Policy

The Grattan Institute has recommended the sale of new petrol and diesel cars be phased out in Australia by 2035 in a bid to “supercharge the switch to electric vehicles” to help cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.

Western Australia’s McGowan Government has joined fellow state and territory governments in joining the Smart Energy Council’s industry-led Zero Carbon Certification Scheme. As the region with the largest proposed green hydrogen projects in the world, this is a significant step toward ensuring a future in which green hydrogen is prioritised.

Brisbane-based battery casing company Vaulta has more to celebrate than just Brisbane’s winning 2032 Olympic and Paralympic bid. The company has won a Federal government Accelerating Commercialisation grant that will see its innovative design pushed ahead as the tide of electric vehicles rising globally.

The number of residential home batteries in Queensland has doubled while electricity bill cost concern has almost halved, found the “biggest survey of its kind” conducted in the state. The survey’s findings, which set to be released in full later this week, were summarised this morning by Queensland Minister for Energy, Renewables and Hydrogen, Mick de Brenni, at a virtual event.

European commissioner for economy Paolo Gentiloni has outlined how the commission’s planned revision of the energy taxation regime, and introduction of an EU carbon border, could be applied.

Southeast Asia could well become the global engine room of renewable energy expansion. Population and economic growth is expected across the three decades in which the world has to decarbonise, but the brimming bounty of renewables deployment will force developers to navigate the region’s systems. As it turns out, that could be a treacherous task.

With 1 MW of rooftop solar entering the Western Australian energy system each week the state government has announced a multi-million dollar package which will allow for an update of its grid transition strategy which aims to accommodate a rapid shift to renewable energy.

Indonesia will catch the eye too over the next nine years, according to Wood Mackenzie analysts, as its market grows from 300 MW to 8.5 GW.

Independent MP Zali Steggall has called for a conscience vote after two Liberal backbenchers broke ranks to back a net zero by 2050 emissions target after a parliamentary committee rejected a bill to legislate the goal.

In his first public address, the newly appointed head of the Australian Energy Market Operator significantly upped the Operator’s ambitions for renewable penetrations in the grid, conveying the importance of no longer constraining what he called ‘zero cost’ renewable energy assets.