15 March 2024

CLIMATE POLITICS

Vic Gov fast tracking approvals for renewable energy projects (Energy Magazine): The Victorian Government has announced that renewable energy projects will now be eligible for an accelerated planning pathway under the Development Facilitation Program (DFP). Under the change, all new renewable projects in Victoria will be treated as significant economic development, making them eligible for an accelerated pathway – removing the planning panel process and third-party appeals at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). Renewable projects currently stuck in approvals will also be able to access the accelerated pathway.

Renewable energy projects 'acceleration' by the Victorian government draws the fury of farmers (ABC News): Rural communities across Victoria have expressed anger over the Victorian government's plan to "accelerate" renewable energy projects, claiming community consultation has been a "sham". In a bid to build $90 billion worth of developments held up in red tape and bring down energy prices, the government said projects would be eligible to be fast-tracked under the Development Facilitation Program (DFP) and treated as "significant economic developments".

Victorian premier goes nuclear on Dutton’s energy policies (AFR): ExxonMobil Australia chairman Dylan Pugh says gas will play a crucial role in Victoria’s march to net-zero emissions, as Premier Jacinta Allan announced plans to accelerate the state’s clean energy transition and attacked the federal opposition for promoting nuclear energy. Amid a slowdown in renewable energy project commitments that threatens to undermine climate targets nationwide, Ms Allan said community opponents of solar and wind farms would be stripped of the right to appeal to a Victorian tribunal in a bid to cut red tape and speed up project approvals.

Nation's science agency CSIRO hits back at Dutton claim that nuclear power costings were 'discredited' (ABC News): The nation's leading science institution, the CSIRO, has defended its research into energy generation following comments from Opposition Leader Peter Dutton disparaging its findings that nuclear power would be the most expensive source of new energy for Australia. Mr Dutton has been advocating introducing nuclear power to Australia's energy grid as a way to provide a reliable supply of electricity quickly and at a reasonable cost.

‘Makes no sense’: Whitby lashes nuclear power (WA Today): Proponents of nuclear power for Australia are driven by ideology rather than common sense, according to WA’s Energy and Climate Action Minister Reece Whitby. “When the climate change debate first began, the cynics and the deniers were urged to listen to the science and listen to the facts,” Whitby told a business lunch on Thursday.

Greens say price tag for emissions support is gas veto (Australian Financial Review): The Greens are promising to pass Labor’s looming vehicle emissions reforms sight unseen so long as the government ditches proposed laws that would fast-track gas project approvals including Santos’ Barossa field off the Northern Territory. Greens leader Adam Bandt made the offer in a letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen on Tuesday, saying the carbon-reduction benefits of the vehicle reforms would be more than extinguished by allowing Barossa to go ahead.

Bowen flags compromise on car emissions fight (Australian Financial Review): Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has indicated Labor will soften the edges of its new vehicle emissions standard, as he conceded Australia was attempting to introduce the change at a much faster rate than other countries. With the consultation period finished, Mr Bowen said while the government would not be “bullied” out of acting, it was prepared to accept changes proposed by those in the industry who backed the need for an emissions standard and wanted the scheme to work.

“A game changer:” Albanese hails delivery of biggest electric truck fleet in Australia (The Driven): Prime minister Anthony Albanese has hailed the first deliveries of what will be by far the biggest electric truck fleet in Australia. The first 43 of 60 ordered electric trucks were unveiled at the western Sydney depot of Team Global Express, whose intentions to go electric were first unveiled last year.

Rinehart-backed lithium and rare earths projects rake in more than $1 billion in federal funding (Renew Economy): NT Chief Minister Eva Lawler said the mining and processing of critical minerals was a priority for the territory to create more local jobs. Located 120km north of Alice Springs, the Gina Rinehart-backed Arafura project will create more than 200 jobs during construction and more than 125 ongoing jobs, including 20 per cent for the Indigenous community.

CARBON MARKETS

Manufacturing wipeout a risk without right carbon border tax: Orica (AFR): Heavy manufacturing would likely be wiped out if Australia gets its planned carbon border tax regime wrong, Orica chief executive Sanjeev Gandhi has warned, while rubbishing the notion the country could take on Japan, Korea and China in battery manufacturing. “If you have an open market, but there’s no protection for product coming into the country from jurisdictions who do not have a carbon regime, there’s no way that manufacturing will survive in this country,” said Mr Gandhi, whose company is the world’s biggest manufacturer of explosives and owns carbon-intensive plants in Newcastle and Gladstone.

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Third round of funding from Carbon Farming and Land Restoration Program announced in Nannup (The West Australian): A third round of funding from the Carbon Farming and Land Restoration Program has been announced as the Cook Government aims to provide $2.77 million in funding to help future-proof Western Australia’s vital agriculture industry through carbon farming.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Shell waters down emissions cut pledge despite crucial climate decade (The Guardian): The energy company Shell has watered down a key green target as it prepares to defy climate experts by growing its liquified natural gas business and holding its oil production steady until 2030. The company signalled that it may slow the pace of its emissions reductions for this decade by setting a new plan to reduce the carbon emissions intensity of the energy it sells by 15-20% by the end of the decade, compared with its previous target of 20%.

‘Not a single cent’: Orica meets pushback on clean products (Australian Financial Review): Regulations are needed to force companies to switch to using cleaner alternative products because they are otherwise unwilling to pay the higher prices that more environmentally friendly products involve, according to Orica chief executive Sanjeev Gandhi. The head of the world’s biggest explosives maker said customers would not voluntarily “pay a single cent” of a green premium today to cover the higher costs of making new alternative products with a lower impact on carbon emissions or on the environment.

