A record number of Australians are linking climate change to the increased rate and severity of natural disasters, including extended droughts, a new report has found. The Australia Institute’s Climate […]
Tag: coal
Ageing coal-fired power plants put Australia on the map of global air pollution hotspots
Australia’s ageing coal-fired power plants have put the nation on a list of the world’s top emitting countries for toxic sulphur-dioxide, a new report has found. The report from […]
Why solar will leave coal for dead
– This is a copy of an article written by Rory McGuire and sent to the Sydney Morning Herald. Rory is a Sydney journalist who has been watching the solar […]
ESB scraps proposal of mandatory storage for all new wind & solar
Australia’s Energy Security Board has effectively rejected the Conservative push for wind and solar to conform to outdated standards of “baseload” energy supply, and instead focused its thinking on reliability […]
100% renewables “cheaper, less risky” than building new coal: ATA
Powering Australia with 100 per cent renewable energy is not only achievable by as early as 2030, but would be a “cheaper and less risky” plan than building new coal-fired […]
Global energy industry at ‘tipping point’ for coal, wind & solar: BNEF
The global energy industry is experiencing two major tipping points that mean coal will never be great again, and the age of wind and solar has arrived. Speaking at Bloomberg […]
Australia now has over 6 gigawatts (!) of small-scale solar after record August
Without googling the answer, do you know what the capacity of the largest conventional power plant in Australia is? I couldn’t, so I did google it – and now I […]
Half a million solar panels installed every day in 2015: IEA
An average of half a million solar panels a day were installed globally in 2015 and more than four wind turbines every hour, as renewables overtook coal for the first time and […]
Could solar towers (with storage) replace Victoria’s ageing coal plants?
Analysts are scrambling to identify the possible impacts of the closure of Australia’s most polluting power station, and the withdrawal of more than 1500MW of coal-fired capacity from the Victorian […]
US study shows coal jobs could be replaced with solar jobs – with implications for Australia
A new study out of the US has quantified the costs and benefits of retraining American coal workers for employment in the solar PV industry, and the results are encouraging […]
Market operator says grid can accommodate more wind & solar with the right regulation
The Australian Energy Market Operator has denied claims Australia cannot accommodate any more wind and solar, and says the main challenge will be in designing the appropriate market signals and […]
‘Baseload’ will be an irrelevant term in the future renewable energy grid
A new report from WWF Australia has questioned the concept of “baseload” energy, arguing that this model of power generation will be made redundant by a 100 per cent renewable […]
More rooftop solar could bolster energy security for Tasmania: Report
A new report has emerged suggesting that the solar power generated on Tasmania’s rooftops is being seriously undervalued, a factor that is holding back growth in an industry that could […]
Coal plant closures would have ‘negligible’ impact on electricity prices: RepuTex
Shutting down Australia’s dirtiest coal-fired power plants as soon as 2017 would have a “negligible” effect on electricity prices, a new report has found. The analysis, by energy and emissions […]
Greens propose plan to wean Australia off coal
A seven-point policy plan to wean the Australian economy and electricity network off coal, has been unveiled by the Greens, including an immediate ban on all new coal and gas […]
Clean Energy Council calls on state & federal governments to remove remove hurdles for renewables
Australia’s clean energy industry has appealed to federal and state environment ministers to remove barriers that threaten to stifle the deployment of renewable energy and the much-vaunted “energy revolution”. These […]
Battery storage systems to be allowed to export energy in WA from December
The Australian electricity industry is being “Uber’d” by battery storage technology, according to comments from West Australian energy minister Mike Nahan, a process he predicts will fundamentally change the nature […]
Australian subsidies for fossil fuels are $5.6 billion annually: Report
A new international report by the UK’s Overseas Development Institute (ODI) has revealed that Australia is still subsidising fossil fuel production to the tune of a massive $A5.6 billion a […]
Unsubsidised large-scale solar beats coal, gas in Indian & Chilean auctions
Large-scale solar energy projects continue to make extraordinary gains against their fossil fuel rivals, with two stunning auction results in India and Chile over the past week both illustrating that […]
Over half of new US generation capacity in 2015 was renewables
More than 60 per cent of new electricity generating capacity brought online inthe US in 2015 has been provided by renewable energy sources, a new report has revealed. The report, […]
As India’s large-scale solar costs drop, Australian coal projects may lose lustre
The cost of large scale solar development in India is expected to fall again, further undermining the case for new coal generators, and the economics of importing coal from mega […]
Adani Group could develop large-scale solar project in QLD
The Indian company behind plans to develop a mega-coal mining project in Queensland’s Galilee Basin could also have plans to build a large-scale solar plant in the heart of the […]
Australia to have lowest-cost large-scale wind & solar projects in APAC – and coal can’t compete
Solar projects built in Australia are cheaper than any of its Asian neighbours, according to new research by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, while new Australian coal plants would be 50 […]
China could raise 2020 solar target by 50GW to 150GW – necessitating 20GW of new solar per year
Reports from China suggest the country could lift its 2020 solar target from 100GW to 150GW, meaning more than 20GW of solar would need to be added in each year […]
Labor’s 50% renewables target would require $80b in investment: UBS
Federal Labor’s proposed 50 per cent renewable energy target for Australia by 2030 would require around $80 billion in investment, much of which would need to be spent anyway, a […]
Australia will have 50GW of solar by 2040 – most of it ‘behind the meter’
Australia will have more than 50GW of installed solar capacity by 2040, according to a new forecast by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, and more than half of this capacity will […]
Australia one of the most attractive battery storage markets in the world: Kokam CEO
Australia is one of the most attractive markets in the world for battery storage, according to one of the world’s leading battery manufacturers – and not just at the household […]
QLD’s distributed rooftop solar ranks in top 10 largest generators in Aus
A new graph has shown that rooftop solar from individual states now ranks among the top generators in Australia. The graph, created by former Energex executive Mike Swanston in response […]
Solar will meet 100% of WA daytime electricity demand within next decade, says state’s energy minister
Western Australia’s treasurer and energy minister, Mike Nahan, has predicted that solar PV will meet the daytime electricity needs of the state within the next decade, in a speech at […]
Vic government to address barriers to wind farms, distributed solar & storage
Just weeks after the federal government ordered the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to cease backing wind energy and rooftop solar in Australia, Victoria’s state Labor government has committed to drive […]
New solar & storage-friendly electricity market rules delayed until 2020
New electricity market rules that could have encouraged Australian networks and consumers to take up solar PV, battery storage and demand management systems have been delayed for another five years. […]
