Policy

Reports emerged on Tuesday that Federal Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor had requested a review of Australia’s rooftop solar sector, citing integrity concerns. An important message comes from the Clean Energy Council as it warns against an Abbott-era political intervention that could harm the industry.

Australia’s leading scientists today sent an open letter to Chief Scientist Alan Finkel, speaking out against his support for natural gas.

Such is the Global Village effect that the more globalised we are the more localised we become. The impacts of a global pandemic have choked industries and driven us into self-isolation, but at the same time, we are seeing an acceleration in the ingenuity of sales efficiency in the solar industry and a realisation of the necessity of self-generation. Tie this up with a shift to local government action on renewables and sustainability and the global recovery from Covid-19 is very much a local affair.

Where do old solar panels go to die? Sending them to landfill makes a mockery of their green beginnings, and imposes a new burden on our already stressed environment. The New South Wales Government intends to get ahead of this important end game with funding to develop viable models for solar system recycling.

Neoen’s proposed Goyder South Hybrid Renewable Energy project is so vast that analogy does it a disservice. The French developer has commenced the project’s notification period with the submission of its Development Application, giving us the first real opportunity to begin to quantify its sheer enormity. 1200 MW of wind, 600 MW of solar, and 900 MW/1,800 MWh of battery storage.

As part of the state’s economic recovery plan, the Palaszczuk Government has committed $145 million for Renewable Energy Zones in north, central and south-west Queensland.

Blacktown City Council and Inner West Council are not wasting any time when it comes to meeting their carbon-neutrality and solar uptake goals. Both councils are currently in the process of doubling their current solar capacity in single swoops.

Analyst IHS Markit has predicted storage will rebound this year following its first year-on-year decline in 2019. The technology is being rolled out at pace despite Covid-19 with state-level policies set to keep the US the global capital for the next five years.

SA Water’s great solar splash of 2020 continues with the completion of one installation on Eyre Peninsula and the beginning of another, much larger installation, at the Happy Valley Reservoir.

A new analysis by the Clean Energy Council reveals a dramatic fall in the number of large-scale renewable energy projects committed in the second quarter of 2020, with just three projects representing 410 MW of new capacity reaching financial close – the lowest level since 2017.