Finance

Thailand’s Ratch Group has boosted its renewable energy ambitions in Australia and south-east Asia with the purchase of Singapore-based renewable energy company Nexif Energy’s pipeline of nearly 2.7 GW of wind, solar and storage assets in a deal valued at more than $870 million ($US605 million).

Investments in renewables are hitting new highs in China, as recurrent Covid-19 outbreaks and a crisis-stricken housing market threaten the world’s second-biggest economy, according to BloombergNEF.

After turning down the initial bid last month, Australian developer Genex Power this morning confirmed it will progress with a revised acquisition offer from a consortium of private equity firms led by Skip Capital, belonging to Australian technology billionaire and Atlassian cofounder Scott Farquhar.

The world’s largest asset manager, US company BlackRock, has acquired Victorian battery storage developer Akaysha Energy and its portfolio of nine projects in the national grid.

Less than a year after agreeing to work with Australian steel company BlueScope, Shell is now stepping back from the plan develop a pilot-scale 10 MW green hydrogen electrolyser at the Port Kembla Steelworks and further the vision for a hydrogen hub in the Illawarra.

Lightsource bp will reach financial close on its 400 MW (DC) Wellington North solar farm in New South Wales and its 90 MW Wunghnu Solar Farm in Victoria by the end of 2022, making it one of Australia’s largest solar developers.

Deutsche Bank has revealed that China’s green finance market surpassed CNY 20 trillion (AU$4.07 billion) in value in the first half of 2022. Haitai Solar has listed shares in Beijing, while Shangji has revealed plans for a new polysilicon project in Inner Mongolia.

An international group of researchers from 15 universities has said that there is growing consensus among scientists that an energy system based on 100% renewables could be achieved cost effectively by 2050.

SMA’s Home Solutions segment was particularly badly hit as the PV inverter manufacturer struggled to meet the demand due to the shortage of materials. The sales and results in the first half of 2022 were therefore significantly worse than in 2021. The company now wants to take “a series of measures to improve its long-term ability to deliver.”

The Australian government’s green bank has inked a landmark agreement with the Queensland government to develop critical transmission and grid infrastructure to connect more than 1.5 GW of renewable energy assets to the National Electricity Market.