Markets

The West Australian Wholesale Energy Market (WEM) is in for a major shake-up with the State Government’s Energy Transformation Taskforce unveiling plans for a redesign which it said will fully integrate renewable energy – in all its guises – into the power system.

Former leader of The Nations, Barnaby Joyce, has put forward an amendment to the Coalition’s legislation for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) which would allow the $10 billion “green bank” to invest in “high intensity, low emissions coal-fired power.”

The Australian Energy Market Operator’s second State of the System update, a sort of ‘Around-the-Grounds’ of the National Energy Market, has revealed that 2020 set new records for both number of new projects connected and new megawatts of generation.

January normally sees a spike in the average wholesale electricity price. This year, however, increased solar PV and wind generation have seen this traditional trend bucked.

The first round of funding for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s Future Fuels Fund is now open to applicants. The first round will look to expand the fast charging network for battery electric vehicles in Australia’s major population centres in an effort to encourage the individual and fleet transition to electric vehicles.

Debt financing services from Bank of China, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and Westpac, have brought the first 400 MW stage of the New England Solar Farm to financial close, a massive milestone for massive hybrid project.

The developer said it installed and commissioned seven solar rooftops in just three months despite Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Macquarie owned Green Investment Group’s Renewable Energy Fund 2 has far exceeded its own expectations by raising over AUD$2.5 billion in investment commitments for large-scale solar and wind projects all over the world, including Australia.

The University of New South Wales along with several other universities and the CSIRO are embarking on a feasibility study into how New South Wales can utilise excess renewable energy to make fuel, chemicals and feedstocks for industry. The aim is to develop a plan for how fuels and chemicals such as green hydrogen and ammonia produced from renewables can decarbonise industry and grow manufacturing.

At present, China accounts for almost 75% of global lithium-ion battery manufacturing capacity and this share is set to increase through the short term with its build-out of new facilities. And although the US and Europe are enacting policies to encourage domestic battery production, there has been a distinct lack of support for investment in the supply and refining of the raw materials to achieve this. In China, the opposite holds true.