SYDNEY, Aug. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Yesterday, the Smart Energy Council and RKS Energy Solutions, an authorised retailer for Fox ESS, hosted a press conference in a local warehouse in Castle Hill. Government leaders joined the celebrations, marking Australia's milestone of 500,000 home battery installations and reinforcing the impact of the Cheaper Home Batteries Program (the program) on household adoption of residential energy storage. Fox ESS's brand ambassador, Ian Thorpe, also witnessed this achievement.
Targeting more than two million installations by 2030, the program is now tracking at around 25% of the goal midway through 2026, illustrating how targeted upfront support can rapidly reshape an energy market and strengthen consumer confidence.
Building on earlier success, the Government has expanded the program beyond its original $2.3 billion commitment, with funding of $7.2 billion over four years. For local households, solar and home storage mean permanently lower power bills and real control over their energy costs.
The Government's policy direction continues to evolve, including a renewed focus on the "missing middle" for commercial and industrial (C&I) energy storage. This includes further regulatory work to support solar-plus-storage and additional state-based incentives designed to accelerate uptake.
"This has been an extraordinarily successful scheme. It's creating jobs and generating economic activity, while also reducing power bills. And it's making a genuine difference to climate change by cutting our emissions. Overall, this is a complete win-win," said Hon Anthony Albanese MP, Prime Minister of Australia.
"This is a story of global significance! Australian households have delivered 14 gigawatt hours of storage. We're installing around 2,000 batteries every single working day across the country. And for many households, that has brought their power bills down to zero," said Hon Chris Bowen MP, Minister for Climate Change and Energy.
Fox ESS has been a key contributor to this momentum, supporting strong demand through its local footprint. The company has offices in Sydney and Melbourne, with a service team of more than 50 experts dedicated to the Australian market. In this June, Fox ESS also opened its second factory, further supporting the shift to clean energy, and strengthening its capacity to meet growing demand.
"Fox ESS is now No. 1 in the Australian market, and I'm proud to be their brand ambassador, helping Australians make the most of renewable energy at home. We're backing a future where Australia can run on the abundant resources we have, especially our renewable ones," said Ian Thorpe, Olympian and Fox ESS Brand Ambassador in Australia.
Moving forward, with sustained government support, Australia is poised to strengthen energy resilience, delivering lower bills, and cleaner power nationwide.
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Prime Minister of Australia Marks 500,000 Home Battery Milestone, Continuing Support for Local Solar Business
Prime Minister of Australia Marks 500,000 Home Battery Milestone, Continuing Support for Local Solar Business
HONG KONG, Aug. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The exceptional research strengths of City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) have once again received high international recognition. In the newly released 2026 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), CityUHK secured a place among the top 100 globally for the second consecutive year and rose four places from last year to rank 95th worldwide, firmly maintaining its 2nd position in Hong Kong.
CityUHK continued to deliver an impressive performance across several core evaluation indicators. Notably, in the key academic indicator of "Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate", the University entered the global top 25 for the first time, ranking 2nd in Hong Kong. This once again demonstrates the University's leading international advantage in nurturing top scholars and producing high-quality research.
Professor Chun-Sing Lee, Acting President of CityUHK, was deeply encouraged by these outstanding results. "We are immensely proud that CityUHK has been ranked among the top 100 globally for two consecutive years and maintained its 2nd place ranking in Hong Kong," he said. "This remarkable achievement reflects the continuous improvement in the University's teaching and research strengths, as well as our leading edge in promoting internationalised education. Recognised by Times Higher Education (THE) as the 'Most International University in the World' for three consecutive years, CityUHK will continue to harness its powerful momentum in research and innovation, deepen cross-regional collaboration with top institutions locally and globally, actively promote the 'Study in Hong Kong' brand, and lead higher education towards new milestones."
The ARWU, published by ShanghaiRanking, is widely regarded as one of the most influential and authoritative global university rankings. Inaugurated in 2003 by the Centre for World-Class Universities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, it evaluates over 2,500 institutions worldwide annually, publishing the top 1,000 results. The evaluation is based predominantly on objective indicators of academic and research excellence, including the number of highly influential scholars, the volume of papers published and indexed in premier journals, and the per capita academic performance of the institution.
In recent years, CityUHK's academic influence has continued to grow, earning widespread recognition and achieving outstanding results across various international rankings. In the 2027 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, published in June this year, CityUHK achieved remarkable success by jumping 11 places to 52nd globally, solidifying its position among the top 3% of universities worldwide. Notably, in the core indicator of "Citations per Faculty", the University achieved an exceptional result, ranking 2nd globally and 1st in Hong Kong. Together with the latest ARWU results, this demonstrates the top-tier academic standard of the University's faculty and research teams, as well as the tangible contribution of their innovative research to global science and societal development.
Steven Lee, Communications and Institutional Research Office, CityUHK (Tel: 3442 9945)
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CityUHK achieves stellar results again in the ARWU, ranking 2nd in Hong Kong and maintaining its position among the global top 100
