Markets & Policy

The Ramahyuck District Aboriginal Corporation has won over $1 million in funding from the Victorian Government for the development of a 4.9 MW solar farm, as well as several other community arrays. This is a win for Indigenous self-determination and a proven long-term income and employment stream which will help to “enable a healthy, strong and vibrant Aboriginal community”.

The Queensland government will pour more than $580 million into increasing electricity network capacity and replacing ageing assets as part of a $52.2 billion infrastructure program designed to transform the state into a renewables, advanced hydrogen and manufacturing superpower.

Australian startup H2X is banking on bringing automotive manufacturing back to Australia with hydrogen. After its Warrego ute was met with startling fanfare last week, pv magazine Australia caught up with the company’s corporate affairs specialist, Tony Blackie.

Europe plans to introduce a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism in two years, requiring importers to pay a carbon price on steel, iron, aluminium, cement, electricity and fertiliser initially. Experts explain what the changes will mean for Australia’s export future, and just how little the legality debate matters.

As part of the Western Australian government’s 2021-22 Budget, Premier Mark McGowan announced a new $50 million fund to stimulate the growth of the state’s green hydrogen industry for domestic use and exports. The fund comes on top of several ongoing initiatives and includes funding for private industry feasibility studies, including one which will see bp repurpose its Kwinana Oil Refinery into a green fuels hub.

A group of biologists in the United States working with a bacteria discovered a mechanism that could be used to convert electricity into biofuels or other useful substances. With better understanding of the genetics, the group says the mechanism could rival hydrogen for the storage of renewable energy.

Electric vehicles could autonomously transport electrons between where they’re generated and where they’re needed based on algorithms and smart software, predicts JET Charge CEO Tim Washington. Such a future, he admits, is “pretty sci-fi” and still a while off.

Plans to create hydrogen by burning wood have swollen in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley, after sawmill offshoot, Sweetman Renewables, yesterday announced a $15 million deal with Singapore’s CAC-H₂ to construct the country’s largest wood-fed hydrogen production plant.

For a small infrastructure investment in rooftop solar systems, state governments can make a material difference to the lives of social housing tenants, and further their net-zero ambitions. Western Australia reports another win-win.

Australia is currently staring down a suite of reforms which could stifle our rapid and sensible transition to clean energy.