30 August 2024

CLIMATE POLITICS

Bill passed to seize net zero opportunities (Energy Magazine): The bill to establish a Net Zero Economy Authority has passed through the Senate, which aims to ensure that the regions that have powered Australia for generations can take advantage of the opportunities presented by the energy transition.? The Federal Government said that the global transformation to a net zero economy is a massive opportunity for Australia, its regions, industries, and workers.

Australia taps chief scientist to lead review on fossil methane measurement approaches (Carbon Pulse): The Australian government has appointed the country’s chief scientist to lead an expert panel to advise on greenhouse gas measurement approaches that could potentially improve its fossil methane estimations, it announced Monday.

CARBON MARKETS

ACCU Scheme reforms well underway, but needed legislative changes still in the works, govt says (Carbon Pulse): The Australian government has said its work to strengthen the integrity of the country’s carbon crediting scheme is well in hand in its response to both the 2023 and 2020 review of the market by the Climate Change Authority (CCA).

AU Market: ACCUs trade higher, but likely to remain subdued for now, report says (Carbon Pulse): The price of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) has inched upwards in recent weeks thanks to steady demand from Safeguard Mechanism entities, however one report expects prices to continue to remain rangebound in the short term.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Australian supermarket giant commits to SBTi deforestation targets (Carbon Pulse): Australian supermarket giant Woolworths Group will stop selling beef and other commodities linked to deforestation by the end of next year, in accordance with Science-based Targets Initiative (SBTi) guidance, it said on Wednesday.

Water utility completes switch to 100 per cent renewables (Renew Economy): Barwon Water, Victoria’s largest regional urban water corporation serving residents in and around Geelong and Colac, announced on Tuesday that it has completed the switch to 100 per cent renewables. Serving more than 320,000 permanent residents – and up to 545,000 people during peak holiday periods – Barwon Water’s service area includes the City of Greater Geelong, Borough of Queenscliffe, Surf Coast Shire, Colac-Otway Shire, and part of the Golden Plains Shire.

Australian miner says committed to ‘real zero’ by 2030, shuns offsets (Carbon Pulse): Fortescue, one of Australia’s iron ore giants, used Wednesday’s full year financial results presentation to underline its plans to hit zero emissions for Scopes 1 and 2 by the end of this decade despite its diesel-heavy carbon footprint.

GREEN PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES

AGL virtual battery agreement boosting capacity (Energy Magazine): AGL and Neoen have signed a second virtual battery agreement for up to 200MW/400MWh of virtual battery capacity at Neoen’s Western Downs Battery in south-west Queensland. The ten-year agreement follows a seven-year agreement announced in April 2022 for 70MW of Neoen’s 100MW/200MWh Capital Battery in the ACT.

Victoria’s biggest battery becomes first project through new renewables fast track (Renew Economy): The Victorian government has given the green light to what it says will be the state’s biggest big battery, at least for now – a 350 megawatt (MW), two hour energy storage project being developed by ACEnergy in the Wimmera region.The Allan Labor government said on Thursday that the Joel Joel Battery Energy Storage Project has been approved after just nine weeks in the planning assessment pipeline, marking the first renewables project to be fully processed from start to finish under the state’s fast-tracked approvals pathway.

Transgrid secures funding for VNI West (Energy Magazine): Transgrid securityholders have committed almost $700 million to progress early works on the New South Wales section of the VNI West transmission line, with a further $140 million provided by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC). CEFC funding has been granted under the Federal Government’s $20 billion Rewiring the Nation (RTN) program, in recognition of the importance of the project to the National Electricity Market (NEM).

“Opportunity has been lost:” 12 GW wind and solar project canned in latest blow to green hydrogen (Renew Economy): Another major green hydrogen project has been canned by its developers, this time a massive project in Western Australia that would have required up to 12 gigawatts (GW) of new wind and solar capacity.The HyEnergy project in the Gascoyne region near Carnarvon, north of Perth, had been proposed by the listed company Province Resources, one of a number of huge multi-gigawatt scale proposals that targeted the growing opportunities in green hydrogen.

Major transmission project gets $840 million injection to kickstart early works (PV Magazine): The Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector West (VNI West) 500 kV double circuit transmission line connecting high voltage electricity grids in both states, has received an $840 million boost to progress early works on the nation-critical project. Jointly developed by New South Wales grid operator Transgrid and the Transmission Company Victoria, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), the VNI West will connect major transmission projects, EnergyConnect in NSW and the Western Renewables Link (WRL) in Victoria.

Construction milestone for Vic solar farm (Energy Magazine): ENGIE’s 250MW Goorambat East Solar Farm is progressing, with AusNet set to commence construction on the transmission connection for the project. ?AusNet will design, build, own and operate the transmission assets for the solar farm, which is located 12km north of Benalla in Victoria. ?When complete, the Goorambat East Solar Farm will have a capacity of 250MW, enough electricity to power 105,000 average Victorian homes.

Southern Cross wind farm approved (Business News): A Fortescue-related wind farm has cleared a planning hurdle after proponent Yilgarn Holdings resubmitted the proposal through the local government pathway.The Shire of Yilgarn council this month approved the proposed 10-turbine and 10-megawatt battery storage facility, to be built on a 1,464-hectare farmland in Southern Cross.

Ground-breaking solar and battery microgrid to double in capacity at WA gold mine (Renew Economy): A groundbreaking hybrid solar and battery microgrid installed in 2020 to help power a gold mine in remote Western Australia will have its generation capacity more than doubled, boosting the share of renewables used to power the mine’s operations to 21 per cent. Global mining giant Gold Fields announced earlier this month that it is expanding the solar farm at its Granny Smith mine, south of Laverton, to a total of 19MW of solar – an increase of 11MW – alongside added capacity through the battery energy storage system.

