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Solar thermal technology to supply process heat in different industrial sectors has become very promising in recent years. Industries can reduce their consumption of fossil fuels by replacing them with solar process heat with non-conventional system integration and using clean energy. In this paper, a systematic review of 10 countries is presented which demonstrated extensive use of solar industrial process heating systems in their manufacturing sectors. This country-wise analysis is then used to compare with current Australian scenario and identify future prospects of integrating solar process heating in Australian industrial sectors. The choice of countries is based on a database where promising industrial sectors and solar process heating applications are currently using incident solar energy. These are analyzed for their potential of integration to developing solar heat in industrial processes (SHIP) and a number of potential industrial sectors that have the highest potential like Motor vehicles, Textiles, Printing, Wood, Paper, Fabricated metal, Rubber and plastics, chemicals, Food, beverages, electrical equipment, machinery, and equipment are being identified. An overview of available studies is discussed in this paper focused on specific countries and the industrial heat demand of existing operational plants. Future trends due to solar energy potential are also outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy industry is undergoing significant disruption. This research outlines that, whilst challenging, this disruption is also an emerging opportunity for electricity utilities. One such opportunity is leveraging the developments in data analytics and machine learning. As the uptake of renewable energy technologies and complimentary control systems increases, electricity grids will likely transform towards dense microgrids with high penetration of renewable generation sources, rich in network and customer data, and linked through intelligent, wireless communications. Data digitisation and analytics has already impacted numerous industries, and its influence on the energy sector is growing, as computational capabilities increase to manage big data, and as machines develop algorithms to solve the energy challenges of the future. The objective of this paper is to address how far the uptake of renewable technologies can go given the constraints of existing grid infrastructure, and provides a qualitative assessment of how higher levels of renewable energy penetration can be facilitated by incorporating even broader technological advances in the fields of data analytics and machine learning. Western Australia is used as a contextualised case-study, given its abundance and diverse renewable resources (solar, wind, biomass, and wave) and isolated networks, making a high penetration of renewables a feasible target for policy makers over coming decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prospect of biofuels as a transport alternative fuel in Australia is reviewed and discussed in this paper. The Australian transport sector is the second largest energy consuming sector which consumes about 24% of total energy consumption. A part of this energy demand can be met by ecofriendly biofuels. A wide array of different biofuels feedstocks including Australian native species, their distributions, oil content, traditional uses are reviewed and listed in the descending order of their oil content. The world biofuel scenario as well as the 20 largest biofuel production countries and their mandates on biofuels blending with petroleum diesel are presented. Australia’s biofuel production, consumption, production facilities and future investment projects are also reviewed and discussed. The study developed a biofuel supply chain for Australia and found that the second generation biofuels have better prospects as a future alternative transport fuel in Australia. These biofuel feedstocks are readily available and can overcome the shortcomings of the first generation biofuels, such as socio-economic, environmental and food versus land use challenges. Although some research is in progress, further study is needed on the process development of second generation biofuel production at commercial scale in Australia and abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]