Australian nickel producers have an advantage over low-cost rivals in that production in the country is considerably more environmentally friendly than in neighbouring Indonesia. Nickel miners in Australia are currently facing low prices and fierce competition. Rob Nathan from Australian Tenders argues that sustainable nickel will be vital for the energy transition and is worthy of governmental support.

Half a million homes and businesses in Victoria were left without power late on Tuesday following a major power outage. While investigations are underway as to what worked well and what fell short of expectations, Roger Dargaville, the
director of the Monash Energy Institute at Monash University, says that the event demonstrated system strength.

With 2023, the hottest year on record, behind us, the COP28 global assembly addressing climate change took place in Dubai. Faced with a sobering reality that a proportion of the world’s net zero targets are progressing at a glacial pace, world leaders discussed how to accelerate our collective actions to mitigate climate change.

Decades of mismanagement have eroded trust in South Africa’s state-owned energy utility, Eskom. Last year, households and businesses suffered daily blackouts of up to 10 hours, or even longer. Solar and battery energy storage are booming but a domestic PV manufacturing industry has yet to materialize.

Following strong global solar installation figures in 2023, Alexa Capital co-founder and partner Gerard Reid sees enormous potential for a renewables revolution.

The Australian government’s new gas deal is designed to head off any supply shortages at the end of the decade. Yet, the latest data shows that gas consumption dropped 16% in the October to December quarter compared with the same period a year earlier due to warmer temperatures in Victoria and lower commercial and industrial demand.

After years of improving quality standards, solar cell cracking appears to be on the rise again, perhaps due to new manufacturers entering the sector. Clean Energy Associates’ (CEA) senior engineering manager Claire Kearns-McCoy considers ways to stop the rot.

EnergyAustralia says it will increase the capacity of a battery energy storage system to be built adjacent to its Hallett Power Station in South Australia from an initial 50 MW to 150 MW, and 200 MWh to 600 MWh, after the successful completion of the first stage.

The Clean Energy Investor Group has warned that solar farms in southwest New South Wales and northwest Victoria could suffer from “large and unpredictable” swings in revenues because of material changes in marginal loss factors.

New Zealand renewables developer Lodestone Energy has received planning consent for three new large-scale solar farms on the country’s South Island as it continues the roll out of a PV strategy that it expects will deliver more than 500 GWh in solar generation.