Markets & Policy

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) says it has not suspended solar and wind project commissioning, though it noted the schedules for some projects have been adjusted because of the ongoing energy supply crisis.

Australian gentailer Snowy Hydro has signed a power purchasing agreement with CWP Renewables for its biggest wind farm, currently in development in New South Wales.

A couple of weeks ago, Goldman Sachs sent shockwaves through battery metals markets, issuing a prediction that cobalt and lithium in particular were due for a sharp price decline in the next two years. But London-based Benchmark Mineral Intelligence is loudly pushing back, outlining its reasons why it believes the call on lithium was wrong. Meanwhile, US analyst Wood Mackenzie says that the battery raw material chain will remain tight, but notes that recycling could help to ease the supply deficit.

In many parts of the world, project developers and owners are increasingly looking to floating PV as the next long-term growth market in utility-scale solar. Gian Schelling, global business development manager for Hitachi Energy, says that PV-on-water can rise above the current challenges it faces by drawing on the lessons learned from offshore wind development.

Australian energy giant AGL Energy has announced its leadership of a consortium of industry partners for a feasibility study into whether its Torrens Island facility can become a green hydrogen hub for domestic users and export.

New South Wales Energy Minister Matt Kean said the state government is unlikely to use new emergency powers granted to ensure energy supply is maintained after the market operator advised conditions in the grid were improving.

Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen has declared Australia is “under new management” and determined to “unleash private investment” in new clean energy projects, urging the sector to take advantage of the opportunities available in the renewable energy market.

Jolywood has cancelled a plan to invest in solar cell and panel production in Indonesia, while Hangzhou First Applied Material has said that it will invest US$226 million (AU$324 million) in the expansion of its EVA film output capacity.

Longi Solar has secured about 1 GW of new PV module supply orders in Bangladesh.

Australia’s energy crisis affords it an intricate, if painful, look at exactly where and how our current electricity regulations no longer fit their purpose. According to analyst Gavin Dufty, now is the time to retrain our eyes on the prize: designing a new framework suitable for the future decentralised system. “But everybody needs to put their guns back in their holsters,” Dufty tells pv magazine Australia.