Markets & Policy

Community opposition to renewable projects tends to be dismissed as NIMBY-ism, an attitude of not-in-my-back-yard. To do so fails to recognise the character and potential claws of the globally growing movement, as well as the renewable sectors’ own role in rearing resentments. Australian reporter Bella Peacock investigates the emotional thread that ties the particularities of opposition movements together, and ways developers can defuse the charge.

Sun Cable’s troubled $30-plus billion (USD 20 billion) mega solar and storage project has received a welcome boost with resources company Tivan announcing it has penned a deal with the developer for the potential offtake of up to 300 MW of renewable electricity to support a planned critical minerals processing facility in the Northern Territory.

A Victorian solar installer that ignored a seven-metre fall risk on a job site in Geelong has been convicted and ordered to pay almost $40,000 after pleading guilty to three charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Before beginning BESS design, it’s important to understand auxiliary power design, site layout, cable sizing, grounding system and site communications design.

Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy says that hydrogen pipelines will be “far better” than vessels at moving hydrogen over short- and medium-range distances in the years ahead.

Virtual Power Plants, or VPPs, are relatively mature in Australia due to the country’s high penetration of, and familiarity with, distributed energy resources. But claims of VPP success and participation may be overblown, with a considerable gaps between the numbers some platforms are claiming and the realms of possibility.

Western Australia will now offer rural and metro-area residents in its main grid the same electricity supply. The move comes after a seemingly innocuous rule change saw regional customers unable to run their air conditioning at the same time as their cooktops – a drama pv magazine Australia first reported in July 2022 which led to sustained community pressure.

Canadian giant Brookfield, which is currently in the process of formally acquiring Origin Energy, has announced its partnership with little-known developer Greenleaf Renewables. The partnership, Brookfield said, will contribute to the 14 GW of renewable generation and storage it plans to build to decarbonise Origin.

China sold the most heat pumps in the world in 2022, but Europe recorded the highest growth in overall sales, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). It says Italy, France, and Germany accounted for almost half of all sales in Europe, and notes that air-to-water heat pumps were the most popular technology.

Australia’s lithium and base metals like nickel, aluminium and copper are forecast to earn around $47 billion (USD 31.8 billion) in the current financial year, according to the Australian government’s latest forecasts.