Agrisolar News #6

17 Jan

Welcome back to Agrisolar News and a happy 2025! 🎉

As we gear up for our Stage 1 submission this year, we have some more partner updates for you, a heads up on what you should expect to have to contribute to the Stage 1 bid, and a very exciting announcement!

Welcome to our Bid Chair, Diana Eilert!

We are absolutely delighted to welcome Diana Eilert to our Bid Team in the role of Bid Chairperson. Diana has been working with us in the background to lend her governance expertise, leadership experience, and partnership skills to the Agrisolar CRC Bid.

Diana is an experienced CEO, ASX 100 Director, Executive, and Competition Tribunal Member with subject expertise in water, power, research, and matters of importance to rural areas. Diana is also a regional resident of NSW on a solar-powered farm.

“This CRC bid aligns strongly with my belief in the impact of changing weather and the need to accelerate our move to sustainability, particularly in rural production. Our CRC, if funded, will contribute to improved outcomes for Australia by experimenting and testing new ideas, and educating and connecting stakeholders across both the energy and farming sectors.”

“It will simplify pathways to widespread commercialisation of solar energy generation on farmland throughout Australia, incorporating and adapting the research and development already conducted abroad, and generating new research on sovereign soil.”

Meet the Network

Foundational Partner Spotlight

Meet a couple more in our growing network!

BE&R

BE&R are a supplier of choice for sustainable energy solutions throughout Asia Pacific. Their mission is to provide independent consultancy services enabling our clients to confidently navigate the opportunities that exist in energy infrastructure in a rapidly developing low carbon energy world.

BE&R are advocates of the Energy Transition, providing clients with a technical, commercial and strategic pathway to sustainable Energy Infrastructure. BE&R intend to provide technical consulting, project management, risk assessment skills, and coordination of the Western Australian participants to the CRC.

Halocell

Halocell is commercialising Perovskite Solar Cells (PSC), the leading next-generation, solar solution for the global energy transition. They are a global leader in the development and commercialisation of PSC. The company focuses on providing cells for indoor (micro-power) devices and space usage. They have plans to develop cells for outdoor devices and industrial assets, and within the CRC they plan to collaborate with relevant partners to develop innovative solutions for agriculture PSC. ith Josh Ariens to know more.

Smart Energy Council

The Smart Energy Council is a Peak body and NFP member organisation committed to clean, efficient, cheap & smart energy solutions for all Australians. The SEC uses knowledge and influence to represent the renewable energy industry and push to progress state and national policy on smart energy – to create jobs, attract investment, and stimulate manufacturing growth and export. As a part of the CRC, the SEC intends to explore economic opportunities for farmers from renewable energy projects and map the extent to which agricultural activities will be able to continue when farmers are hosting renewable energy projects.

Bid Progress Update

We still want your project plans!

We are starting to receive project plans from consortium members and are providing an initial round of feedback and support to each plan submitted.

The Bid Team will review all the plans next year prior to them being included in the Stage 1 submission, so we strongly recommend you take a swing at your project planning as soon as you can and let us know if you need to be partnered with anyone else in the CRC Bid Team to help!

You can download the plan on a page resource by heading to our website here and scrolling to the ‘project-based approach’ section.

Don’t forget to tell us if you need partner support in designing a project. If you are lacking a partner, please reach out and we will match you to the best of our ability!

Research and Development Tax Incentive – Did you know?

Industry partners may be eligible to leverage Research and Development (R&D) funds further through the R&D Tax Incentive. Please see here for an overview of the program and to assess your eligibility.

Please note that eligibility must be self-assessed and that the CRC Bid Working Group in no way provides financial advice to our partners – we just wanted you to know that this is an option if your company ‘fits the bill’!

Upcoming dates!

Stage 1 Submission timing update… (yes, we are still waiting)

We are waiting on dates from Cooperative Research Australia as to when Round 26 will open and close for submissions for CRCs. Please bear with us while we wait this announcement that is crucial to our next sprint within the marathon. Current bid partners will be the first to be advised once the dates have been announced and you will be provided with a timeframe for when your pre-filled paperwork must be submitted to the bid team, for inclusion in the application documents.

Agrisolar in the News

The Czech government has approved new legislation for agrivoltaics. The measures extend the amount of crop types that agrivoltaics can be deployed on and defines two categories of permissible agrivoltaic systems.

The Czech Solar Association (Solární Asociace) said a central element of the new law is that agricultural land designated for agrivoltaics must remain registered in the Land Parcel Identification System. The association says this ensures continued eligibility for agricultural subsidies and removes the need to remove the land from the Agricultural Land Fund. The law also defines agrivoltaic systems as “buildings for agriculture,” which enables installation on agricultural land without requiring changes to zoning plans.

Publication alert!

Check out this excellent article from Tyler Swanson (USA)

“Enough is enough, we like our farms”: The role of landscape ideology in shaping perceptions of solar energy and agrivoltaics in the rural American Southwest”

This article, written with Carrie Seay-Fleming, PhD, Andrea Gerlak, and Greg Barron-Gafford, explores how the landscape ideologies of farmers and government officials in Pinal County, Arizona, a historically rural agricultural community, influence perceptions of solar energy. Further, they ask whether incorporating agrivoltaics into solar projects in Pinal County improves support for solar energy development.

These findings are incredibly relevant for arid rural climates in Australia, and we encourage you to read on and digest the findings.

Looking to get more involved in the decarbonisation community in NSW?