Policy

As the dust settles on an imperfect, but still welcome, international agreement thrashed out at COP 24, the chairman of the European Energy Research Alliance has criticized the solar industry for its lack of representation in Katowice.

A survey run by the Clean Energy Council among senior executives, leading with a combined net worth of more than $17 billion, shows that clean energy investment confidence is strong. The majority of companies are looking to put on extra staff in the next year. However, challenges in achieving project grid connection and policy uncertainty are causing great stress in the long run.

Under a new Investment Mandate, the Morrison government has instructed the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to support the development of a market for firming intermittent sources of renewable energy and to prioritise investments that support “more reliable, 24/7 power“.

Clean-energy advocates have slammed Energy Minister Angus Taylor’s proposal to underwrite investment in new “firm” generation capacity as a “coal-preservation fund”. The first formal outing of the policy appears vague, non-binding, and heading perhaps in the wrong direction.

The federal government has launched a strategy seeking investment to unlock Australia’s potential in lithium-ion battery manufacturing. Noting that the nation’s mineral reserves cover 90% of the elements required in li-ion battery chemistry, the new Austrade report underlines that Australia is well-positioned to become a world leader in this fast growing market.

Does renewable electricity raise or lower electricity prices? There is more to this question than meets the eye: are prices lower before or after renewable subsidies are recovered, how has variability been accounted for, how have changes in network costs been accounted for, and so on and on. Bruce Mountain, the Director of the Victoria Energy Policy Centre and Steven Percy, a research fellow at Victoria University set out new findings.

That would mean a market increase of around 25% on this year. Demand is predicted to become particularly strong in the second half of the year. Australia is forecast to see lower demand than usual in the first quarter, but also be among 16 nations worldwide that will add over 1 GW of solar capacity in 2019.

Renewable generation in the National Energy Market has set the fifth consecutive monthly record high in November, due to eight new solar farms coming online over the last two months. The National Energy Emissions Audit released by The Australia Institute tallied the figures. Despite solar’s growth, evidence coming from the Federal Government reveals a continuing upward trend in emissions since 2013.

If maintained, Australia’s current rate of installs would deliver 78% renewables by 2030, find Green Energy Markets in its latest edition of RE Index. The 50% renewables target proposed by the the Federal Labor Party and several state Labor governments would thus deliver a sharp market decline, with installations falling to a third of recent rates and workforce shrinking by three quarters.

The renewable sector has responded warmly to the reappointment of Lily D’Ambrosio as Energy and Environment Minister. Her title has been expanded to take into account the growing responsibility of running the re-elected state government’s expansive solar and storage initiatives.