Markets & Policy

The Clean Energy Council is calling for a unified national strategy to “supercharge” the uptake of consumer energy resources including rooftop solar and home batteries in Australia, saying such a move would deliver more than $22 billion in savings and 18,200 extra jobs by 2050.

Western Australia is on track to become home to the nation’s first clean energy training centre of excellence with the state and federal governments investing $70.5 million over five years to address labour shortages in Australia’s renewable energy transition.

Researchers from the University of Queensland have developed a new class of solid electrolytes for rechargeable aqueous zinc-iodine batteries, which has allowed for extended lifespan and high efficiency.

Chinese manufacturer Longi says it is not shutting down its factory in Malaysia, nor it is idling its production lines in Vietnam, but it acknowledges that it is implementing production adjustments at these facilities.

A long-haul road trip along Australia’s east coast in an electric vehicle has demonstrated the nation’s readiness for the shift to full battery vehicles with the driver declaring the existing charging infrastructure has made range anxiety a thing of the past.

Queensland’s pipeline of pumped hydro storage projects continues to grow with Victorian-based renewables company BE Power announcing plans to develop an 800 MW / 9.6 GWh project at Mount Alma near Gladstone.

After a near six-year delay, the 60 MW Kennedy Energy Park in north Queensland, hailed as Australia’s first fully integrated utility scale solar, wind, and battery project, has finally achieved full commercial operations.

A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) suggests that the world could miss out on a target of 11,000 GW of global renewables capacity by the end of the decade, as agreed at COP28. It also predicts that solar will become the world’s largest source of installed renewable capacity, surpassing hydropower.

A West Australian government virtual power plant technology pilot, Project Symphony, has successfully proven rooftop solar, batteries and major appliances can play an integral role in the state’s energy transition and create $920 million in value over the next decade.

After a lacklustre 2023, the Clean Energy Council’s new quarterly report paints a positive picture of renewable energy projects’ financial commitments, construction, and commissioning, but warns the numbers fall short of hitting the 82% renewables by 2030 target.