Thread: Keeping tabs on Australia"s newly elected Government

Doctors Call Code Red: New report warns climate pollution is our biggest killer

Today at Parliament House, Doctors from across Australia delivered an alarming new report, Fossil Fuels are a Health Hazard.

The report by medical group Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA),handed down with communications collective Comms Declare, was launched by the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, Ged Kearney.

With fossil fuel pollution currently leading to more deaths globally than smoking(1), the report calls on the government to:

• Commit to a phase out of coal, oil and gas because of incontrovertible evidence of health impacts
• Introduce national restrictions on fossil fuel advertising and sponsorships
• Secure federally mandated and standardised ‘climate warning’ labels on advertisements for carbon intensive products

Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, Ged Kearney MP acknowledged the impact of climate change, stating: “From extreme heat to more frequent bushfires, climate change is forever changing our environment and how we live. Australia needs a health system that is prepared for these challenges.

“Our National Strategy on Health and Climate lays the foundations for all of society to work together to address the impacts of climate change on Australians' health and wellbeing”.

DEA’s Executive Director and GP, Dr Kate Wylie says:

“Coal, oil and gas are driving dangerous air pollution. This smoke kills - whether it’s coming from a gas stove or a car exhaust, it gets into our lungs and bloodstream and causes disease, disability and death.

“Coal, oil and gas are also the main drivers of escalating climate change which is behind extreme weather such as heat, floods and bushfires whose dire impacts we’ve seen in Australia and overseas.

“As health professionals it’s our role to fearlessly and loudly advocate for the health of all Australians. Just like we called out the health harms of smoking, alcohol, and junk food - even guns- we are now ringing the alarm for fossil fuels.

“And similar to addressing the health impacts of tobacco by first quitting smoking, to address the impacts of fossil fuels we must first quit coal, oil and gas.

“This precautionary approach to health hazards has prompted government regulations. Now is the time for policy makers to show the same leadership and act on fossil fuels- the biggest public health risk humanity has faced.

“If we don’t act on this as a public health priority, simply put, more people are going to die or experience significant illness linked to fossil fuels”

Comms Declare Founder Belinda Noble says:

“Fossil fuel pollution is killing more Australians than car crashes, alcohol and gambling combined(2) and yet the fossil fuel industry is allowed to continue spending millions of dollars on promotion every year. Australia was a world leader in restricting tobacco advertising for the public good, and we should stop the promotion of high emission products for the same reason.”

“Combined with the accelerating impacts of an unstable climate, we believe fossil fuels will overtake junk food to become Australia’s most deadly advertised products.”

“There is already global action underway with UN Secretary General António Guterres recently calling for a global fossil fuel ban and restrictions imposed in France, Sydney and dozens of other cities. If our government is committed to protecting Australians and fighting climate change then banning fossil fuel advertising is an obvious first step.”

Read the report here: dea.org.au/fossil_fuels_are_a_health_hazard_report

Chair of Nuclear for Australia denies that calling CO2 ‘plant food’ means he is a climate denier

The chair of a leading Australian nuclear advocacy group has called concerns that carbon dioxide emissions are driving a climate crisis an “irrational fear of a trace gas which is plant food” and has rejected links between worsening extreme weather and global heating.

Several statements from Dr Adi Paterson, reviewed by the Guardian, appear at odds with statements from the group he chairs, Nuclear for Australia, which is hosting a petition saying nuclear is needed to tackle an “energy and climate crisis”.

Nuclear for Australia was founded by 18-year-old Queensland nuclear advocate Will Shackel, who has said repeatedly he believes reactors are needed to fight “the climate crisis”.

Two climate science experts told the Guardian that Paterson’s statements were misguided and typical of climate science denial.

Paterson defended his statements, telling the Guardian he was “not a climate denier”. He described himself as “a climate realist” and an “expert on climate science”.

In May, Paterson, who resigned in 2020 as the chief executive of the government’s Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, suggested on LinkedIn that concerns about climate change were “an irrational fear of a trace gas which is plant food”. He has been a regular guest on right-wing media outlets since the Coalition earlier this year said it wanted to lift the ban on nuclear and build reactors in seven locations.

On his Facebook page, Paterson has said that “cold is more dangerous than warm” and described a leading scientist as a “climate creep”.

On LinkedIn, he said US space agency Nasa was “deliberately confusing public understanding by publishing ground surface temperatures”, saying the agency’s climate work “should be given to a credible independent group. Defund NASA!”

In April, Paterson told an audience at the Centre for Independent Studies that “you can’t make a correlation between extreme events and climate” and said “no matter what you believe about carbon dioxide – it is plant food”.

“Increasing carbon a little bit is not going to dramatically change the climate. The plants will grow better,” he said, saying the planet was in a period of low CO2.

Prof David Karoly, a councillor at the Climate Council and a respected atmospheric scientist who has been studying the affects of CO2 on the climate since the late 1980s, said Paterson’s statements were typical of those from climate science deniers.

He said while CO2 levels were currently low in comparison to other times in Earth’s history, they were higher than at any time since the emergence of homo sapiens.

“He is misguided,” Karoly said. “CO2 has led to increases in temperature extremes, extreme rainfall, sea level rise and increases in bushfires and fire weather. CO2 has already dramatically changed the climate.”

Dr John Cook, an expert on climate change misinformation at the University of Melbourne, said Paterson was “regurgitating arguments” across a range of “thoroughly debunked talking points”.

He said: “It’s inconsistent to argue that CO2 is a trace gas which can’t possibly make any difference but at the same time claim that CO2 is going to green the planet.”

Shackel did not respond to questions. In an interview with the Guardian, Paterson argued the UN’s climate change panel “has made it very clear” that it was “not possible at this point” to link extreme events to changes in the climate.

But the panel’s latest report said it was “an established fact that human-induced greenhouse gas emissions have led to an increased frequency and/or intensity of some weather and climate extremes”, with evidence for rising temperature extremes, extreme rainfall, droughts, tropical cyclones and more dangerous fire weather.

Paterson said he did think rising levels of CO2 were a problem and that fossil fuels needed to be limited “as soon as we can”. “It is a very, very serious problem but it is not a climate crisis,” he said.

He said he had been concerned about climate change for many years but said unduly worrying children over the issue was “a form of child abuse”, and “the chance of significant catastrophic events” occurring in the next 30 years “related to an increase of CO2 in the atmosphere in the southern hemisphere” was “small”.

Paterson added he was more concerned about the “ecocide” from building wind and solar farms” than about climate change.

Commonwealth Bank winds back fossil fuel investment in latest climate report

In a move that might have some political reverberations, Commonwealth Bank, Australia’s biggest bank, has released its annual climate report which further winds back financing for the fossil fuel industry.

As we noted here last month, CBA was already lending the least among the big four Australian banks to gas, coal and oil industries.

Now they’ve gone further, declaring today it will halt “new corporate or trade finance, or bond facilitation” for companies in that sector beyond the end of this year unless they meet the bank’s core criteria.

That criteria is based on keeping temperatures “well below” the 2C goal of the Paris agreement (not the 1.5C end of that range, mind). Still, CBA demands clients provide a “transition plan” on how they’re cutting emissions - and if the plan falls short or they don’t provide one, the funding tap is turned off.

Market Forces, a lobby group, hailed what they said had been “the worst offender on climate and lending to fossil fuel companies to the first of Australia’s major banks to announce its break up with climate-wrecking clients”.

Kyle Robertson, the group’s senior banks analyst, said CBA’s move stood in contrast with ANZ, NAB and Westpac which were all busily arranging a new $750m for Santos for its “massive and dangerous expansion plans”.

ANZ, NAB and Westpac shareholders, customers and staff will be furious these banks are breaking their climate promises again, and expect them to match CommBank when they release their disclosures in November,” Robertson said.

https://www.commbank.com.au/content/...ate-Report.pdf

Huge NT solar farm backed by Mike Cannon-Brookes gets environmental approval

Go-ahead given for first stage of $30bn SunCable project, which minister says will be ‘transformational’ for Northern Territory

The Australian government has given the green light to the first stages of what it describes as the country’s “biggest renewable energy project ever” – an ambitious proposal to send energy from a solar farm in the Northern Territory outback to Singapore via subsea cables.

The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, said the approval under conservation law of SunCable’s $30bn-plus Australia-Asia Power Link was a “massive step towards making Australia a renewable energy superpower” and that the project would be “economically and socially transformational” for the NT.

Backed by the tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, SunCable’s proposal includes a huge solar farm on a former pastoral station between Elliot and Tennant Creek, an 800km transmission line to Darwin and 4,300km of underwater cables to deliver electricity to Singapore.

Plibersek said it was “a generation-defining piece of infrastructure”. “It will be the largest solar precinct in the world and heralds Australia as the world leader in green energy,” she said. “It shows that the energy transition is real and it’s happening right now.”

