ABB has won orders worth around $225 million to supply two turnkey photovoltaic (PV) power plants that will be built in the northern province of Limpopo in South Africa. The orders were awarded by two special-purpose entities, Core Energy and Erika Energy, whose primary stakeholders include SunEdison, a leading global solar energy services provider. [ + ]

The CEC has launched a continuous professional development program to help household solar power system installers and designers stay up to date with new developments in the industry. [ + ]

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the United States has developed a concept for roadway illumination called Ecoluminance, which incorporates roadside vegetation with low-level pedestrian and landscape lighting, retroreflective markers, and light-emitting diode (LED) road and walkway illumination. [ + ]

Homeowners in Western Australia will soon pay $350 more to have power connected as a result of a bureaucratic new connection scheme, Master Electricians Australia has warned. [ + ]

Dexus Property Group and Buildcorp have been recognised in the City of Sydney’s CitySwitch Green Office Awards for incorporating measures such as solar panels, improved computer management and lighting into their offices. [ + ]

The AEMC’s review, The Power of Choice, will spark energy reform to help households better manage their bills over the long term, the Clean Energy Council has said. [ + ]

The Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Mark Dreyfus, and Federal Member for Maribyrnong, Bill Shorten, have announced the opening of the new Local Government Energy Efficiency Program to help local councils install solar or heat pump hot water systems in community facilities. [ + ]

Following the announcement of the Kickstart initiative, MRAEL Group says it has been inundated with enquiries from the construction sector wanting to take advantage of the incentive. [ + ]

Broken Hill, in the far west of New South Wales, has been selected as the location for an NBN satellite ground station that will play a crucial role in providing Australians in isolated areas with access to fast broadband. [ + ]

Siemens Ltd, the turn-key supplier of TrustPower’s Snowtown II wind project, is working with newly established Australian wind tower supplier E&A Contractors, a wholly owned subsidiary of E&A Limited, to procure a portion of the 90 wind towers for the newly commenced wind farm development. [ + ]

AGL head Michael Fraser has returned to the position of Chair of the Clean Energy Council following its AGM. CEO of Hydro Tasmania Roy Adair was returned as Deputy Chair. [ + ]

A project that will deliver the world’s fastest high-performance wireless broadband to rural areas was awarded the Engineering Innovation Award at the 2012 Australian Engineering Excellence Awards. [ + ]

Bulk cable-cutting facility Cablemakers North Queensland is helping locals solve their cable requirements quicker with the launch of the Cablemakers website. [ + ]

The Group Training Association of Victoria has launched the Safety First website to help small-to-medium employers get to grips with the new WHS harmonisation laws. [ + ]

The sustainable data centre market will see accelerated growth in 2013 as it becomes more focused on cost savings and provides more efficient internal IT delivery methods such as virtualisation, software-defined networks (SDNs) and the use of converged infrastructure solutions (so-called cloud-in-a-box), says global analyst firm Ovum. [ + ]