2 August 2024

CLIMATE POLITICS

Coalition’s nuclear plan delaying decisions on renewables, investors say (The Guardian): ?Renewable energy investment experts have revealed growing worries the Coalition’s plans to build nuclear reactors in Australia is breeding uncertainty and is already delaying decisions to back major solar and wind projects. ?The Coalition’s push to build taxpayer-funded nuclear reactors at seven locations while refusing to back improved climate targets could see investors shifting huge sums of cash to other economies where the clean energy transition has bipartisan support.

Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy appointed (Energy Magazine): ?Federal Member for Fremantle, Josh Wilson, has been appointed Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy.? Mr Wilson said, “It’s an honour to have been asked by the Prime Minister to take on the responsibility of serving as the Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy, working with Minister Chris Bowen.”

Major $250M investment for NT renewables (Energy Magazine): ?Under the Rewiring the Nation Program, the Federal Government has signed a landmark $250 million deal with the Northern Territory Government. ?Through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), the investment is expected to create hundreds of new jobs and upgrade and expand the power grid across the Territory, supporting major transmission projects and bolstering grid strength.

NT Gov releases updated gas plan (Energy Magazine): ?The Northern Territory Government has updated its Gas Plan to focus on reliable, affordable and cleaner energy.? The Northern Territory Government said that the plan is a pathway to 2030 that looks at capitalising on what is expected to be one of the most transformational, five-year periods in Northern Territory history.? The Gas Plan focuses on key areas, including economic growth, energy security and environmental sustainability.?

CARBON MARKETS

ASX to expand into carbon, gas futures trading in transition payday (Financial Review): ?Carbon and gas trading will be a key driver of the ASX’s growth plans in the next five years, Australia’s market operator says, beginning with this week’s debut of environmental futures contracts. ?On Monday, the ASX will list three new carbon futures contracts, allowing the hedging of emissions reduction risks. ?Those futures – for large generation certificates, Australian carbon credit units [‘ACCUs’] and New Zealand units – will be expanded to include gas contracts next month.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Air NZ becomes first major airline to dump emissions targets (Financial Review): ?Air New Zealand has withdrawn its emissions reduction target as delays in getting new, more efficient aircraft and a lack of policy coordination around production of sustainable aviation fuels dash the aviation industry’s decarbonisation goals. ?Auckland-based Air New Zealand became the first major airline to formally abandon its commitment to the industry’s gold standard benchmark on Tuesday.

The firms with 'no intention of meeting climate targets (The Australian): ? After Air New Zealand axed its ambitious 2030 carbon busting targets a new study of Australian companies reveals almost a third won't meet Paris Agreement climate goals, while more than 40pc have yet to begin decarbonisation their operations.

Macquarie has partly reversed its ban on banking coal deals (Financial Review): ?Macquarie Group’s board has reversed its self-imposed harsh ban on coal deals, paving the way for its bankers to be involved in coal-sector consolidation on Australia’s east coast and coal mines globally. In a move that shows how sentiment has swung towards the commodity, Macquarie’s board has “refined” its coal policy to recognise coal’s importance in steelmaking and infrastructure development, and the lack of any substitute product or alternative.

GREEN PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES

New tender seeks 400 megawatts of new wind as W.A. seeks to fast track renewables with new scheme (Renew Economy): ? The Western Australian Water Board has formally launched a tender for around 400 megawatts (MW) of new wind capacity, as the state government flags higher payments for new generation and storage as it seeks to accelerate its switch away from coal. The new tender unveiled by the government owned Water Board this week will be for new wind projects to help power the desalination plant it is constructing at Alkimos, north of Perth, which will have capacity of up to 50 billion litres a year.

ClearVue inks deal to supply solar glass to “fastest growing” global market (Renew Economy): ?ASX-listed solar innovator ClearVue Technologies says it has cracked one of the world’s fastest-growing construction markets, in a deal that will see its clear solar glass products made and sold in the Middle East, North Africa and India. ?ClearVue on Thursday announced a five-year manufacturing and distribution agreement Qatar’s largest facade engineering company and a group company under Aria Holding, called Aluminium Technology Auxiliary Industries, or Alutec.