The federal approval was announced three days before the NT election. It follows the development winning formal support from the NT Labor government last month.

SunCable Australia’s managing director, Cameron Garnsworthy, said the federal decision was a “vote of confidence” and a “landmark moment in the project’s journey”. He said a final investment decision on whether it went ahead was not expected before 2027, with electricity supply expected to start in the 2030s.

Plibersek said the approved project was expected to generate enough electricity to power 3m homes and support 14,300 jobs at the peak of construction.

She said there were strict conditions to protect nature, including avoiding the greater bilby, which is considered vulnerable to extinction. The bilby is on a list of 21 threatened mammals the government has said it will prioritise for protection.

Some details of the SunCable project have changed since it was announced more than six years ago. The federal government approval allows construction of up to 10 gigawatts of solar and 42 gigawatt-hour of battery storage capacity on a 12,000 hectare site at Powell Creek, an overhead transmission line to Darwin and a cable to the edge of the Australia-Indonesia maritime border.

The company said it was aiming to provide up to 4GW of energy to Darwin and 2GW to Singapore in the project’s first two stages. It was also considering adding a windfarm but that would need separate approval.

SunCable went into voluntary administration last year after billionaire investors Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest fell out over its direction. Forrest later left the venture, and a consortium including Cannon-Brookes’s Grok Ventures and Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners eventually took on the company’s assets.

It said its next steps would include ongoing negotiations with traditional owners over Indigenous land use agreements and engaging with authorities in Singapore and Indonesia on its subsea cable plans.

Australia passes Net Zero Economy Authority Bill as green energy push continues

The Australian Senate has passed the Net Zero Economy Authority (NZEA) Bill, as the country seeks to establish a standalone statutory authority for its energy industry.

The NZEA will oversee Australia’s transition to net zero by 2050, with the country also targeting a 43% reduction of emissions by 2030, relative to a 2005 baseline.

The authority will work on the coordination of net zero efforts across government and key stakeholders, promoting consistency in the design and implementation of Australia’s climate policy.

According to a statement released on Wednesday, the NZEA will also try to encourage “public and private sector participation and investment in greenhouse gas emissions reduction and net zero transformation initiatives”.

The authority will also support workers in emissions-intensive energy industries who are affected by the net-zero transition. This will include paid retraining, redeployment, and financial assistance.

The Bill was introduced in March by the Labor government led by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. It garnered crossbench support from senators and will return to the House of Representatives next month.

According to reports, the government committed A$189m ($123m) to the establishment of the authority.

It will be chaired by former federal judge Dr Iain Ross and governed by up to eight members, four of which must have experience in the trade union, business, industry, finance, or investment sectors.

The Bill has been welcomed by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), which pointed to the job insecurity of the country’s energy workers as at least five coal-fired power stations and four natural gas-fired power stations are slated to close across Australia in the next five years.

ACTU president Michele O’Neil commented: “The benefits will support Australian energy workers and communities to continue powering our economy for generations to come.”

Data from Power Technology’s parent company GlobalData has revealed that Australia’s increase in renewable capacity has decreased the country’s reliance on so-called thermal resources.

Last month, the country’s second-largest pension fund The Australian Retirement Trust ceased most of its investments in thermal coal companies.

Chief Scientist Cathy Foley to lead expert methane reporting panel

The Albanese Government is appointing Chief Scientist Cathy Foley AO PSM to lead an expert panel as part of our broader efforts to ensure the ongoing reporting for methane and other greenhouse gases is accurate and transparent.

Today, the Government has released its response to the recommendations of the 2023 review of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) scheme conducted by the independent Climate Change Authority (CCA). This review had a particular focus on the integrity of methane measurement following a written request by the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen last year.

The CCA found the NGER scheme is “performing well and continues to be integral to meeting Australia’s international energy and emissions reporting obligations”, supporting Australia’s net zero transformation and Safeguard Mechanism.

The CCA made 25 recommendations for the NGER scheme, including adjustments to data transparency, coverage, methane emissions measurement, reporting and verification and administration.

The Government has agreed in full or agreed in principle to 24 of the CCA’s NGER Scheme recommendations and noted 1 recommendation.

The Government has agreed to the CCA’s recommendation to establish an expert panel to advise the Government on the potential role atmospheric measurement approaches could play in further enhancing Australia’s fossil methane emissions estimation. The Government has asked Australia’s Chief Scientist Dr Cathy Foley AO PSM to lead this panel.

The Panel’s work will be informed by a scientific study to be commissioned by the Government to test the capability of a range of atmospheric measurement approaches. The study’s design will draw on the findings from an ongoing integrated atmospheric measurement study commissioned by the government that is testing satellite, plane, vehicle and ground-based approaches in an operational open-cut mine setting.

As part of the 2024 annual improvements to the NGER scheme made in June, the Government has already implemented improvements consistent with the CCA’s recommendations. These include

• introduce market-based reporting arrangements for renewable liquid fuels in the NGER Measurement Determination from 1 July 2024;
• phase out the use of Method 1 for the estimation of fugitive emissions from the extraction of coal from open cut coal mines covered by the Safeguard Mechanism (this captures the vast majority of relevant fugitive emissions);
• introduce an additional Method 2 for the estimation of fugitive emissions from natural gas flaring activities; and
• incentivise on-site abatement through refinements to the existing Method 2 for the estimation of fugitive methane emissions from produced formation water arising from oil and gas sector activities.

To increase transparency, our Safeguard Mechanism reforms mandated the publication of methane emissions for each Safeguard facility and the Government is implementing further requirements for the methods used by coal, oil and gas facilities for each source of fugitive methane emissions to be published alongside that information.

The Government will build on the 2024 improvements to implement the CCA recommendation to review Method 2 for open-cut mines.

Minister Bowen said Dr Foley’s role was a vital part of the Government ensuring the continued integrity of Australia’s emissions reporting, particularly in relation to methane emissions.

“The Climate Change Authority has found Australia’s emissions reporting scheme is performing well and supporting Australia’s net zero transformation delivery,” Minister Bowen said.

“Methane is among the world’s most powerful greenhouse gases. It is essential that our measurement approaches continue to improve, based on sound science and expert analysis, as technologies provide additional opportunities for increased accuracy and integrity consistent with Paris Agreement emission reporting rules.

“By listening to the expert advice we are ensuring Australia remains a world leader in emission estimation, which is crucial to delivering emissions reductions as well as unlocking our potential as a renewable energy superpower.”

The NGER scheme is a national framework for reporting and disseminating company information about greenhouse gas emissions, energy production and consumption.

The full response to the CCA’s review of the NGER scheme is available on the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water website at https://www.dcceew.gov.au/about/reporting/obligations/government-respon…

https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/defa...ger-review.pdf - https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/bowen...eporting-panel

Environment Centre of the NT labels $1.5bn Middle Arm funding ‘nothing more than a fossil fuel subsidy’

NT Middle Arm 'Pollution Factory' would wreck Darwin Harbour, fuel climate change, risk Future Made in Australia

On the eve of the NT election, the proposed ‘Middle Arm’ gas and petrochemical hub for Darwin Harbour has been strongly criticised by a Senate Report for its negative impact on the environment & climate, human health, local wildlife and local business operators.

The Greens have said the Government’s Future Made in Australia agenda is at risk while the Government backs taxpayer subsidised fossil fuels and petrochemicals on Darwin Harbour. The NT needs investment in a clean and renewable future, in health, housing and education, not gas and cancer-causing chemicals.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is Chair of the Middle Arm Inquiry, Greens Spokesperson for Environment:

“We should be investing in Darwin’s future, but Middle Arm in its current form will put the Northern Territory’s communities and ecosystems at risk.

“The Middle Arm gas and petrochemical proposal would wreck Darwin Harbour, harm human health and fuel dangerous climate change. We simply can not proceed with massive new gas and fossil fuel projects subsidised by taxpayers.

“We should be investing $1.5 billion into powering the NT up for a renewable future. Instead, the Albanese Government wants to fund gas and cancer-causing chemicals in Darwin harbour.

“Darwin residents, experts, health professionals, scientists, Traditional Owners and small businesses operators were clear in their evidence to this Inquiry: Darwin needs clean air & clean water. The Middle Arm scheme would wreck the beautiful Darwin harbour and ignore community voices.

“Beyond the risks to human health including increased risk of cancer for residents living in close proximity, we heard concerning evidence about the threats to wildlife including dolphins and the critically endangered far eastern curlew. Local residents, small businesses, tourism operators and fishermen were strongly opposed.

“Widespread opposition to the current Middle Arm proposal was loud and clear, but sadly Labor and Liberal are too close to the big corporations and are not listening.

