How Australia could save almost $7 billion on its energy transition
The risks posed to renewable-energy projects by Australia’s uncertain climate change policies and hamstrung regulators, have become a concerning brake on investment. Adjusting settings to reduce those risks would revitalise investor sentiment and vastly reduce the cost of implementing the country’s switch to renewables, says the Clean Energy Investor Group.
Solar modules are being detained by customs agents, reports suggest
An order issued in late June instructed customs agents to detain solar shipments containing silica-based products sourced from a Chinese firm and its subsidiaries. Three solar players may already have been impacted.
Corporate renewable PPAs are on the rise in Asia Pacific, says WoodMac
Corporate power purchase agreements are the second most adopted purchasing method in the world, and they’re growing fast. With the U.S. and Europe picking up the pace in the last year, the Asia Pacific is not going to be left behind, with Wood Mackenzie estimating corporate PPAs in the region doubled in the last year.
Twiggy Forrest’s green hydrogen ambitions will require renewables at 3x Australia’s total energy consumption
In a campaign style speech, Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest, founder of Fortescue Metals and one of Australia’s richest men, outlined his ambition of producing mammoth quantities of green hydrogen, a task he sees as imperative to stop the “planet cooking” while also cornering a market he believes will soon be worth trillions.
WA to install the country’s longest electric highway
Western Australia will install electric vehicle (EV) stations at 45 new locations, creating a fast charging network spanning more than 3,000kms.
AEMO’s 2025 goal means that SA becomes the proving grounds
The latest news in the NEM is AEMO’s goal to be capable of handling periods of 100% instantaneous renewables penetration by 2025. This is a significant challenge and fitting given the pace the NEM is moving to
supporting increasingly higher levels of instantaneous (and increasingly asynchronous) renewables on a regular basis.
SA Greens seek to reinstate a publicly owned electricity system — based on renewables
The South Australian Greens Party has proposed a tax-and-spend plan for the state that goes against everything the Federal Government advocates, in favour of massive funding of essential services and reducing carbon emissions in the process.
Saturday read: Dirty double standard on display
Australia’s proposed 26 GW Asian Renewable Energy Hub has encountered what appears to be a governmental double standard, as the country’s environment minister has rejected an expanded proposal. Thankfully, the project’s proponents have not become discouraged in the face of this double standard; in fact, they’re doubling down.
Chasing the sun — tax-free!
The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has made final a rule that will allow for solar export tariffs to be gradually introduced in the NEM jurisdictions (that is, everywhere except WA and the NT) under limited circumstances in four years’ time.
New rules revealed as AEMC aims to transform network into ‘two-way super-highway’
The Australian Energy Market Commission has retained a controversial two-way pricing mechanism in its finalised reforms package which has been designed to better integrate distributed energy resources, such as rooftop solar PV, batteries and electric vehicles into the grid, and transform it into a “two-way super-highway where energy flows in both directions”.