Major South Australian hydrogen project secures development approval (PV Magazine): The South Australian Hydrogen Jobs Plan (HJP) has secured development approval, subject to conditions, from state and federal agencies for the construction and operation of hydrogen electrolysers, storage and a hydrogen fuelled power plant. The HJP is the 200 MW Whyalla hydrogen power plant located 9-kilometres from Whyalla, South Australia (SA) and 380-kilometres northwest of Adelaide.

Construction of Mortlake BESS underway (Energy Magazine): Origin has announced that construction of the 300MW large-scale battery at Mortlake Power Station has officially commenced, with works expected to be completed in late 2026. The milestone was celebrated with a Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony to cleanse and ward off bad spirits from the site, led by Shane Harrison from the Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation, and attended by Origin’s project team and key project partners and contractors.?

Snowy Hydro adds fourth tunnel borer in bid to keep project on track (Financial Review): Snowy Hydro has bitten the bullet and kicked off the process to bring in an extra tunnel-boring machine for its troubled Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project in NSW as it seeks to prevent a further delay in its start-up. The fourth of the boring machines – huge pieces of equipment up to 200 metres long that can weigh more than 2000 tonnes – will cost about $75 million, the federal government-owned generator said.

Zen inks deal to buy output from first solar and battery hybrid project in New South Wales (Renew Economy): Australian renewables developer and retailer Zen Energy has signed up to buy the majority of electricity produced by a newly announced solar and battery project that is set to begin construction in the central west of New South Wales. Enel Green Power Australia’s Quorn Park Hybrid Project will combine a 98MW solar farm with a 20MW, 40MWh battery around 10km north west of Parkes. The project reached financial close in July is expected to be operational in 2026.

Milestone for green SA streetlight transition (Energy Magazine): More than 4812 streetlights in the City of Port Adelaide Enfield (City of PAE) area have been switched over to LED light bulbs, with stage one of the council’s bulk LED rollout project now complete.? In 2023, SA Power Networks partnered with the City of Port Adelaide Enfield to roll out the project, focussing on Stobie pole-mounted lights on residential streets. The $2.46 million project began in December 2023 and finished by its target of the end of the 2023–24 financial year.

OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST

Australia’s electricity grid to remain reliable if renewable projects delivered ‘on time and in full’, Aemo says (The Guardian): Australia’s electricity authority has declared the country’s main power grid will remain reliable as it shifts from coal domination to running overwhelmingly on renewable energy – but only if investments in new generation are delivered “on time and in full”. The Australian Energy Market Operator reached its conclusion in a report that considered what needs to be built over the next decade to maintain the National Electricity Market, which links the five eastern states and the Australian Capital Territory.

Researchers analysed 1,500 climate policies to find what works. These are the lessons for Australia (The Conversation): Almost 35 years have passed since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its first assessment report. It found human activities were substantially increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO?) and other gases ion the atmosphere, which was warming the global climate. Since then, countries around the world have introduced a slew of policies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But what actually worked?

Electric and hydrogen truck trials roll out as mining industry pushes to lower emissions (ABC News): The push to lower emissions from Australia's mining industry is gaining momentum with trials of large-scale electric and hydrogen trucks now underway, and the race on to find the best solution.? Electrical engineer Clayton Franklin has had a foot in both camps.

Fortescue doubles down on green iron, says green hydrogen market “stuck in limbo” (Renew Economy): Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals says it is “doubling down” on its green iron plans in the Pilbara, inspired by “insatiable demand” from China, but also as part of a pivot away from green hydrogen, as high energy prices and unstable politics continue to dog the business case for the renewable fuel. Fortescue on Wednesday reported its third highest earnings in the company’s history for the 2024 financial year, although at the same time the company’s green energy arm, Fortescue Energy, posted a loss of $US659 million, with spending of more than $US1.2 billion.

Three key reasons why the world is falling behind on its renewable energy targets: report (Renew Economy): Deployment of renewable energy technologies is falling behind what is needed to reach global targets as investors hesitate to commit the necessary capital, threatening hundreds of gigawatts of vital renewable energy capacity. And while there remains significant support for renewable energy across major regions like Europe and the United States, the near-term pipeline remains at risk, with many projects yet to reach final investment decision (FID), increasing the risk of project cancellation.

Talk isn’t enough: Pacific nations say Australia must end new fossil fuel projects (The Conversation): This week, one of the world’s largest fossil fuel exporters went to a meeting of island states strongly affected by human-induced climate change. Or, in more conventional language, Australian leaders attended the annual Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga.

UN secretary-general calls on major polluters to show leadership in cutting emissions to prevent Pacific climate catastrophe (ABC News): UN secretary-general António Guterres warns that Pacific nations are facing growing threats to their existence from the effects of climate change.Mr Guterres is calling on major economies such as Australia to take the lead on cutting carbon emissions and supporting vulnerable countries.

New training modules to address hydrogen worker shortages (Energy Magazine): Swinburne University of Technology has developed eleven new micro-learning modules to address the skills gap in Australia’s hydrogen industry. Funded by the Victorian Government, Swinburne Edge collaborated with hydrogen industry leaders to develop the framework behind the interactive digitised learning modules that aim to fast-track Australia’s hydrogen adoption.?

Rooftop PV sends grid demand to new winter low, as big wind and solar hit by record curtailment (Energy Magazine): The still surging rooftop solar market continues to have an impact on the electricity grid and energy assets in ways that most of the households and businesses that own the PV modules could not have imagined. The Australia Energy Market Operator reports that operational demand on Australia’s main grid (the National Electricity Market) hit a new winter low of just 12,144 megawatts (MW) at 1pm on Saturday, as rooftop solar accounted for 46.5 per cent of the grid’s supply on a warm and sunny afternoon.