“This Saturday, Territorians have the opportunity to send a message at the ballot box. We should be investing in clean industries and the futures of NT residents instead of toxic chemicals and fossil fuel pollution.

"Greens candidate Suki Dorras-Walker is running in the winnable seat of Fannie Bay and the Greens only need around 300 more votes to win. For locals fed up with politicians selling out to vested interests, vote Greens and put people before corporations in the NT.”

Recommendations from Chair’s report

Recommendation 1

That the proposed Middle Arm Industrial Precinct and its $1.5 billion federal subsidy be redirected to support clean technology industries, and:

a. Fossil fuel based industries including gas and petrochemicals are not directly or indirectly funded;
b. Free, prior and informed consent is obtained from Larrakia people;
c. A health impact assessment is undertaken and published by the Australian Government and incorporated into decision-making. This must use robust methodologies approved by a panel of independent public health experts and include consideration of health risks from climate change;
d. Development scenarios used for strategic environmental assessments are publicly disclosed, and methodologies incorporated into the EIS are peer-reviewed and open for public comment; and
e. The Australian and NT governments disclose all economic and climate modelling conducted on the precinct, including those by EY, Deloitte and the CSIRO.

Recommendation 2

That the ‘economic resilience stream’ in the Future Made in Australia framework be prohibited from subsidising fossil fuel industries or petrochemical production.

Recommendation 3

That the Federal Environment Minister urgently use her powers under the water trigger to call in Tamboran and Empire Energy’s proposed Beetaloo fracking wells for assessment under the EPBC Act.

Recommendation 4

That the NT and Australian governments fund independent baseline research and ongoing environmental monitoring of species and ecosystems in the Northern Territory to ensure availability of adequate data to protect species and ecosystems into the future.

Recommendation 5


That the NT Government and EPA impose stricter air pollution conditions on all fossil fuel facilities, including mandatory monitoring of volatile organic compounds and clear consequences for breach of licences.

Recommendation 6

That the NT Government revise the role of the NT EPA to create a strong, independent regulator with a clear mandate to enforce strict conditions, investigate infringements and facilitate pathways for community members to raise concerns about potential breaches.

WA nuclear reactor would have a tenth of renewables' output – Bowen

Speaking about election planning, both the Labor government and the Coalition are trying to win the energy debate, something that seemed settled in 2022, but has once again become grist for the populist politics mill.

The Coalition have turned to nuclear as their answer, but are yet to shape any actual policy detail around it, including how much it would cost and how it would work (pretty important questions to answer, one would think).

Energy minister Chris Bowen, attempting to bring the energy debate back on track has been taking every opportunity to undermine the coalition ‘plan’ and today’s lesson is on Western Australia.

Bowen says the results for the WA Capacity Investment Scheme are in and it’s oversubscribed six times over.

Coincidentally, Bowen also has analysis on how much power a nuclear in Collie (one of the Coalition’s identified sites) would produce. Bowen says that based on the water constraints in the area, a nuclear reactor would have about a 10th of the output of renewables, given the results of the capacity investment scheme auction.

Bowen is making those calculations based on how much renewables would be available, given the bidding in the latest auction.

“The Albanese Government is unlocking renewable energy investment in WA now, which will deliver more power this decade than Dutton’s Collie nuclear reactor ever could,” Bowen said.

It’s up to Peter Dutton to explain where the water is going to come from and why he would risk significant investment in WA’s energy industry to chase an expensive pipe dream that can’t keep the lights on.

___________

Australia’s electricity grid to remain reliable if renewable projects delivered ‘on time and in full’, Aemo says

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.

The chief executive of Aemo, Daniel Westerman, said it was critical expected investments in new solar, wind, batteries, pumped hydro and transmission links were delivered as proposed. Modelling suggested reliability gaps if projects were delayed.

“We know the investment’s there,” he said. “It’s just got to get delivered in generation, in transmission, in storage.”

Westerman said the grid reliability outlook had improved since last year, in part due to new “committed and anticipated” infrastructure: 5.7 gigawatts of large-scale generation and storage and 365 kilometres of transmission connections. The strengthened forecast was helped by a two-year extension in the scheduled life of the Eraring coal plant in New South Wales and the continuing rapid spread of rooftop solar panels.

Australia’s power grid is midway through a transformation from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Solar, wind and hydro now provide about 40% of electricity on the east coast, roughly double the proportion five years ago. The Albanese government says under Labor that will reach 82% by 2030.

The Coalition says it would limit investment in renewable energy and instead build publicly owned nuclear plants and expand the use of gas, an expensive fossil fuel. Nuclear energy is banned in Australia, and the CSIRO and other analysts say a plant could not be online before 2040. Aemo forecasts about 90% of the remaining coal-fired generation is likely to have closed by 2035.

After years of rapid expansion, the clean energy industry this year warned there had been a sharp slowdown in investment in new large-scale renewable energy in 2023, with financial decisions on solar farms shrinking more than a third and no windfarms being supported. This contrasted with strong investment in rooftop solar and large and small batteries.

The government’s response was to announce an expanded underwriting program for large-scale projects. It aims to add 32GW of renewables and storage by 2030.

Westerman said there had been a near doubling in the amount of generation capacity approved last financial year – 12GW up from 6.9GW the year before. He said the country needed to install 6GW a year to meet the government’s 2030 target.

Aemo’s Electricity Statement of Opportunities report stressed while there was surplus generation in the grid across most of the year, demand for power increased during summer’s extreme heat.

How electric cars could drive renewable energy change

Motorists could support Australia’s national electricity grid by using their cars as batteries, a report says, but policies and standards need to change.

A rush of electric vehicle sales from next year could put pressure on Australia’s electricity grid, a study has warned, unless the government makes policy changes to allow their use as batteries.

Environment group Solar Citizens released the warning on Tuesday in a report investigating vehicle-to-grid technology, which it found could help stabilise the power network, use more renewable energy and financially reward drivers for sharing power stored in their cars.

The report comes after a successful trial of the technology at the Australian National University and the announcement of a three-year pilot program run by Amber Electric.

Vehicle-to-grid technology (V2G) works by connecting an electric vehicle to a bi-directional charger so its battery can feed power back into the network during times of high demand.

The Batteries on Wheels report, prepared by Ajaya Haikerwal, found introducing the technology could help to manage energy peaks, stabilise the grid without more infrastructure, and use more renewable energy.

It could also reward motorists who feed electricity from their cars into the grid, with “the financial benefit for an EV owner participating in V2G services… estimated conservatively at $1000 per year”.

However, the report also found that failing to take advantage of the opportunity could put the national grid at risk as the introduction of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard in January was likely to trigger more electric car sales.

The shift could add “stress on the grid at peak times” unless those vehicles could also be used as batteries.

Solar Citizens chief executive Heidi Lee Douglas said Australia should seize the opportunity to let electric cars support the electricity grid before a vehicle sales influx.

“We know that more electric vehicles are going to be brought into the country with these efficiency standards,” she said.

“We want to be able to see the Australian government champion the world-class uptake of solar alongside batteries and batteries on wheels as a great clean energy and cost-of-living solution for the whole world to follow.”

The report recommended five changes to support the technology in Australia, including technical standards from the Consumer Energy Resource Taskforce, adding V2G to government modelling, introducing subsidies for V2G chargers and tariffs to benefit those who connect their cars.

The government should also review California’s requirement that all new electric cars should be V2G-compliant by 2027, the report said, to consider whether the same rule would work in Australia.

Automotive brands that support vehicle-to-grid technology include Nissan, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Cupra, Kia, Polestar and Volvo, but Douglas said more should consider adding the technology to make their cars more attractive.

“We certainly wouldn’t be discouraging people from buying electric vehicles at this stage – don’t hold back,” Douglas said.

“But we already have in our community a lot of early adopters of electric vehicles and they’re crying out to use these cars as batteries on wheels.”

V2G technology has been tested by Australian National University researchers and will be the subject of a $7.7 million project run by Amber Electric next year, with some funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

Crisafulli’s renewable energy target snub raises alarm bells

The Premier and Opposition Leader were both quizzed on their policy positions last night in front of 1,000 people at the Queensland Community Alliance's Maroonprint Assembly.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli would not commit to supporting Queensland's renewable energy targets, which Shadow Energy Minister Deb Frecklington had previously indicated the LNP supported.

Stephanie Gray, campaigner at the Queensland Conservation Council, said:

We're grateful that the Opposition Leader came and listened to the community last night, but we're very concerned that David Crisafulli wouldn’t commit to the state’s 2032 and 2035 renewable energy targets.

We can't reach Queensland's emission reduction commitments if the next government walks away from the state’s renewable energy targets.

New polling we commissioned of 2,000 Queenslanders found that 57 per cent agree we need to quickly bring online more renewable energy to prevent energy supply shortfalls and bring down power prices.

