Policy

Australia’s module supply landscape could experience a supply shock as legislation looms to stamp out the use of forced labor. Chris O’Brien, Maxeon Solar Technologies VP for the APAC region says that the measures that have left modules stranded at the U.S. border could very well occur in Australia soon.

At midnight tonight Australia’s National Electricity Market will undergo a major regulatory change with the introduction of a market reform that has been more than four years in the making.

New South Wales, Australia’s most populace state and largest economy, has upped the green ante, today setting a new target which will see it rival clean energy powerhouse South Australia. The state government is seeking to spur more than $37 billion in private investment from its policies, hoping to double the state’s economy.

New South Wales households and businesses will soon be incentivised to install technologies and appliances which can operate outside peak demand times as part of a scheme the state government’s claims could save consumers $1.2 billion on electricity bills by 2040.

President Xi Jinping’s pledge this week at the United Nations General Assembly that China will not build new coal-fired plants abroad is welcome news; however, Asia’s transition to low carbon energies remains in dire need of policy reforms.

Representatives from some of Australia’s most prominent renewable energy companies have united in their criticism of the Energy Security Board’s proposal for consumers to pay conventional generators such as coal and gas power plants an extra fee for their capacity, not just the actual power they produce.

The last of the New South Wales coal-fired power plants will be shut by 2040 at the latest after electricity gen-tailer EnergyAustralia announced it would bring forward the closure date of its 1.4 GW Mt Piper power station by two years.

In reportedly the largest ever contested resolution in Australian corporate history, 55% of AGL shareholders have this afternoon voted for the company to adopt Paris-aligned climate targets in both of its demerged businesses.

The federal government has announced it will extend its prospective national network of clean hydrogen hubs to each of Australia’s states. The move was welcomed by a number of industry bodies, though some say the program doesn’t go far enough with government spending still lagging our European counterparts.

The Clean Energy Regulator has recommended major reforms for Australia’s rooftop solar PV industry, including that it be solely responsible for the enforcement of regulations in relation to accredited installers, retailers and component manufacturers.