Policy

The tracking industry’s second-largest player has signed an agreement to supply RP Construction Services with 1 GW of single-axis solar trackers just 20 days after coming to a 1.4 GW agreement with Lightsource BP.

The £12.7 million project will explore how to transport pure and blended hydrogen for use in heating and industrial purposes. Construction will start next year.

South Australia will likely be the world’s first state to enforce temporary ‘solar shutdowns’ this summer. The real tragedy though, according to solar expert Finn Peacock, is not the curtailment of renewables but rather how poorly the government has managed and communicated its plan.

A collection of mining companies, industry bodies and union groups have been announced as the members of the Future Battery Industry taskforce, the Western Australian McGowan Government’s unit designed to grow the value chain of critical minerals for the energy storage industry for domestic use and export opportunities.

Western Australia’s long-awaited Climate Policy has landed with somewhat of a whimper, nevertheless, there is something to be said of its investment in the uptake of electric vehicles, including what is to become Australia’s longest EV charging network. Nevertheless, there is perhaps something more to say about how dovish this policy is in regards to some of the world’s largest emitters being harboured in Western Australia.

It makes sense that the Hunter-Central Coast, with its energy infrastructure, heavy industries and transitioning workforces should turn its resources and assets toward renewable generation. As NSW celebrates the passing of the NSW Liberal Coalition’s foresightful bill, the Hunter region is settling into its new place on the REZ map.

From coal-orientated to renewable and inclusive, the ACTU has detailed an agenda for better skills-based training and more secure employment opportunities in renewable energy.

Australia is positioned to become a renewable energy “superpower” with multinational consultancy Ernst & Young (EY) suggesting the nation’s green hydrogen and solar energy export plans have it well placed to take advantage of a growing market.

A new Wood Mackenzie report has forecasted a massive swing in the levelised cost of electricity across the Asia-Pacific over the course o the next decade. Before 2030, renewables will be cheaper than new coal and gas almost everywhere, and significantly cheaper in Australia.

Lithgow City Council is smack-bang in the thick of NSW coal country, its surrounds are littered by coal-fired power stations (most of them closed). However, the immunity of solar and energy storage to the power outages brought on by emergencies like bushfires, as well as the Council’s own community goals, means times are a changing.