54 per cent of Queenslanders polled want the LNP to support the state's renewable energy targets because people get it that policy certainty is vital for encouraging new clean energy investment, and slashing power bills and climate pollution.

Voters deserve clarity from the Queensland LNP on what their energy transition plan will be if they're elected in October.

At the event the Premier announced $116 million in joint funding with the Federal Government to support the roll out of solar and energy efficiency upgrades in 32,000 social homes, a welcome move according to QCC.

Ms Gray said:

The energy transition is an opportunity to put the power back in the hands of the people and build a fairer energy system. Policy solutions like this are key stepping stones to achieve that.

Alongside the Queensland Community Alliance, we've been calling for governments to deliver funding and policies to make sure that everyone, including renters and social housing tenants, can access the benefits of clean technology.

The equitable roll out of solar and energy efficiency upgrades is a win for getting down climate pollution and a win for helping vulnerable consumers slash their power bills.


Queensland LNP to ditch state renewable targets, may nix wind projects altogether

South Australia is aiming for 100% renewable energy by 2027. It’s already internationally ‘remarkable’

Eight years ago, South Australia’s renewable energy future was in doubt as an extraordinary statewide blackout saw recriminations flow.

On 28 September 2016, a catastrophic weather event sent the entire state into system black. Around 4pm, some 850,000 homes and businesses lost power as supercell thunderstorms and destructive winds – some travelling up to 260km/h – crumpled transmission towers, causing three major power lines to trip.

Almost immediately, and despite advice to the contrary, members of the federal government sought to blame the blackout on wind and solar, with the then prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, saying several state governments had set “extremely aggressive, extremely unrealistic” renewable energy targets.

Instead of relenting,SA chose to persevere. It now leads the world in the integration of variable, or weather-dependent, renewables.

Wind and solar power in South Australia grew to 75% in 2023, with few other systems reaching comparable levels. For instance, frontrunner Denmark achieved 67% in the same year.

The International Energy Agency says demonstrating the ability to power a large grid with wind and solar is crucial in the context of climate change, and South Australia’s share is “remarkable”.

The state government is now attempting to legislate a target of 100% renewable energy by 2027. Experts say the state’s approach could provide a template for what can be achieved elsewhere.

Energy specialist Dr Gabrielle Kuiper says powering a jurisdiction of almost 2 million people with majority wind and solar is a globally significant achievement.

“One of the most impressive things about that feat, from a technical point of view, is there have also been periods, starting in September last year, where the entire state was powered by rooftop solar alone,” Kuiper says.

On New Year’s Eve 2023, rooftop solar met 101.7% of South Australia’s energy needs for 30 minutes. Australia’s energy operator says that’s a world record for a grid of that size. Its engineering roadmap seeks to enable similar milestones throughout the national grid.

Daniel Westerman, chief executive of the Australian Energy Market Operator, says the “world-leading” rooftop solar contribution is made possible by power system equipment providing security, smarter connections between rooftop solar and the grid, and policies which protect consumers from unwanted disruptions.

Dr Susan Close, South Australia’s deputy premier and climate change minister, was a government minister during the 2016 statewide blackout. She believes the then federal government’s reaction at the time, blaming the state’s renewable energy, was “unfair and unsubstantiated”.

But if anything, she says the unhelpful response from Canberra hardened the state’s resolve. “In South Australia, the vast majority of people were proud of what we were doing, and simply wanted us to make sure that it was as secure and stable as possible,” Close says.

Close says the state’s energy shift hasn’t happened by chance. World-leading climate laws, consistent policy and a supportive planning system attracted investment and helped the state gain an early advantage under federal renewable energy targets. High retail power prices combined with a generous feed-in tariff scheme (now finished) to drive early uptake in rooftop solar. Now every second home in the state has solar installed.

Johanna Bowyer, lead analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said while South Australia does have fantastic wind and solar resources, “that’s the case for a lot of Australia”. Crucially, coal power stations were allowed to close under market conditions, she said. “They didn’t subsidise it to stay open for longer, like what is happening in New South Wales with Eraring.”

As coal generation was phased out, renewable energy grew to fill the gap.

Proposed changes to South Australia’s Climate Change Act include a 100% net renewable energy target, formalising statements by the energy minister earlier in the year.

The “net” terminology recognises that interstate transmission lines – connecting South Australia to Victoria and eventually NSW – will continue to share electricity across state borders.

The amendments also include a 60% emissions reduction target by 2030 – compared to 43% federally, and 50% in Queensland, NSW and Victoria – and a framework for timely updates along the pathway to net zero by 2050.

Kirsty Bevan, chief executive of the Conservation Council of SA, says the state’s “trailblazing renewable energy transition” puts it in a unique position to adopt much stronger emissions targets than other state governments. The council supports the renewable energy and 2030 emissions targets, but is keen to see the net zero target date brought forward.

“We should be proud of our past renewable energy accomplishments, but also build upon and capitalise on those accomplishments – to the benefit of all South Australians, our nature, and our shared planet,” Bevan said.

The state government’s focus is on stability, flexibility and reliability, with more large-scale battery storage following in the footsteps of the Hornsdale battery (the world’s biggest when it was activated), and hydrogen part of the plan to soak up excess wind and sun.

Kuiper says the secure and reliable system is made possible thanks to investment in storage, smarter management and grid flexibility. But the key to SA’s success isn’t merely technical, she says, it’s also political.

“The bipartisan support for renewable energy in South Australia has been really significant. It’s given investors a sense of certainty,” Kuiper said.

“I think there are lessons at a federal level, particularly for the federal opposition, about what can be achieved if you provide consistent support to this vitally important industry – that’s important for the domestic economy and for Australia’s development of export industries into the future.”

The aim of 100% net renewables was initially set under the Marshall Liberal government, with the Malinauskas Labor government bringing the date forward.

Close acknowledges the opposition’s part in supporting the state’s decarbonisation, adding that the current bill protects to a degree from “a sudden shift in temperament from the other side of politics.”

She says there’s no reason the energy and cultural transition in South Australia couldn’t be replicated in other parts of the country.

“The sooner you start, the easier it is,” she said. “The real cost is in being the last ones to make the change. And so we wish our interstate colleagues well in making that shift.”

Australia Passes Law to Begin Mandatory Climate Reporting in 2025

Australia’s House of Representatives voted today to pass the Treasury Laws Amendment bill, including new introduce mandatory climate-related reporting requirements for large and medium sized companies, including disclosures on climate-related risks and opportunities, and on greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain, starting as soon as 2025 for the largest companies.

The vote follows the approval of the bill in August by the Senate, and marks the last major legislative step to the passage of the new climate reporting requirements into law.

The House also voted to pass a new law establishing a new Net Zero Economy Authority, responsible for guiding the country’s economic transformation to net zero emissions, including reskilling workers for the energy transition, and coordinating with industry and investors on transformation opportunities.

The new climate disclosure legislation was introduced in January 2024 by Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers, creating climate-related reporting requirements broadly in line with the recently-released standards by the IFRS Foundation’s International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). The Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) is currently in the process of developing the internationally-aligned climate disclosure standards for Australian companies, which are expected to be issued shortly, and the Australian Auditing and Assurance Board (AUASB) is developing assurance standards for climate disclosures in late 2024.

Initial reporting requirements will begin in January 2025, pushed back slightly from the initial draft legislation’s proposed July 2024 start date. Reporting requirements will apply to all public companies and large proprietary companies required to provide audited annual financial reports to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) that meet specific size thresholds, starting with companies with over 500 employees, revenues over $500 million or assets over $1 billion, as well as asset owners with more than $5 billion in assets. For medium sized companies (250+ employees, $200 million+ revenue, $500 million assets), reporting requirements will begin in July 2026, and smaller companies (100+ employees, $50 million+ revenue, $25 million+ assets) will begin one year later.

The legislation also includes a phased-in approach for Scope 3 reporting, allowing companies an extra year from the beginning of their disclosure requirements to report on the quantity of their indirect value chain emissions, in addition to three years of protection from litigation concerning Scope 3 disclosures.

Investor groups welcomed the passage of the new climate reporting legislation. In a post following the vote, the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors said:

“It’s official – the Government’s mandatory climate disclosures legislation has cleared Parliament. The disclosures should provide ACSI members and other investors with clearer information about their investee companies’ exposure to physical and transitional risks related to climate-change. This information will be integrated into investment processes and used by investors in their risk assessment and stewardship activities.”

Plans to establish Australia’s Net Zero Economy Authority were first introduced in May 2023, following the establishment into law the prior year by the Albanese government last year of Australia’s climate goals, including its targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by 2030, compared to 2005 levels, and to achieve net zero by 2050. Key proposed focus areas of the new authority included supporting workers, particularly in emissions-intensive sectors, to access new skills and employment, in addition to helping investors and companies to engage with net zero transformation opportunities, and supporting regions and communities in attracting new clean energy industries in coordination with programs and policies across the government.

