Sustainability

A group of New South Wales local councils have banded together to secure a power procurement agreement with solar-focused electricity retailer Mojo Power that they say will allow them to satisfy the electricity demands of their major infrastructure with 100% renewable energy while providing a path for participants to reduce their overall emissions.

Australian energy major AGL has fast-tracked the closures of its two biggest coal-fired power plants by several years as it pushes ahead with plans to demerge in response to the ongoing market shift towards renewable sources of electricity.

Australia’s electricity retailers have been ranked from best to worst in terms of green credentials, igniting calls for retailers to make emissions information public and transparent.

The company behind bill management platform 1bill on Monday announced it will invest more than $2 million in the energy software company Accurassi. The investment will see Accurassi build a platform for energy retailers to accelerate the transition to green energy.

The majority of voters in Australia’s historical coal and gas heartlands of New South Wales and Queensland believe the states’ future economic prosperity lies in clean industries, including renewable energy manufacturing and exports, and mining for critical battery minerals.

Shell has completed its acquisition of green power company Powershop Australia. The takeover sparked heated outcry when it was first announced in November 2021, reportedly causing Powershop to bleed customers who felt angered and betrayed by the apparent ‘greenwashing’.

Once thought of in a niche sense, the solar-water nexus is a rapidly expanding network of applications. They include practical tools capable of solving persistent issues like water scarcity, as well as newly pressing issues like overcoming the water challenge of green hydrogen production. Blake Matich looks at such applications here in Australia and abroad.

Long thought of as adversaries to renewable energy, fossil fuel assets and infrastructure also present opportunities for solar, its green-hydrogen output, and smart energy storage. Natalie Filatoff reports on the opportunities and approaches the miners are taking.

Gold developer Calidus Resources has become the latest miner to decarbonise its Western Australian operations by installing a 19 MW hybrid solar PV-gas power system which in future could be up to a quarter fuelled by hydrogen.

Researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) predict that growth to 60TW of photovoltaics needed to rapidly reduce emissions to ‘net zero’ and limit global warming to <2 °C could require up to 486 Mt of aluminium by 2050. A key concern for this large aluminium demand is its large global warming potential.