Markets & Policy

A new report from Hydrogen Council predicts that the cost of renewable hydrogen production will fall drastically by up to 60% over the coming decade due to the declining costs of renewable electricity generation and the scaling up of electrolyzer manufacturing. Thanks to its optimal renewable resources, Australia will be among the countries most favorably placed to contribute to the development of the hydrogen economy.

Peter Gutwein is the new Premier of Tasmania and the first Tasmanian Liberal Minister for Climate Change. The Premier, who has a history of rebelliousness to the party line, seeks to lead Tasmania to a renewable energy future.

Curtin University research that aims to develop a new way of producing, storing and exporting green hydrogen from Australian resources, UNSW Sydney’s efforts to develop novel cathode coating materials towards more durable and powerful energy storage devices and Monash University’s investigation into phase change materials for wind and solar energy storage are among 18 new research collaborations supported by funding through the Australian Research Council.

Energy Minister Angus Taylor has confirmed that Australia is on its way to hit nearly 50% renewables share by 2030, the target deemed economically suicidal by the Coalition during the last election. With no mention of the widely-reported massive drop in renewable energy investment, Taylor hailed 2019 as a new record year for renewables in Australia.

The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has given its tick of approval to the proposed $1.53 billion electricity interconnector between Robertstown in South Australia and Wagga Wagga in New South Wales. The new transmission line holds the promise of reducing power bills in both states by unlocking gigawatts of planned renewable energy projects in its close proximity.

Australian and Japanese trade ministers met in Melbourne last week to sign a joint statement of cooperation. The agreement and collaboration between the two nations hopes to affirm Australia’s potential as a major exporter of hydrogen, with Japan as a key recipient.

Power generation statistics released by the National Energy Administration appear to confirm the nation added 12 GW of solar last month. China also deployed another 41 GW of polluting coal-fired power plants last year.

In recent decades Noosa has gone from hip-replacements to hip and trendy, and nowhere does it have its finger more on the pulse than its ambitious climate and energy goals. Said ambitions will now see Noosa host the Transforming Australia 2020 Summit run by the Cities Power Partnership.

Behind Blackrock’s grand exit from coal: Global capital flight from thermal coal and the coal-fired power sector is already at a canter in 2020.

Australia’s utility-scale renewable energy sector is set for a record year with 3.6 GW of projects expected to complete commissioning in 2020, Rystad Energy finds. This comprises 1.96 GW in utility PV projects and 1.57 GW in wind developments, with the remaining 0.1 GW coming from batteries.