Following the passage by Parliament of the new legislation to establish the Authority, MP Patrick Gorman, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Assistant Minister for the Public Service, said:

“The Net Zero Economy Authority has passed the Parliament. I introduced this Bill to support communities across Australia on the transition to a net zero emissions economy. This is good for workers, good for regions and helps Australia reach net zero by 2050.”

Origin Energy reworks Eraring coal power stalwart for final years

An $80 million maintenance overhaul and an increased ability to power down when renewables swamp the market have set up Origin Energy’s giant Eraring coal power station to battle through its final years before the NSW Central Coast site transforms into a battery storage hub.

Originally run around the clock at near-constant levels, the 2880-megawatt generator – the country’s biggest – now chases the market, powering up or down to suit price swings in the National Electricity Market (NEM) that can fluctuate every five minutes.

“If the market changes, we change,” says plant control room shift manager Jonathan Lawless at the site, 40 kilometres south of Newcastle on the shore of Lake Macquarie, where his team is keeping an eagle eye on wholesale prices and supply and demand across the NEM on a large screen.

“It’s very dynamic, very flexible.”

Soaring generation from both rooftop solar and solar farms through the day can cause wholesale power prices to slump towards zero or below, often for several hours – something unheard of in the early years of the NEM in the late ’90s and early 2000s. That has placed enormous financial stress on baseload coal plants, even though their output is still critical to keep the lights on at times.

Eraring output hit a five-year high in 2023-24 despite steadily increasing renewable generation, as wind and solar output hit multi-year lows early this winter.

After the deal struck with the NSW government in May to delay Eraring’s closure for 24 months to August 2027, Origin is working to get the generator through its last few years without racking up mountains of losses. The plant still supplies 22-28 per cent of NSW’s power.

The cost of the overhaul of one of Eraring’s four generating units would have been “much less” had Origin stuck with its planned closure date in 2025, requiring a reduced scope of work, says Origin group manager, coal asset operations Anthony Ham.

As it is, during a visit to the 1100-hectare site on Tuesday, the typical daily workforce of 400 staff and contractors was up to about 900, swelled by crews of welders, boilermakers, electricians and even underwater divers inspecting and cleaning parts and systems, making repairs as required.

Another 187 are working on an adjacent large battery project that will underpin the site’s future when the coal plant finally closes, using its connections to the grid to provide storage to smooth weather-dependent renewables as well as frequency and voltage services.

Asset services manager Antony Cotic says maintenance has increased to maintain reliability as the generating units are run more dynamically, putting more stress on parts.

“Twenty years ago ... they were baseload, trying to sit at 660 megawatts 24-7, no matter what was happening with the sun and wind ... Pretty much happy days,” Cotic says.

“These days ... we’re very much following the market.”

About two weeks ago, Origin finally received approval from the Australian Energy Market Operator to reduce the run rate at each unit to 180 MW when needed, just 25 per cent of their current maximum capacity of 750 MW.

That ability to power down as low as possible has become critical as wholesale power prices plummet during daylight hours. In the June quarter, when solar and wind power were subdued, wholesale prices across the NEM were zero or negative for 7 per cent of the time, but the figure reached as high as 22 per cent in South Australia in June last year.

At about 3pm on Tuesday, however, with NSW spot prices at about $37 a megawatt-hour as solar passes its peak, Eraring has three units running at about 320 MW. The fourth, Unit 3, is offline for maintenance and its screens in the control room are blank.

Cotic says powering units down well below their 720 MW maximum capacity is now “pretty normal”, as required by the transforming market.

Lawless recalls that when he joined in 2006, the generator would typically run flat-out through the day and evening peak, power down moderately overnight and ramp up ahead of the high-demand breakfast period.

Now, generation is typically low during the day, increasing for the evening peak when the sun has faded and running constantly until past the early morning peak.

“We’re effectively 180 degrees out from where we used to be,” he says.

Approval from AEMO to run the Eraring units at a lower level came after two years of work involving 500 hours of testing at one unit.

“We had to prove to AEMO that the units are still stable,” Lawless says, spelling out the importance of avoiding “AEMO’s nightmare” scenario where a unit trips, triggering a domino effect on generators across the state.

Whether Eraring will definitely close in August 2027 remains uncertain, with Origin having the option of keeping units running until April 2029, but without the supporting NSW government deal.

That controversial arrangement will compensate Origin for 80 per cent of any losses at Eraring up to a $225 million a year. In return, it shares one-fifth of any profits up to $40 million a year. The deal is conditional on a set minimum output level.

Ahead of the shutdown, Origin’s transition program for its staff at Eraring is readying 198 workers for their changed life and careers. The battery project will require only three to five workers, compared to 228 Origin employees at the site now and typically about 200 contractors.

The first $600 million stage of the Eraring battery, involving 460 MW of output and two hours of storage, should start up in late 2025. The $450 million second stage, involving 240 MW of output and four hours of storage, is due online in early 2027. A third phase would increase the storage of the first plant also to four hours, in line with the market’s increasing need for longer duration storage.

While the battery project points to the future importance of the site, for Lawless, the public’s lack of understanding about the continuing role that the coal power plant plays is frustrating.

“The vast majority of people are proud to work here,” he says. “The lack of understanding in the wider community is worrying

• NSW releases consumer energy plan

The New South Wales government has today released its consumer energy resources plan, including $290m over four years to get more households to use energy more wisely and generate and store more of their own electricity.

The program has been in the works for a while and complements other programs, such as $175m to improve energy efficiency in social housing. But it’s hard not to consider the package underwhelming given the challenges facing the power grid (including during heatwaves come this summer) and the many opportunities for households to make permanent cuts to energy demand without affecting comfort. Not to mention the screaming urgency of climate change.

With about 8.2m people in NSW, the latest instalment amounts to about $8 per person per year. By contrast, the government is offering $435m in energy rebates (or $53 per NSWer) in 2024-25.

Yes there are the state’s first targets for solar panels and batteries - 1m homes “having access” to them by 2035 and 1.5m by 2050 - but given NSW has a 50% emissions reduction target by 2030, versus 2005, why not set a 2030 goal?

The strategy highlights switching off fossil gas for heating, hot water and cooking can save households and small businesses $4,000 a year on average (and cut 2.12 tonnes of carbon emissions) if they also install solar and a battery. But unlike Victoria or the ACT, there’s no hint of banning gas connections on new homes.

There’s also the plan to introduce a disclosure of home energy performance ratings at the point of sale or lease in 2025 - but only on a voluntary basis. The pilot will help “inform” when the scheme should be made mandatory.

“The NSW Consumer Energy Strategy is our plan to supercharge the energy transition and put households and small businesses at the centre of this work,” energy minister Penny Sharpe says in the report’s foreword.

The industry’s response has been politely supportive.

https://www.energy.nsw.gov.au/sites/...ategy_2024.pdf

Coalition’s nuclear plan to switch off solar for up to 3 million homes

New analysis from the Smart Energy Council shows the introduction of seven nuclear reactors to Australia will shut down solar panels in millions of households.

Smart Energy Council Chief Executive John Grimes says the true extent of the impact of nuclear power on Australian solar families has been hidden until now.

“Nuclear power can’t be switched off, meaning it keeps pushing power into the grid regardless of whether it is the most expensive form of energy, or it’s even needed,” he said.

“That is bad news for Australian solar homes.”

The Coalition nuclear plan could generate around 11 Gigawatts of new nuclear power (see Table 1).

The Smart Energy Council’s analysis shows that even operating at a minimum 60% capacity, Peter Dutton’s nuclear proposal could force 6.6 Gigawatts of eye-wateringly expensive energy into the grid and power bills of 7 million Australians and displace the equivalent solar power generation from between 1.8 – 2.9 million homes.

“To create space for inflexible nuclear power plants ramming energy into the grid, millions of household solar systems will be the first casualty,” Mr Grimes said.

“Solar power is already being switched off in South Australia when it makes so much free power available that it exceeds electricity demand.”

“Solar is by far the cheapest form of energy, yet Peter Dutton is telling Australian families to tear out the solar systems they paid for and spend billions of dollars on the most expensive form of power, which is nuclear.”

“The Federal Opposition is deceiving Australians about the horror price tag of their nuclear nightmare.”

“This is a $600b dollar nuclear tax bill for Australian households during a cost-of-living crisis.”

As the cost of panels continues to fall, we are achieving record high installations for rooftop solar. This is complemented by household battery prices falling at the steepest rates ever.
It’s for this reason that Australia’s coal fired power plants are closing, because they cannot compete with the low cost of energy provided by solar. Perversely, the Coalition is proposing the taxpayer replace them with the most expensive, and inflexible, form of power generation; nuclear.

