ARENA grants $3.2m to two solar projects focused on driving down costs

This will fund robotics and software development.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has committed $3.2m to support two solar projects that will help the agency achieve its goal of lowering the cost of solar energy.

In a statement, ARENA said PV Lighthouse Pty Ltd will receive $1.97m for its project to expand its SunSolve yield modelling software, whilst Built Robotics Australia Pty Ltd will receive $1.3m for its autonomous piling robots project.

The agency said the funding will unlock more than $6.5m in total investment across both projects. Furthermore, ARENA CEO Darren Miller said both projects will help improve solar photovoltaic (PV) technology, making it more efficient and quicker to deploy.

By 2030, ARENA is targeting to reduce the installed cost of a solar project to 30 cents per watt and reach a levelised cost of electricity below $20 per megawatt hour. This could help unlock a total installed capacity of 1 terawatt of solar PV by 2050.