Finance

Only a month after it signed up to the global initiative RE100, Bank Australia has announced it made the switch to 100% renewable electricity one year ahead of its 2020 target.

A grant of nearly $1 million has been announced for a 100% renewable energy project which will see the World Heritage-listed Daintree Rainforest reduce its reliance on diesel fuel to generate power.

The Beijing authorities have confirmed the payment levels to be made according to type of project and region from July onwards but an auction process will be involved so the figures are for guidance only. No decision has yet been made on the 30 GW of capacity added since the end of May.

As part of its Future Mines and Jobs Plan, Labor has pledged to revive the Exploring for the Future funding and invest $75 million in developing the future mining of resources such as lithium. If elected in the upcoming federal election, the party will also make the south-west of Western Australia a renewable energy zone, meaning the region will be able to access funding through the party’s planned $5 billion Energy Security and Modernisation Fund.

In an ASX announcement last week, Queensland-based independent power producer ReNu Energy said it had executed term sheets with Chinese solar developer Astronergy for the acquisition of two 5.8 MW solar farms in South Australia. The total cost to buy the projects and complete construction amounts to $17.2 million.

The EV, energy storage and solar company deployed only 47 MW of solar during Q1, as Tesla moves away from traditional sales methods towards web-based sales for its products.

In the run-up to the May federal election, thirteen farmer and irrigator groups have come up with a list of policy requests to put a downward pressure on electricity prices and preserve the sector’s competitiveness. Among other things, the groups have called for more government support for solar PV and battery storage installed on site, and removal of barriers to connecting on-farm generation to the grid.

Thirteen of Victoria’s water corporations have partnered to buy clean energy from the Kiamal Solar Farm in north-west Victoria, at a much cheaper rate than would be possible individually.

With the appointment of UGL, publicly-listed developer Genex Power has finalized a project delivery team for the 50 MW Jemalong Solar Farm.

Following Carnegie Clean Energy’s voluntary administration, the administrators have revealed the bids its solar microgrid arm managed to attract. Meanwhile, a plan to restructure the company’s core wave power business has been approved by creditors, along with a decision to liquidate the EMC business.