“Over a third of Australian households have invested in the lowest cost form of electricity with solar panels, with annual energy bill savings of around $1000, Mr Grimes said.

“The choice for Australians is simple: cheap and reliable rooftop solar or nuclear nightmare.”

“We can either continue to grow our rooftop solar industry and the 30,000+ local jobs that come with it, or start a nuclear industry that will kill our world leading solar industry.”

“Let’s think about what that money could buy instead. For the price of just one of the Coalition’s nuclear reactors, the Latrobe Valley, Hunter Valley, Port Augusta, Central Queensland, could each have a new hospital and several schools.”

Just last week, rooftop solar hit a record high percentage of supply for the grid (Monday Sept 9), supplying 38.6% (10,838 MW) and coal dipped below 50% for the first time ever.

One in three Australian households currently have rooftop solar, this is conservatively tipped to reach one in two by 2040. This is when the Coalition’s nuclear reactors are meant to start coming online, at which point they’ll begin forcing solar out of the grid.

Analysis

• The Federal Opposition has proposed seven nuclear sites with a capacity to replace the coal fired power stations, totalling around 11 gigawatts (GW) worth of nuclear power.
• The impact of 11 GW worth of nuclear power being connected to the grid in 2040 will be a minimum 6.6 GW of power forcing out cheaper renewable energy sources when the grid is full.
• Running inefficiently at 60% during daylight hours – 0700 to 1800 – there will be 72.6 GWh produced over a day.
• Over the period of a year, this generation will total 26,499 GWh during sunlight hours.
• The 26,499 GWh of extra generation during the day when solar is producing will be beyond the required amount on the grid, resulting in a ramp-down of rooftop solar.
• In 2040, during daylight hours, the grid will be almost entirely run by solar and wind energy, which is what AEMO’s step change shows in Figure 1 below.
• The addition of this inflexible nuclear baseload will result in too much power during daylight hours.
• To avoid overloads, the equivalent capacity of energy will need to be removed from the grid.
• This will be your rooftop solar because it is an easier load to remove from the grid.
• The current standard household solar system at 6.6 kW produces 25 kWh of power a day, and 915 kWh over the year.
• The 26,499 GWh of nuclear power being forced onto the grid during these sunlight hours is equivalent to 2,896,066 household solar systems, which will need to be turned off to avoid a grid overload.
• If accounting for estimated larger system sizes in the future producing 1460 kWh a year, this number varies to 1,815,000 household solar systems.

The analysis above does not include the following factors:

• The cost to household’s force to pay higher power prices driven up by nuclear, the most expensive form of energy generation.
• The Coalitions nuclear cost to the taxpayer to retrofit solar shutdown devices on your household solar system.
• The cost to grid market operators involved in the orchestration of such inflexible loads and shutting down solar.
• The ramp-down of cheap wind energy during non-daylight hours.
• The reduction in utility-scale solar on top of rooftop solar.
• The increased costs of energy storage that relies on cheap renewable energy.
• The impact this will have on the rooftop solar industry, that employs an estimated 30,000 people.

Coalition’s nuclear power plan is ‘economic insanity’, Jim Chalmers says on eve of major Dutton speech

Coalition plans to build seven nuclear power plants are “economic insanity”, Jim Chalmers has said, in the lead-up to a speech by Peter Dutton that is expected to provide new details of the policy.

The federal opposition has outlined plans to build seven nuclear reactors across five states, should it win the next election, with the first to be built by 2035 to 2037 at the earliest.

The proposed reactors would be built in areas with existing coal-fired power stations, including the Hunter Valley and Lithgow in New South Wales, VictoriaÂ’s Latrobe Valley, Collie in Western Australia and Port Augusta in South Australia.

The opposition leader is due to lay out more information about the proposal in a major speech to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia on Monday.

But the treasurer said the plan would not solve energy problems.

“Peter Dutton’s nuclear fantasy is economic insanity,” Chalmers told Sky News on Sunday. “It costs more, it will push power prices up, it will take longer.

“He needs to come clean tomorrow in this speech: what will it cost, what will it mean for power bills, how will he pay for it, and what will Australia do for the decades it will take to build these reactors.”

The opposition environment spokesperson, Jonno Duniam, said it was unlikely Dutton would lay out the planÂ’s costs in the speech.

He accused the government of running a scare campaign about the use of nuclear power. “We’ll release the costings well and truly before the election, and Australians deserve to know, and we will have that data out there,” he told Sky News.

“We’ll continue to mount the case for having this as a choice in the energy mix at the right time ... we won’t be goaded into [releasing costings] on the government’s timing.”

The speech comes as a report released on Friday showed a typical household electricity bill could rise by $665 a year on average if nuclear power were added to the energy grid.

Chalmers said the lack of detail surrounding the policy was concerning.

“[Peter Dutton] is a big risk to energy and to power prices in this country,” he said. “The fact that he’s not prepared to release those details, I think, should ring alarm bells for every Australian.”

• Government appoints new Energy Infrastructure Commissioner

The Albanese government has appointed a new Energy Infrastructure Commissioner to facilitate the renewables rollout.

Tony Mahar, the outgoing chief executive of the National Farmers Federation, has been appointed to the role – to act as an intermediary between farming and regional communities, and industry and government.

CEO of the National Farmers Federation Tony Mahar

A statement from climate minister Chris Bowen says Mahar’s work will include investigating the optimal delivery of long-term social and economic benefits to host areas, and “promoting more information and transparency to combat misinformation” about major energy projects.

Mahar will stand down from the NFF to take up this non-statutory appointment for an initial term of three years. Bowen says:

Mr Mahar has great experience working with business, government, farmers and farming communities and has the respect of both landholders and the energy industry.

Bowen thanked John Sheldon who served as the interim Commissioner, following the retirement of former Commissioner Andrew Dyer.

___________

• Independent MP says Dutton has ‘put forward no credible plan’ for cutting emissions

The Independent MP for Wentworth, Allegra Spender, says Peter Dutton has “put forward no credible plan for cutting carbon emissions and delivering reliable energy over the next decade”.

Wentworth MP Allegra Spender says there is ‘no way’ nuclear power can replace coal-fired power in time to combat climate change. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

In a statement reacting to Dutton’s Monday speech about nuclear policy, Spender echoes earlier comments she has made that nuclear power can’t deliver in a 10-year timeframe.

There is no way nuclear can replace the 90% of coal-fired power due to exit in the next decade. We can’t let a debate on nuclear extend our reliance on fossil fuels and distract from the critical decarbonisation work of the next 10 years …

The Liberal party needs to commit to delivering a 43% reduction [in carbon] by 2030, in line with Australia’s international commitments. Currently, Peter Dutton won’t even commit to having a 2030 target. That’s not a credible climate policy.

Spender says Australians “can’t afford to wait until the late 2030s and 2040s and hope for a silver bullet” when it comes to addressing climate pollution.

Business needs policy certainty. It’s time to back our world-leading wind and solar resources – backed by storage and gas peaking – rather than creating uncertainty and scaring off investment.

Albanese condemns Greens and Coalition 'populist rhetoric'

Anthony Albanese has condemned the Greens on its RBA policy, and the Coalition’s nuclear energy plan, saying both push “populist rhetoric”.

He says the Greens’ RBA policy “would have a negative impact on economic growth” ahead of the Reserve Bank’s interest rate announcement coming today.

The Greens’ policy, quite frankly, would have a negative impact on economic growth and the way that we conduct economic policy.

Central banks are independent of government. That occurs in just about every major economy in the world.

What the Greens do is engage in populism, often in conjunction with their partners in the No-alition – the Liberal party and the National party – to Just Say No to everything, or to put up populist policies like breaking up supermarkets without having any plan for who would purchase those supermarkets.

Albanese uses this comparison to take a sledge to opposition leader Peter Dutton’s plan on shifting to nuclear energy:

Like Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan, which yesterday he gave a speech on and which had no costings, no detail. Peter Dutton will be here in the west, I understand, later this week. I wonder if he visits Collie to have a look at the site there at Collie, where you have a battery being built that will store enough energy to power 860,000 homes.

What we need in this country is serious policies that take us forward, not just populist rhetoric, which is what we see from the Greens and from the coalition.

Renewables rebound after slump but must speed up to hit Labor’s 2030 energy goals

Large-scale renewable energy investment and construction in Australia is rebounding this year after a slump, but will need to accelerate to reach the pace needed to meet the Albanese government’s goal for 2030.

The country could add more than 7 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity this year, up from 5.3 GW last year, according to data released by the Clean Energy Regulator.

Dylan McConnell, an energy systems researcher at the University of New South Wales, said: “There is this narrative that has developed that the transition has stalled and that’s demonstrably not true. It is happening, it just needs to speed up.”

