Opinion & Analysis

We are seeing the biggest changes in our energy and transport systems since industrialisation. By 2026, global renewable energy generation is expected to match total fossil fuel and nuclear output.

Over 3.4 million Australian houses now have rooftop solar, often subsidised by government incentives. But in remote First Nations communities in the Northern Territory, you don’t see solar on any rooftops. That’s a real problem.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are expanding at a fast pace in several of the world’s largest markets. This is being driven by governments and automakers who are promoting electricity powered vehicles as a key technology to curb fossil fuel use, fight climate change and air pollution, but rapid EV uptake is also creating challenges for the grid.

Analysis conducted by Cornwall Insight Australia reveals that certain coal plants in New South Wales may benefit from delaying their retirement, following the release of new plans for the VNI West transmission project.

Australia’s energy transition is well under way. Some 3 million households have rooftop solar and sales of medium-sized electric cars are surging. But as we work towards fully electric households powered by renewable energy, have we overlooked a key enabling technology, the humble electric water heater?

To power Australia without fossil fuels will mean using batteries to store power from solar and wind. We often think this means home batteries – or large grid-scale installations.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has renewed its calls for a fast-tracking of new transmission links, saying that parts of the country’s main grid are effectively in gridlock and causing unprecedented amounts of wind and solar to be curtailed.

AUKUS has been widely hailed as Australia’s largest-ever defence investment and the Quad as a new focus for defence strategy – but what do they mean for our energy landscape? SMA’s Joshua Birmingham argues it’s time to look beyond defence cost and grow our relationships to fight the climate change war.

It sounds like a lot. Kickstarting green hydrogen in Australia with $2 billion (USD 1.35 billion) to subsidise early production and making the energy-dense gas competitive. A goal of up to a gigawatt of electrolyser capacity within seven years.

There were an estimated 100 million individual solar panels in Australia at the end of 2022. We estimate this number will likely grow to over 2 billion if we are to meet Australia’s 2050 net-zero emissions target. This growth means Australia is facing a 450,000-tonne mountain of used PV panels by 2040.