“We need batteries to time shift demand from when solar is generating to when consumers are demanding it, and that is invaluable for grid stability.” Labor has committed $2.3 billion to subsidise the take-up of 1 million household batteries by 2030, providing up to 30 per cent off the upfront cost of installing eligible small-scale battery systems. Read more

Tim on expert view for AER and DMO in the Energy Australia has been smashed for three years now from hyperinflation of fossil fuel costs – record high coal and methane gas prices. For all the climate luddites’ and vested interests’ misinformation associating higher electricity prices with renewables, the majority of our grid is powered by fossil fuels. Read more

“Our governments have repeatedly failed to prevent the gouging of multinational corporations profiteering at our expense, using our public resources,” he says. With the increasing cost of transmission and distribution — often simplified to “poles and wires” — and the need to further modernise our grid, he wants government to embrace what he calls the “massive battery disruption” now underway. Read more

Tim Buckley, Climate Energy Finance Director, says energy costs are rising across the board—network, wholesale, retail—driven in part by long-term […] Read more

China’s emissions were down 1.6 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025 and by 1 per cent in the latest 12 months, according to Myllyvirta’s analysis of new economic and climate data. China’s rapid deployment of electricity supply from new wind and solar infrastructure as well as hydro and nuclear, alongside its efforts to electrify its economy – particularly through the rapid roll-out of electric vehicles – has displaced coal and oil use and thereby cut emissions. Read more

“Australia leads the world in battery energy storage deployment. The biggest problem we’ve got is trying to get those connected to the grid,” says Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley. “The Waratah Super Battery was actually commissioned in November last year, but it’s still not operating. It actually helped the grid in November when we had a major energy demand shock, but it’s still not operating nine months later. Read more

The electorate rejected the LNP’s nuclear con job, energy transition delay tactics and climate denialism. Labor was returned with a decisive mandate to accelerate Australia’s renewable energy rollout and economy-wide decarbonisation. The nuclear fallout now includes an historic rupture between the Coalition partners, with the Liberal and National Parties committing the most spectacular act of political self-annihilation in living memory. Read more

Albanese and Dutton’s pre-election stoush over the Port of Darwin made one thing clear – Australia remains deeply ambivalent about Chinese investment. Each promising to end the lease if elected, the major parties clearly believed a billion-dollar national security stunt would play well with the electorate. This, despite Dutton taking no issue with the lease as a cabinet minister in 2015, and multiple reviews by Australian security agencies finding insufficient grounds to terminate it. Read more

China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Limited (CATL) produces more than a third of all EV batteries sold worldwide and supplies major carmakers including Tesla, Volkswagen and Toyota. The listing was closely watched as the US-China tariff war upended the global trading system and hit carmakers hard. Read more

CATL is currently building its second European factory in Hungary, after opening a plant in Germany in early 2023. In December, the firm announced a tie-up with Chrysler-owner Stellantis to build a $4.3bn (£3.2bn) EV battery plant in Spain. The facility is set to be in operation by the end of next year. The firm invests heavily in new technology, with six research and development centres around the world. Read more

However, Tim Buckley, director of Climate Energy Finance, a Sydney think-tank, noted that few Chinese cleantech companies would be as attractive to international investors. “CATL is an exception; even as they’ve delivered very strong growth, they’ve also delivered good profit margins,” he said, adding: “For the solar, wind and lithium companies . . . profit is one of the least important drivers.” Read more

Tim Buckley was not impressed. After a scandalous article appeared in the financial press citing the Clean Energy Council’s apparent embrace of methane gas as a “transition fuel” Buckley, who bows to no fossil fuellers and is one of the transition industry’s most respected commentators, called it “bizarre”. Methane does play an important role in electricity system firming, but its role is small and declining, and the battery disruption will only accelerate this ongoing decline. Read more