The new capacity is split roughly equally between household rooftop solar systems, which continue to be installed at what has been a world-leading pace, and large-scale renewable energy developments.

Industry group the Clean Energy Council said the country was likely to have more than 25GW of rooftop solar by the end of the year, surpassing the total 21.3GW capacity of the national coal-fired power fleet. More than 3.7m homes and small businesses have systems.

But the bigger change has been in construction of large-scale solar and wind farms, which fell in 2023, but has increased beyond expectations this year. The regulator said it was expected between 3GW and 4GW would be added.

The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, said the data showed the national grid supplying the five eastern states was expected to run on 42% renewable energy this year.

The regulator said final investment decisions were made on 1.8GW of new large renewable developments in the first half of the year. This surpassed 1.6GW in total commitments in 2023.

Investment in grid-scale renewable energy fell last year after a long-standing legislated federal renewable energy target was reached and as investors faced uncertainty over when coal-fired power plants would close.

The Albanese government chose not to expand the legislated target, but has promised to underwrite 25GW of new large-scale solar and wind as they aim to have 82% of Australia’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

The Australian Energy Market Operator has declared the national grid would remain reliable as it shifted from running on mostly coal to mostly renewables, but would require planned investments in new generation to be delivered “on time and in full”.

Bowen said the latest data showed the government’s renewables plan was “on track and building momentum”. He repeated his argument that the Coalition’s proposal to limit investment in large-scale renewables and eventually build nuclear plants would put the country at risk of supply shortages and blackouts.

“[Opposition leader] Peter Dutton wants to stop renewable investment, tear up contracts for new renewable and transmission projects and deliver expensive nuclear reactors in two decades’ time,” he said.

Dutton gave a speech on nuclear energy on Monday, but did not release new information about what the Coalition planned. He promised those details – including the expected cost for households and businesses and how the Coalition planned to prevent blackouts as ageing coal plants reached the end of their scheduled lives – before the next election.

Australian Security Leaders Climate Group calls for overhaul of federal government's climate threat preparedness strategy

A group of former national security leaders says the federal government needs to radically overhaul the way it plans for climate threats, warning that Australia is totally unprepared to deal with the cascading and existential risks that climate change presents to the region and the world.

The starkly worded new report by Australian Security Leaders Climate Group (ASLCG) — which includes former Australian Defence Force chief Chris Barrie — says that climate change presents such a serious security threat that it demands an "emergency mobilisation" in response.

"Today, unimaginable new climate extremes confront us: record-breaking droughts and floods, cruel heatwaves, unstoppable bushfires, broken infrastructure, and coastal inundation. Worse is to come," it says.

"Responding adequately to the climate threat is fundamental to the survival of the nation."

The report warns that climate change is certain to trigger an increasing number of natural disasters of growing scale and intensity which are likely to overwhelm the federal government's capacity to help communities survive and recover.

"Great pressure will be placed on the Australian Defence Force, and emergency and disaster relief agencies, to pick up the pieces in the face of accelerating climate impacts," it reads.

"Higher levels of warming will stretch them beyond their capacity to respond. Inadequate action by Australian governments has left our nation poorly prepared to face global warming's consequences, and Australia remains 'missing in action' on climate security risks."

The ASLCG says the federal government must make sharper and faster cuts to emissions, as well as pressing the largest polluters to collaborate on driving down carbon pollution.

They're also calling on the government to establish a new climate threat intelligence branch and early warning system to assess the impacts with "brutal honesty," while improving planning for the disruptions climate change will bring.

The group says the intelligence branch should be housed within the Office of National Intelligence (ONI) and that it should provide a declassified briefing to parliament ever year, so Australians are more aware of the emerging dangers.

Rising temperatures and extreme weather events will heap even more stress on sectors already under severe strain unless effective mitigation strategies are developed, according to the government's climate risk assessment report.

It's also calling on the government to bolster support to countries across the region to help them prepare for climate impacts, and work with them to protect food production and energy security in the face of climate pressures which could render large swathes of the tropics almost "unliveable".

Admiral Barrie said that the latest climate science showed that large parts of northern Australia "could become uninhabitable within 30-40 years, threatening military bases, communities, and the economy.

"Yet there is little recognition of this level of threat to Australia, leaving the nation severely exposed to the devastating costs," he said.

He also warned that climate change was also likely to stoke a "deepening regional food and water crisis that will destabilise nations and cause the mass displacement of people."

Admiral Barrie said the security threats from climate change dwarfed those posed by China, and the government had to set it priorities correctly.

"All the billions of resources being put into confronting China will not help one iota in dealing with the greatest threat to our future security in Australia and the region — and that is climate disruption."

Federal Minister for Emergency Management Jenny McAllister told the ABC's Afternoon Briefing the federal government was receiving similar advice to the ASLCG's report.

"We understand that we're going to get more frequent events and they are likely to be more intense," Ms McAllister said.

"We need to step up our preparedness for that."

However, she said the issue required a collaborative approach so the government's efforts were directed at "bringing people together".

She highlighted the recent National Preparedness Summit which brought together representatives of the government, private industry, the big telecommunications and logistics companies, and the community sector.

"We are increasingly going to have to prepare and plan for very complex events and that's what the Preparedness Summit did, but we are going to have to talk to the public about that as well," she said.

She added that reducing emissions was also important.

"We have to plan for the changes that are baked in that we can't avoid, but we have to make sure this doesn't get any worse," she said.

Australian Security Leaders Climate Group calls for overhaul of federal government'''s climate threat preparedness strategy - ABC News

Albanese backs Queensland premier’s opposition to nuclear power as early voting in state election opens

Anthony Albanese has backed Steven Miles’s opposition to nuclear power while joining the Queensland premier on the first day of pre-poll voting in the state election.

At a joint press conference in the Gold Coast on Monday, the prime minister was asked about Miles’s plan to hold a plebiscite on nuclear if Labor wins this month’s poll.

Albanese said the proposal was a “matter for Queensland”, but supported the incumbent premier’s stance against nuclear power.

“What I certainly hope occurs is that Steve Miles is elected premier of Queensland. That’s what I want to see happen, because that’s a way of making sure that this nuclear fantasy [is stopped],” he said at a joint press conference with Miles.

Miles revealed the plan to call a vote on the issue in an exclusive interview with Guardian Australia, perhaps at the next federal election.

The premier said he hadn’t run the idea past the prime minister before making it public.

The nuclear facilities prohibition act both bans nuclear power and requires a plebiscite on any commonwealth plan.

“[Opposition leader] David Crisafulli has said he does too, but I wonder whether he actually intends to hold that plebiscite.”

The Liberal National party leader refused to give an answer as to whether he would support a plebiscite, but called the premier’s comments “divisive”.

“We have an energy plan, and we will be rolling out that energy plan, and it doesn’t involve nuclear,” Crisafulli said.

He dodged questions about why he opposed the plans for nuclear power stations proposed by his federal counterpart, Peter Dutton.

The federal opposition leader will take a plan for seven commonwealth-owned nuclear power stations to the next election. That includes two in Queensland, replacing existing coal plants at Callide and Tarong.

The Liberal National party leader, who voted for the state’s renewables and emissions reduction targets earlier this year, has gradually hardened his position on green power.
___________

Australia has a chance to lead on climate - we must seize the opportunity

Collaborative efforts among universities are paving the way for Australian and Pacific governments to successfully host COP31, but there’s a lot of work to do before then.

Next month, Australia is expected to be named as host of the United Nations climate summit in 2026, in partnership with Pacific Island countries. We have just two years to shape an ambitious agenda to manage the risks and opportunities of climate change, and we must start now.

Hosting the world’s climate talks is a unique opportunity for Australia to shine as a climate leader. Realising this potential requires us all to be on a shared pathway – government, industry, and society. Universities can help ensure we maximise our moment in the international climate spotlight.

The UNSW Institute for Climate Risk & Response is holding an Industry Forum that exemplifies this shared approach and highlights the strengths of working together toward a climate-positive future.

Embracing climate action

The lead-up to the global summit will help focus the national conversation on climate action. Australians overwhelmingly support hosting COP31 and are world leaders when it comes to rooftop solar – one in three households have solar panels. Our electricity grid is also changing as coal-fired power is replaced by wind, solar and storage. But more difficult behavioural changes are ahead.

Chair of the Climate Change Authority Matt Kean, one of the speakers at the Industry Forum, is clear that climate action is about “behavioural choices governments, businesses, communities, households and individuals make about which technologies are used, when and how”.

To make deep progress cutting emissions, we will need to make different choices about what, and how much we consume, what we eat and how we move about our cities.

