Policy

Call it “latent energy” – Australia’s renewable resources are expected to help some of the world’s greatest polluters to reach their net-zero emissions targets, writes Natalie Filatoff, senior editor at pv magazine Australia.

Tasmanian Labor believes Premier Peter Gutwein and his Liberal Party have dropped the ball on solar in a big way. Tasmanian Labor Leader Rebecca White is therefore promising $20 million to fund loans for residential and commercial solar and battery storage installations, as well as solar for state schools and social housing.

Facebook has revealed plans to buy electricity from a 5 MW floating solar array in the Straits of Johor. The project will sell power through a virtual power purchase agreement.

Evoenergy has blamed the Australian Capital Territory’s renewable energy targets for its proposed price hike, which would see average residential customers pay around 40% more for network charges, amounting to around $280 per year.

Former prime minister Malcom Turnbull has been dumped from his role as chair of the New South Wales climate change advisory body by the Berejiklian government.

The Australian Energy Market Operator has published an engineering framework as it looks to conceive a broader framework for how the National Energy Market can facilitate the accelerating energy transition.

The $2 trillion package includes a proposed 10-year extension of the ITC and PTC and calls for further incentives to add transmission capacity. Most solar advocates liked it, but one nonprofit panned it as being too industry-friendly.

An independent exhibition brought to Melbourne Design Week by a group of 15 of the city’s top architectural firms demonstrates the blueprint for Melbourne’s transformation to “A New Normal”. “A New Normal” is a plan to transform Greater Melbourne into a self-sufficient city by 2030.

The Clean Energy Regulator told pv magazine Australia it’s focussing its attention on rooting out misbehaving installers, armed with new automated data analytics models and stronger bonds with industry co-regulators like the Clean Energy Council.

New research shows renewables plus batteries would be able to offer Australia’s electricity grid the same energy security as coal and gas generators, leading to calls for regulatory changes.