Policy

The debate around what’s become known as Australia’s “solar tax” has rounded a new corner, with the Australian Energy Regulator publishing its draft guidelines for solar export tariffs.

The Suiso Frontier cargo vessel docked at Victoria’s Port of Hastings on Friday to take on the world’s first shipment of liquid hydrogen. The ship’s arrival is a landmark for the Japanese-Australian Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain pilot project, which sees liquefied hydrogen generated from brown coal, and an engineering milestone in itself. But while the Australian government describes the product as “clean”, experts maintain that carbon capture and storage technology has proven only to be an expensive failure.

With the spotlight shining bright on the nation’s transport industry as the Covid pandemic causes widespread disruptions to supply chains, the Australian Trucking Association has been quick to make the most of the attention, calling for urgent reform to deliver a new era of electric trucks in Australia.

Sydney-based solar pioneer 5B has launched a $33.4 million tech innovation program, including a $14 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, designed to accelerate the delivery of ultra low cost solar. While a majority of the investment is portioned off for an advanced manufacturing pilot line, approximately a third of the available funds will be used to deliver GPS-guided solar deployment robots.

Transport accounts for approximately 20% of the Victoria’s emissions while also being one of the more hard to decarbonise sectors. Due to its commitment to halve its emissions by 2030, the Victorian government has announced over $7 million in grands for a number of projects seeking to commercialise real world applications in the transport sector powered by renewable hydrogen.

Current price signals to distributed battery owners “do not align with grid value,” says a study from the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

This year will see a suite of new rules introduced governing the sale and installation of rooftop solar. While the Clean Energy Regulator’s new rules will apply across the country, Victoria’s state government has also introduced its own set of additional ordinances – among them, a ban on door-to-door sales or cold-calling for solar, electricity and gas companies alike.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has announced $40 million in research and development funding is up for grabs across two streams. Stream 1 consists of cells and modules, and Stream 2 is focused on balance of system along with operations and maintenance. It is hoped the additional funding will spur Australia’s pioneering solar research to push for the federal government’s “ultra low-cost solar” target of $15/MWh.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has announced a $100 million competitive funding round for grid scale batteries. While battery technology agnostic, the projects must be equipped with advanced inverter technology.

The Queensland government has highlighted its state attracted as much as $26 billion worth of “new energy economy projects”, according to new national resources reports. The federal government, on the other hand, used the reports to pay tribute almost exclusively to coal, with resources minister Keith Pitt dubbing it a “star”.