Development plans lodged for NEM’s biggest battery project and neighbouring solar farm (Renew Economy): ?The development application for what will be the biggest battery on Australia’s main grid, along with a massive solar farm, have been lodged with the NSW planning department. Ark Energy, the local renewable and storage subsidiary of Korea Zinc, is planning to build the 275 megawatt (MW) Richmond Valley battery with eight hours of storage, or 2,200 megawatt hours (MWh), near Myrtle Creek in the Richmond Valley of northern NSW.?

Australia’s first 100 pct renewable media organisation inks deal to buy NSW wind power (Renew Economy): ?Zen Energy has signed up to help power Australia’s first 100 per cent renewable media organisation, in a deal tied to Ratch Australia’s 227MW Collector wind farm in the New South Wales Southern Tablelands. ?Zen says the deal with SBS will supply the public service broadcaster’s NSW and Victoria-based operations with 100 per cent renewable energy over the next 10 years through the purchase of large-scale generation certificates (LGCs) uniquely paired with the Collector wind farm.

Coal giant signs solar farm maintenance contract to train staff in green energy future (Renew Economy): ?Stanwell Corp, the Queensland government owned coal power giant and the country’s second largest greenhouse gas emitter, is looking to the green energy future with new intensity after signing up for its first solar farm operations and maintenance (O&M) contract. ?Stanwell set up an O&M arm at the end of 2023, dubbed SAMCo, and it has now signed a five year contract with Ratch Australia to look after its 42 megawatt (MW) Collinsville solar farm near Townsville in the state’s north.

Pole-mounted community battery trials roll out in regional New South Wales (PV Magazine): ?New South Wales-owned electricity infrastructure company Essential Energy has partnered with retailer Origin Energy to rollout 35 pole-mounted community batteries to five New South Wales (NSW) regional cities to trial peak demand management using local rooftop solar systems. ?Over 27% of Essential Energy’s customers have installed solar on their rooftops, which the company forecasts will increase to over 60% by 2037.

Tas wind project approved (Energy Magazine): ?The Central Highlands Council has approved Ark Energy’s proposed St Patricks Plains Wind Farm, which will have 47 turbines and a generation capacity of up to 300MW.? Council’s approval in its capacity as Planning Authority follows receipt of the Environment Protection Authority Tasmania’s (EPA) environmental conditions set by the Board of the EPA.

Clean energy developer boosts circular economy with solar panel recycling deal (PV Magazine): ? Enel Green Power Australia (EGPA), owned by Italian utilities major Enel Group and Japanese oil and gas giant Inpex has signed a long-term services framework agreement with Melbourne-based industrial solar panel upcycling company, Elecsome.? The agreement addresses EGPA’s future decommissioning needs from three of its 310 MW combined operational solar farms in South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia, which together use over a 1.6 million panels.?

Program boosting solar in Vic apartments (Energy Magazine): ?A Northcote complex has become the first to have solar installed as part of the $16 million Solar for Apartments program in Victoria. ?Jointly funded by the state and federal governments, the program aims to reduce the energy bills of residents living in apartments. ?The Northcote complex received $39,200 to install a solar system that will connect 14 apartments to renewable energy that is expected to save residents up to $500 a year off their energy bill.

Universities join bid to launch offshore wind in Australia with new research centre (Renew Economy): ?Universities from across Australia have partnered to launch the Australian Centre for Offshore Wind Energy (ACOWE) which will seek to address key challenges facing the offshore wind energy industry in Australia. ?Launched by the University of Melbourne in partnership with five other Australian universities along with key offshore wind stakeholders, ACOWE will serve as the gateway for access to multidisciplinary Australian research capabilities, acting as a trusted source of knowledge for the community and collaborating with stakeholders to advance research, teaching, and training.

OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST

Sluggish, slow and anaemic: BloombergNEF sad take on Australia's green energy transition (Renew Economy): ? Australia is in a race to try and reach both its binding 2030 nationwide emissions reduction targets and its voluntary renewable energy targets, and if it is to have any chance of reaching either, it's going to have to get a move on.? A semi-annual assessment of Australia's climate efforts and green transition, by the leading global outfit BloombergNEF, provides a dispiriting assessment of the pace of the green energy transition to date.?

