Policy

Rio Tinto set to invest approximately $1 billion over the next five years as the mining giant looks to deliver on its new climate change goals and particularly its 2050 net zero emissions target.

The Tasmanian Government has announced a $50 million investment package toward its green hydrogen ambitions over the next 10 years.

The Berejiklian government has launched a pilot program that will allow eligible Hunter residents to access interest-free loans for battery and solar-battery systems.

South Australia is seeing a surge of small-scale utility solar as the niche, particularly around the 5MW mark, can fly under the radar of much of the electricity network’s congestion woes. The newly completed Mannum Solar Farm Project is one such example.

The 16-greenhouse Focola project has been developed by French renewables developer Akuo and local utility company Enercal Energies Nouvelles on the Pacific Ocean territory.

The Australian network rule maker has ignored the plea of some of the biggest solar and wind project owners in Australia to change the way marginal loss factors (MLFs) are calculated. While it has acknowledged that transmission has failed to keep up the pace with renewable energy investment, it did not come up with any suggestion on what should be done to ameliorate the problem.

Norwegian giant Equinor is the latest oil and gas company to abandon controversial plans to drill in the Great Australian Bight, following in the backtracks of BP, Chevron and Karoon Energy.

A report published by the Rocky Mountain Institute makes recommendations for rooftop PV in regions affected by high winds. The study draws on the knowledge of structural engineers asked to analyze 25 solar systems across five Caribbean islands after they were hit by major hurricanes in 2017 and last year.

An Australian-first solar to hydrogen-based microgrid for the World Heritage Protected Daintree Rainforest is another step closer to reality this week after Federal Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch revealed the feasibility study funded by the Federal Government last year is “on track”.

The Victorian government has decided to break away from national electricity rules and introduce legislation that will fast-track priority projects like grid-scale batteries and transmission upgrades and make room for more large-scale solar and wind on the grid. The announced reforms have prompted a flurry of reactions.