Policy

Despite a massive drop in renewable energy investment seen last year, 2020 promises to bring both good and bad news for the Australian solar sector. While network conditions will continue to deteriorate, the low-carbon policy will become more supportive but also more chaotic.

Synergy and Western Power’s PowerBank trial has reached another milestone with the integration of a utility-scale community battery into Perth’s major metropolitan network.

Perth-based Australian Vanadium has received another boost from the Federal Government with the award of a further $1.25 million research and development grant to fund research into improving vanadium processing.

“We really need to think of the long-term safety of Australia,” said Steggall this morning as she launched her campaign to set action on climate change in legislation that follows (belatedly) the UK Climate Change Act of 2008.

Fire-extinguishing rain on the East Coast, coronavirus as an urgent threat, and Morrison drumming up support for technology and free-market forces to cure climate change… It was a weekend to shake the resolve of some people to act on their own carbon emissions, but understanding the psychology of how we perceive risk and commit to action can help us focus and keep the flame of response alive.

Identity politics and an almost religious zeal have come to characterise Australian parliamentary climate debate, but smart industry groups, lobbyists, scientists and Liberal-minded change agents are working to influence the centre-right agenda towards a more economically rational and conservationist approach to energy transition.

“It’s a pivotal time to be working in the industry,” said Women in Focus award recipient Bridget Ryan. The GreenSync Policy and Government Lead has seen great change in her two decades in the industry, but recognises there is still a way to go.

In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has called for more renewable investment and Federal government backing to help create and support more jobs in more industries, but gas is not out of the picture.

As Australia continues to battle horrific bushfires, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a renewed focus on gas-fired electricity to reduce emissions and lower energy prices. This is a dangerous and completely unnecessary route.

An energy deal struck between the Morrison and Berejiklian governments that will see more than $2 billion invested to increase gas supply and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector has prompted a flurry of reactions that boil down to two conflicting interpretations of its purpose.