Buyers baulk over Woodside’s green fuel (AFR): Woodside Energy chief executive Meg O’Neill says there is no certainty that the oil and gas producer will reach its $US5 billion ($7.55 billion) target for investment in clean energy projects by 2030 as customers baulk at paying higher prices for green fuels. The admission looks set to heighten tensions heading into a shareholder meeting in April, with one activist investor already calling for chairman Richard Goyder to be ousted, claiming he has been “persistently unresponsive” to concerns on climate risks.

HESTA pushes for climate-friendly directors at Woodside (AFR): One of Australia’s largest superannuation funds is pushing its nominees to become directors of oil and gas giant Woodside Energy, in the first sign that big super is flexing its shareholder muscle to influence companies at board level. Former prime minister Paul Keating last month predicted super funds would increasingly seek to nominate directors on to boards to exert more influence.

Woodside, Santos expansion less than super for funds, says green lobby Market Forces (The West Australian): Gas giants Woodside Energy and Santos are attracting a smaller proportion of superannuation savings than other large companies, according to shareholder activist Market Forces. Research released by the environmental lobby group on Wednesday found the biggest super funds were going cold on the two “climate wreckers” by dedicating a decreasing share of their members’ investments to them.

Big Glencore shareholders will back coal plan (AFR): A big European investor says they will back Glencore chief executive Gary Nagle’s strategy for the future of the company’s coal mines so long as the strategy remains aligned to a net-zero emissions outcome. Sweden’s government-run pension fund AP7 said it would engage with Glencore over the future of its coal division, which was put in the global spotlight on Thursday when Australian investor Tribeca Investment Partners called on Glencore to abandon plans to demerge coal.

GREEN PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES

ARENA grants $9.4M to electric rail freight project (Energy Magazine): The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), on behalf of the Federal Government, has granted $9.4 million in funding for a new project to electrify rail freight transport of commodities. The grant was awarded to Aurizon Operations to contribute to an $18.8 million Battery Powered Tender for Heavy Haul Fleet Decarbonisation project, a world-first proof of concept rail tender.

Hybrid solar battery systems replace diesel at four remote gold mines (Renew Economy): West Australian gold producer Westgold has replaced six diesel power stations with four hybrid solar, battery and gas systems that are slashing emissions and saving money. The company contracted Pacific Energy to install the new systems, which have a combined capacity of 82MW, under a seven-year build, own and operate agreement.

Network company wins most of funding in latest community battery grants (Renew Economy): Victoria has issued its first round of funding under the beefed-up $42.2 million neighbourhood battery program, and network operator AusNet will take the lion’s share of the projects. The latest round is funding 25 batteries across six projects, which will share in $6.07 million.

Gold Fields to spend $296 million on wind and solar to slash mine’s power costs by two thirds (Renew Economy): South African gold mining giant Gold Fields is to spend $296 million on wind and solar power and transmission infrastructure at its St Ives gold mine in Western Australia, in a move it says will slash its current gas-fuelled power bill by two thirds. Gold Fields, which has already added wind and solar to more than half of its mines around the world, including the ground-breaking Agnew gold mine in Western Australia (pictured above), says it will add 42MW of wind power and 35MW of solar to the St Ives mine, which is around 20kms from Kambalda.

Genex announces completion of 50MW Bouldercombe Battery Project (Energy Magazine): Genex Power has announced that construction of its 50MW/100MWh Bouldercombe Battery Project is complete. Genex Power has also announced that the two replacement megapacks were transported and installed at the project site during the week commencing 27 November 2023, and that a small outage was required to facilitate the installation.

Australia’s largest rail freight company to roll out battery electric tenders in “world first” trial (Renew Economy): Aurizon, Australia’s largest rail freight operator, is to trial battery electric tenders that could electrify and decarbonise the country’s rail freight industry without the need for expensive railway electrification. The $18.8 million project is being backed with a $9.4 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and will developer, test and trial a battery electric tender, which could source renewable power and double the range of an electric train to 800kms.

Australian renewable sector recorded ‘alarming’ slowdown in 2023, energy body finds (The Guardian): Investments in renewable energy plants showed an “alarming” slowdown in 2023, with financial approvals for new solar farms shrinking more than a third while no new windfarms won backing, the Clean Energy Council said in its annual report. The yearly results come as separate data revealed fossil fuel power stations expanded generation in the first two months of 2024 as heatwaves in the east of Australia sent demand soaring.

OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST

Petrol, pricing and parking: why so many outer suburban residents are opting for EVs (The Conversation): Until now, you might have thought of electric vehicles as inner suburban toys. Teslas and Polestars are expensive, leaving them as playthings for wealthier Australians and out of reach for the mortgage belt. But that’s no longer the case. As residents in the outer suburbs reel from price rises seemingly everywhere, more and more are turning to electric vehicles (EVs) to slash their fuel bill.

China’s green steel push could crush Australia’s dirty iron ore exports (The Conversation): Australia’s largest export, iron ore, has long been a powerhouse of economic growth. Over the past two decades, its contribution to our national income has surged from just A$8 billion in 2005 to over A$124 billion today. But the Australian iron ore industry faces a major challenge as its biggest customers – China’s steel mills – move to drastically reduce their carbon footprint.