Happy New Year to you from all of us at the Energy Change Institute!

The renewables revolution continues in 2019 with some interesting predictions from influential analyst firm, Bloomberg New Energy Finance. According to BNEF Australia is on track to become the biggest home battery market in the world, with more than 70,000 Australian households installing batteries in 2019 - driven by $147M (AUD) in state government subsidies and other incentives. This accounts for 30% of global battery storage demand, from a country with a comparatively small population.

Internationally, BNEF predicts that the world will add between 125 and 141GW of new solar in 2019, compared to 109GW in 2018. The wind market is also set to impress with a leap in new capacity from about 53.5GW in 2018 to more than 70GW in 2019. Offshore wind in particular is being spurred on by large price drops and economies of scale.

Closer to home, we hope that you can join us for ECI Open Day taking place next Tuesday 12 February. Registrations have been extended and you can book your place now. At Open Day we will be announcing our two secondees from the Department of the Environment and Energy sponsored by JW Land, plans for the ECI Grand Challenge: Zero-Carbon Energy for the Asia-Pacific, as well as hearing the exciting research underway by the ECI's latest members. Our two keynote speakers are international energy experts; Greg Wilson, G.W. Consulting, formerly of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the USA, and Professor Armin Aberle, Director, Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore and ECI Board Member. We look forward to seeing you there.