Australian big battery market building towards record year (PV Magazine): ? Rystad Energy said developers have begun building more than 2.8GW of new battery energy storage capacity in Australia since the start of the year, laying the foundation for what is shaping to be another record year of new utility scale battery installs.? A record 4GW / 10 GWh of grid-scale battery energy storage projects commenced construction across Australia in 2023 but that mark is almost certain to be eclipsed this year.?

Wind and solar power overtake fossil fuels in Europe (Renew Economy): ?Wind and solar energy generation in the European Union (EU) overtook fossil fuels for the first time during the first six months of 2024, accounting for 30 per cent of the EU’s electricity compared to fossil fuels’ 27 per cent. ?A new analysis from European energy think tank Ember published on Tuesday reveals that wind and solar generated more electricity than fossil fuels during the first six months of 2024, the first time this has happened in a half year period.

Australian researchers race to smash the solar efficiency ceiling using “singlet fission” (Renew Economy): ?A team of Australian researchers from the University of New South Wales is racing another tam from MIT in the US to boost the efficiency limits of silicon solar cells using quantum mechanics. ?Silicon solar cell efficiency – the fraction of energy supplied by the sun that can be converted into electricity – is theoretically limited to an “absolute limit” of 29.4 per cent, according to Ned Ekins-Daukes from UNSW’s School of Photovoltaics & Renewable Energy Engineering.

Generators fill their pockets again, pushing grid prices to new highs and leaving renewables to cop the blame (Renew Economy): ?Competition, they say, is good for the market. ?We can but hope. ?Right now, it is clear there is not enough competition in the Australian wholesale electricity market, and the big players – and some new ones – are intent on making hay while the sun shines, knowing that it is their “cherished” consumers who will have to foot the bill. ?Wholesale electricity prices hit a new landmark on Tuesday night when all five states that make up Australia’s main grid, the National Electricity Market, had prices pushed above $15,000 a megawatt hour (MWh) at the same time. ?According to market observers, this has never been seen before.

AI won’t use as much electricity as we are told, and it’s not a reason to slow transition to renewables (Renew Economy): ?The recent rise of “generative AI” models has led to a lot of dire predictions about the associated requirements for energy.? It has been estimated that AI will consume anything from 9 to 25 per cent of all US electricity by 2032. ?But we have been here before.? Predictions of this kind have been made ever since the emergence of the Internet as a central part of modern life, often tied to claims and counterclaims about the transition to renewable energy.

Coalition’s wind turbine ban lives on, as VicGrid takes first steps to map new renewable zones (Renew Economy): ?A map identifying which parts of Victoria are best suited to host future renewable energy projects has revealed that the wind farm “no go zones” introduced by former Coalition premier Ted Baillieu more than a decade ago are still in place. ?VicGrid last week launched consultation on the draft Victorian Transmission Plan Guidelines, including the release of a mapped study identifying which parts of the state will be investigated further as part of a multi-stage process to establish new renewable energy zones.

Methane is turbocharging unnatural disasters – Australia must get serious about reducing emissions (The Conversation): ?One of the most significant achievements of the 26th United Nations climate conference in Glasgow (COP26) three years ago was the launch of the Global Methane Pledge. ?The goal is to reduce global methane emissions at least 30% by 2030. ?Methane (CH?) is the second most significant climate pollutant after carbon dioxide (CO?). ?In the words of one of the architects of the pledge, then US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, “tackling methane is the fastest, most effective way to reduce near-term warming and keep 1.5°C within reach”.

That cool op-shop jacket could earn you carbon credits (Financial Review): ? Customers who buy second hand clothes at op-shops would earn carbon credits under one of the first privately generated trading schemes to be considered for adoption by federal regulators. ?Good Sammy Enterprises chief executive Kane Blackman said governments should offer financial incentives to people who recycle and reuse clothes in a bid to curb the greenhouse gas emissions generated by the import of new garments and textiles.