Australian renewables developer Edify Energy is planning to take advantage of existing infrastructure to maximise its access to the national electricity grid by building a 200 MW solar farm and four-hour duration battery energy storage system near the Callide coal-fired power station in central Queensland.

In 1971 on a family holiday, my father drove us to look at a huge concrete slab at Jervis Bay, on the South Coast of New South Wales. Still visible today, it was the foundation for what would have been Australia’s first nuclear power plant.

Danish renewables giant European Energy is seeking federal environmental approval for its plans to build a 1.1 GW solar farm near the industrial city of Gladstone in central Queensland.

Federal Opposition leader Peter Dutton has unveiled the first details of his long-awaited policy for nuclear power, announcing seven sites for reactors, promising that the first sites can be operational in the 2030s.

When you graph electricity demand in power grids with lots of solar panels, it looks a bit like a duck, with high points in the morning and evening (when people are relying on the grid) and a big dip in the middle of the day (when many people use their own solar instead and need less from the grid).

A “nation first” local renewable energy zone will be established on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast as part of a pilot program designed to boost rooftop solar generation, store it and share it locally across the poles and wires infrastructure that already exists.

Australian infrastructure developer Pacific Partnerships has added one of the largest proposed solar farms in Australia to its growing portfolio, purchasing the development rights for the 700 MW Cobbora Solar Farm and co-located battery energy storage project planned for western New South Wales.

The Australian Energy Market Operator has eased forecasts of a looming capacity shortfall in Western Australia’s main electricity grid but has warned of the need for “substantial and sustained” investment in renewables to replace coal-fired power stations and meet surging demand from customers electrifying their operations.

The increasing role of pumped hydro technology in Australia’s renewable energy transition is expected to be mirrored in the neighbouring Southeast Asia region with international consultancy Rystad Energy tipping the total capacity of operational projects will surge from the current 2.3 GW to 18 GW by 2033.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s talk of stepping back from Australia’s 2030 emissions targets has created confusion and concern on several fronts, and sparked vigorous political debate over our pathway to a carbon-free future.