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An influential Australian union will propose a “significant, punitive tax” on the export of raw critical minerals as a means of promoting more value-adding onshore. The news comes as longstanding trade allies voice criticism over Australia’s growing momentum towards domestic manufacturing.

The Northern Territory government has granted the final approvals for Core Lithium’s BP33 underground lithium mine, part of the company’s ongoing operations in Darwin.

India will use its internal market to scale up hydrogen projects, with Germany as a possible export destination. As part of a broader strategy, the countries will collaborate on a financial and technological level on energy transition projects.

The first large-scale battery storage project connected to Western Australia’s main grid has only just commenced operational testing and already plans are in place to build an even bigger battery at the site as the state government seeks to harness surging rooftop solar resources to meet its power needs as it prepares to dump coal power.

Coal-dependent Indonesia has huge solar potential but progress toward a net zero economy has been sluggish, explain Daniel Kurniawan and Fabby Tumiwa from the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), an Indonesian thinktank.

AUKUS has been widely hailed as Australia’s largest-ever defence investment and the Quad as a new focus for defence strategy – but what do they mean for our energy landscape? SMA’s Joshua Birmingham argues it’s time to look beyond defence cost and grow our relationships to fight the climate change war.

The Malaysian government is developing a new strategy to expand renewable energy use in the country and also boost the domestic renewable energy industry.

The Australian government has presented its 2023-2024 budget, with $2 billion (USD 1.35 billion) to be invested in hydrogen, while Austria, Germany, and Italy said they have started moving forward on a southern hydrogen corridor from North Africa to Northern Europe.

Battery companies hoping to get a foothold in Australia’s rapidly growing storage market were the main exhibitors at the Smart Energy Conference held in Sydney last week, outnumbering solar companies almost two-to-one. Pv magazine Australia looked at what is on offer and who the new hopefuls in the battery space are.

While Australia’s home battery market seems to have attracted most of the interest from newcomers, there has been some significant new developments in the commercial and utility-scale space. Pv magazine Australia examined the new products and companies in the commercial and utility battery storage space on display at the Smart Energy Conference.