Sustainability

As Australia’s energy crisis deepens with Queensland and NSW again cautioned over potential blackouts in the coming hours, director of the Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Bruce Mountain, told pv magazine Australia commentators have underplayed the extent to which energy generators have exacerbated the emergency. Government intervening to take charge of the energy market is, for him, the most likely outcome as generators withholding capacity increasingly threatens to cause massive losses in state economies.

Australian federal and state governments have agreed to a suite of reforms designed to tackle soaring energy prices, including creating a national transition plan to phase out fossil fuels, financing projects to boost the nation’s electricity grid, and progressing designs for a new capacity mechanism.

Penfolds owner Treasure Wine Estates will install more than 9,500 solar panels across its Barossa and Karadoc wineries as the company seeks to become 100% renewable by 2024. To achieve that goal the company says it is preparing to install 29,000 solar panels across its vineyards worldwide, while also purchasing offsite renewables.

About 1 million New South Wales households will be able to apply for an upfront payment of almost $3,000 to put towards a solar system or energy-saving upgrades to home appliances as part of a new state government program designed to reduce energy bills as power prices soar.

The International Renewable Energy Agency’s latest annual report on the progress towards the United Nation’s sustainable development goal seven estimates 670 million people will still lack electricity in 2030, and more than 2 billion will be reliant on unhealthy, polluting cooking methods.

A coalition of peak bodies has called on Australia’s energy ministers to work together to accelerate the transition to renewable energy and resist the temptation to focus only on short-term solutions when they meet today to discuss the “apocalyptic rises in energy prices” impacting Australian energy markets.

The Australian Capital Territory’s switch to 100% renewable electricity is providing electricity users in the nation’s capital with protection from skyrocketing energy costs as consumers in other parts of the nation grapple with rising energy bills.

With architects and construction companies across the world showing an increasing interest in building integrated PV, one Australian company has outlined plans to clad an eight-storey building being constructed in West Melbourne with a “solar skin” that will generate almost all of the building’s base power.

Australian supermarket giant Woolworths has marked a major milestone in its rooftop solar program with a store in the Canberra suburb of Conder becoming the retailer’s 150th outlet to be fitted with solar PV panels.

With industry figures warning Australia is on the “precipice” of an energy crisis, federal, state and territory ministers will meet next week to discuss the situation with skyrocketing gas, petrol and electricity prices being described as a “perfect storm”.