Behavioural scientists at UNSW are helping us to understand Australian attitudes toward climate action. A recent global study of almost 60,000 individuals (including nearly 1000 Australians) found simple behavioural interventions – such as writing a letter to an imagined member of a future generation, describing the actions being taken to ensure the inheritance of a healthy, habitable planet - can shift beliefs and increase policy support.

Helping business understand climate risk and opportunity

Australian businesses are increasingly focused on climate action and will be key partners if COP31 is to be a success. The federal government has passed new regulations requiring business to report on the risks, and opportunities, that climate change poses for their operations and assets.

Researchers at UNSW are helping businesses understand what climate models can and cannot tell us about the risks they face in a warming world. A key focus for the Industry Forum is discussion of ‘storyline’ techniques for risk assessment that combine climate model projections with other types of evidence to help businesses make well-informed decisions.

Supporting a successful UN climate summit

Universities are working together to support Australian and Pacific governments to host the UN climate talks. A COP31 Universities Alliance has been established as a partnership between Australian and Pacific universities to coordinate the contribution of the higher education and research sector toward COP31.

The UNSW Institute for Climate Risk & Response recently published a briefing note, Working Together: Australian and Pacific universities helping to deliver a successful and ambitious COP31 climate summit, which explains how Australian and Pacific universities can help deliver a successful UN climate summit.

Hosting COP31 is a unique opportunity for our region to build genuine, long-lasting climate action. A shared pathway is crucial. Universities will play a key convening role, bringing government, industry and the public together to shape an inclusive and ambitious agenda. Today’s Industry Forum is a small but important step along the path to a positive climate future.

The federal energy minister, Chris Bowen, says the government will accelerate the pace of its capacity investment scheme, an auction system that helps underwrite the rollout of renewables.

Bowen has told an AFR energy conference in Sydney that its second round of investments has been lifted to 6GW of new renewable generation from 4GW. Storage (mostly big batteries) will be lifted to 4GW from an original 2GW. He said:

I expected it to work well, and it’s working better than I thought.

The scheme guarantees a minimum payment for the power supply – but if wholesale prices are higher than a certain level, the government would take a share of the cut.

It’s not clear if the acceleration of the plans means the overall scheme will be larger than anticipated. Perhaps there’s also an insurance element. Auction results can’t be overturned if the government were to change at the next election.

The Coalition has said it wants to introduce gas in the scheme (something that states such as Victoria had opposed in the past). Plans for seven nuclear power plants are unlikely to gain market interest to include them in any action, given most reports estimate such generation to be far more expensive than wind or solar (even with storage added).

Bowen said uncertainty in the industry was something the Coalition was “deliberately” creating by introducing nuclear proposals to Australia’s mix. Bowen said he remains confident that the government can meet its 2030 goal of supplying 82% of electricity from clean energy sources.

Thorpe says she intended to hand king ‘a notice of complicity in genocide’ – as it happened | Australian politics | The Guardian

From zero to 100 pct renewables in just 20 years: South Australia’s remarkable energy transition

The man at the head of the transmission network that provides the backbone to the South Australian grid has provided some insight into the remarkable and speedy green energy transition of the state’s grid, which is regarded as a world leader in the integration of wind and solar technologies.

Simon Emms , the CEO of Electranet, says the state will have effectively transformed from near zero renewables in 2007 to 100 net renewables by 2027, when – as seems likely – the state meets its newly accelerated target.

“We’re on track to achieve that target,” Emms told a session at the All Energy conference in Melbourne on Wednesday. “Our challenge will be maintaining that once we get there because of the increased load that is coming.”

This year, South Australia became the second grid in the world to be promoted to what the International Energy Agency describes as Phase 5 of the renewable integration ladder.

But Emms points out that Denmark – the first – is able to draw the equivalent of 100 per cent of its maximum demand from connections to other grids. In South Australia, the current connection to Victoria allows for just 25 per cent of its maximum demand to imported or exported.

“So what that means for South Australia is we have to be a lot more self reliant. And ultimately, South Australia is the test lab for the whole NEM (National Electricity Market,” Emms told Renew Economy in an interview later.

That self-dependence will be relieved with the connection of the new Project EnergyConnect, the new transmission link to NSW. The first stage of the project, linking South Australia to Buronga in the south-west of NSW, and into the Victoria grid, will add 150 MW of import and export capacity when it starts operating at the end of this month.

When it is complete it will add a total of 750 MW of export and import capacity, lifting many of the restrictions that the state has limited its renewable potential.

Emms says that it is the state’s historic transmission backbone that has allowed it to streak ahead of other states in terms of renewables. The coal fired power stations that were closed in 2016 were located near Port Augusta, some 400 kms of the major load centre around Adelaide.

The two transmission lines that were built to deliver that power have now been transformed into renewable energy super-highways. “Because we had so much transmission in a renewable energy zone, really allowed South Australia to get moving faster than some reasons that they didn’t have the transmission in place,” he says.

That link is now near saturation, making a nonsense of the Coalition’s claims to be able to add nuclear to the Port Augusta site without new transmission, and meaning that more transmission will be needed to tap into yet more renewable energy projects, and to supply the big industries which are heading to the state.

According to Emms, the state currently has around 400 MW of industrial load, but is getting inquiries for another 2,000 MW, some of it centred around mining operations at Olympic Dam and for new magnetite iron ore projects – essential for green steel – but also from data centre operators and other energy intensive businesses.

“The rule of thumb is that for every one megawatt of load that you need three megawatts of renewables. So, if we get 2000 megawatts of load, that’s 6000 megawatts of renewables. So you can see it is, is grid changing for South Australia,” he says.

South Australia’s grid is also unique in the world because it is the only gigawatt scale grid where rooftop solar sometimes produces more than enough electricity to meet state demand. Last week it reached a peak of 112.9 per cent for one trading period, when the excess was exported to Victoria or stored in batteries.

“We’re now living in a world where our largest customer – the local distribution network – is also our largest generator,” Emms says.

Volatility in supply and prices is now a fact of life. And while clearly renewables have lowered average wholesale prices and often send prices into negative territory, very high priced events – and therefore overall high prices – will remain a feature while the dependence remains on gas to fill in the gaps of supply.

But Emms says the introduction of new loads, and more wind and solar to maintain that 100 per cent net renewable level will mean that the grid will be used more efficiently.

“In South Australia, if you’ve got an average demand of 1400 megawatts and a peak demand of over 3000 MW you can see our load factor – which is average demand divided by your peak – it’s under 50%,” he says.

“So, on average, the grid is working at 50% of the capacity. So by getting these large industrial loads connected, we can actually make the grid work harder. So the cost of the grid get dispersed over a larger number of electrons, and that drives the per unit cost down.”

And Emms points out that the dominance of rooftop solar, and the lack of transmission capacity – renewables on that line are already constrained – means that the Coalition’s plans for a small modular reactor at Port Augusta, at the site of the old coal fired power station, do not make sense for the state.

If, some time in the future – in a couple of decades – SMR technology can demonstrate low costs and flexibility, it could have a role in replacing existing wind and solar farms that is nearing the end of life. But not before.

For an in depth look at South Australia and how Electranet is managing its role in one of the more remarkable and successful energy transitions, look out for the interview in this week’s episode of the Energy Insiders podcast which will be published on Friday.

UK and Australia pledge renewable energy cooperation

The UK and Australia will work together to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy technologies, including offshore wind, under a new partnership deal.

UK prime minister Keir Starmer met his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Apia, Samoa.

They agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation on climate change and energy by negotiating a dynamic new partnership.

The Australia-UK Climate and Energy Partnership will focus on the development and accelerated deployment of renewable energy technologies, such as green hydrogen and offshore wind, to support the economic resilience and decarbonisation goals of both countries.

Starmer said: “The UK and Australia share many things in common, including our governments’ determination to improve the lives of working people, drive economic growth and ensure cleaner, more affordable energy.

“This partnership underscores our commitment to powering up the UK with clean energy projects that will benefit communities across the country.

“Together, we’re delivering better futures for our two countries, whether that’s through protecting our national security with projects like AUKUS or delivering on our net zero commitments.”

The partnership will also build upon the two countries’ long-standing cooperation on international climate action, including on renewable energy and climate finance.

The two leaders also announced grant recipients under the Australia-UK Renewable Hydrogen Innovation Partnership Programme. Under this programme, the two governments will support six cutting-edge projects focused on industrial decarbonisation.

Albanese added: “Australia and the UK are longstanding partners, with common values and aligned strategic interests. It was great to congratulate Prime Minister Starmer in person after his election win in July.

“We had a productive discussion, including agreeing to negotiate a new climate and energy partnership. This partnership will ensure we maximise the economic potential of the net zero transition, and build on our long-standing cooperation on international climate action and shared commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

“We share a vision for a modern and transformed Australia-United Kingdom relationship, which delivers tangible benefits and prosperity to both our nations and the Indo-Pacific.”