Australia

Aviation H2 today it announced it has appointed a team of engineers to fast-track its ambitions of building Australia’s first hydrogen-fuelled aeroplane. The company is, however, rather enigmatic, without a website and wholly owned by Liberty Energy Capital, which itself falls into rabbit hole of ownerships. The plan comes on the same day one of Australia’s biggest renewable hydrogen players, Fortescue Future Industries, announced it’s joined forced with Los Angeles-based Universal Hydrogen to enter the aviation space.

The Morrison government today released its long-awaited electric vehicle strategy which contains neither fuel efficiency standards nor financial support for Australians buying cleaner vehicles. The strategy’s main centrepiece is an additional $178 million for its Future Fuels Fund. Rather tellingly, the strategy has been summed up “better than nothing”.

Following a funding announcement from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), a $3 million feasibility study led by Port of Newcastle and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group is set to determine whether Newcastle, the world’s largest coal exporting port, has the potential for a green hydrogen hub.

After another year of record rooftop solar installations, and despite Covid-19 related lockdowns and federal political ineptitude on a level comparable to self-sabotage, Australia has soared past the three million mark and the numbers are only accelerating.

Embarrassing Australia on the world stage is one of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s favourite marketing ploys. But while the federal government continues to fail its constituents, particularly those in rural communities, those rural communities themselves are taking the energy transition into their own hands, along with the ownership of their own solar generation.

It all started with Sun Metals 124 MWac solar farm. Once at risk of having its exports curtailed to zero, its owners have now been funded by three Australian government agencies to seed demand for North Queensland’s green hydrogen.

EleXsys Energy’s technology enables the controlled flow of excess energy from distributed rooftop-solar generators — think large C&I organisations and microgrid-united regional townships— to help stabilise global grids as they increasingly transition to renewables. The world could feel the positives of mass transition to solar within five years.

Across Australia businesses understand the many pluses of running on renewable energy. The Sustainable Australia Fund helps them achieve multiple business ambitions by offering flexible finance for solar, battery storage and energy efficiency measures.

The first week of the United Nations climate talks in Glasgow are drawing to a close. While there’s still a way to go, progress so far gives some hope the Paris climate agreement struck six years ago is working.

The Australian Government has set a goal of producing solar electricity for a third of today’s costs, declaring that “ultra low-cost solar” will be critical to achieving its long-term emissions reduction plan.