift to new zero emissions vehicles over the next four years, be that electric, hydrogen, or biofuels.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced the success of the first round of its Future Fuels funding has led to a “cash boost” in the second round, enabling it to launch its fleet program with a $127.9 million envelope.
Funding will be available for light vehicle fleet operators for charging and electrical infrastructure, while heavy fleet operators are eligible for funding towards enabling infrastructure and some support for vehicle costs.
ARENA is also looking to fund projects that incorporate hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and refuelling infrastructure.
Under Round 1, ARENA awarded $24.55 million to five companies for the construction of 403 electric vehicle fast charging stations spread across every state and territory.
ARENA CEO Darren Miller described it has “the largest ever expansion of public fast charging infrastructure in Australia.” The first of these charging stations opened for public use in November 2021.
“Assisting fleet users to move to zero emissions vehicles (ZEV) means getting more zero emission cars and trucks on the road sooner, driving the road transport sector toward a net zero future,” Miller said.
“By getting these vehicles on the road as soon as possible we’ll reduce emissions in the short term and help to create a market for second hand vehicles in the future, giving more consumers the option of switching to a ZEV with their next vehicle purchase.”
With the additional funding, the total value of the Future Fuels Fund has been brought to $250 million. The fund aims to deliver on the Future Fuels and Vehicles Strategy released by the federal government at the end of 2021.
Future targeted funding rounds under the program will focus on further expansions to the electric vehicle public charging network, including regional areas, as well as increasing the use of smart chargers in drivers’ homes, ARENA said.
South Australia will extend its ‘Switch for Solar’ program in which eligible low-income residents can opt to have a solar system installed in exchange for their next ten years of government concession payments.
The South Australian government has announced it will expand its ‘Switch for Solar’ program, opening up another 5,000 spots for residents on either an eligible Centrelink payment, who meet low income provisions, or hold an eligible concession card.
Program participants will be able to install a 4.4 kW solar system at no upfront cost in return for their annual Energy and Cost of Living concession payments over the course of a decade.
The program was initially piloted in May 2021, opening to 1,000 eligible residents. The state government described this initial pilot phase as “highly successful”, saying the program now has “proven results”.
“Electricity bills of households already in the program have fallen by well over $1000 a year resulting in a net benefit of up to an average of $538 for these low-income households,” Deputy Premier Dan van Holst Pellekaan said.
Concession holders in the state receive up to $215.10 per year from the Cost of Living Concession and up to $231.41 per year towards their energy bill, totalling up to $446.51. Swapping this payment for a decade would mean the government recovers a total of $4,460 for the solar system.
Data from the pilot trial found concession households who “switch” their total concession payment for the solar system receive an average of $538 in savings over and above their existing $446.51 saving from their concessions. This is higher than the initial estimate of $57 to $525 when the scheme was launched, the government said.
“Around 28% of households so far have opted to co-contribute to get an ever bigger solar system and even bigger bill savings,” Pellekaan added.
“This innovative more than doubles the bill savings we deliver to concession households, through solar instead of cash payments, with strong safeguards for participants.”
South Australian concession holders will now be invited to register their interest in the program with the 5,000 systems to be rolled out from August 2022.
Australia has hit a historic milestone – it has reached 25GW of installed solar capacity. As the Australian PV Institute noted on Monday, that’s more solar per capita than anywhere else in the world.
With a population of about 25 million, Australia now has nearly 1kW of PV installed per person – easily retaining its world-leading status.
By the end of 2021, there were more than 3.04 million PV installations in Australia, with a combined capacity of over 25.3GW, the Australian PV Institute noted.
Australia’s solar market has gone through surging periods of growth since the government’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme commenced on April 1, 2001. Between 2001 and 2010, the solar market’s growth sat around 15%, before a period of far more rapid growth from 2010 to 2013.
After stabilizing between 2014 and 2015, the market is trending upwards, driven by residential installations. Rooftop solar today plays an important role in Australia’s energy mix, contributing 7.9% to the National Electricity Market (NEM) demand in 2021, up from 6.4% in 2020 and 5.2% in 2019.
According to figures published by the Climate Council in February, renewable energy generation in the National Electricity Market increased by almost 20% in 2021, with renewables supplying 31.4% of electricity generation last year.
In South Australia, these percentages are far more staggering. In the final days of 2021, the state ran for almost one week on renewable energy. South Australia’s 156-hour stint powered by wind, rooftop solar and utility-scale solar farms, firmed by fractional amounts of gas, was considered record-breaking for comparable grids around the world.
Percentage of dwellings with PV Source: Australian PV Institute
