Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has used his budget reply to unveil a “National Gas Plan”, which he says will prioritise domestic supply of gas and reduce energy bills for Australians. If elected, Mr Dutton says the Coalition government’s plan will include fast-tracking new gas projects. But the Founder and Director of think-tank, Climate Energy Finance, says the “devil will be in the detail” with the proposal. Read more

Peter Dutton’s new national gas plan sounds good in theory: force gas companies to supply more gas for domestic consumption, thereby reducing domestic gas prices by about 30%. But the reality is likely to be very different. Read more

The Australian budget was seen as sensible but incremental, without major structural changes. It focuses on cost-of-living relief, such as bulk billing and personal tax cuts. However, there were no new initiatives on decarbonization, despite previous investments like the Clean Iron and Green Aluminium funds. There is a need for Australia to pivot towards onshore manufacturing and value-adding exports, especially in green iron. The climate industry needs stronger support, with a bigger push for local content and supply chain capacity. There’s hope for continued progress in renewable energy and electrification to meet decarbonization targets by 2030. Read more

China has emerged as the global leader in clean technology, making significant strides in renewable energy technology, manufacturing, domestic deployments […] Read more

Battery storage can turn record-high instances of negative spot pricing in Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM) into investment opportunities. That was the view expressed by various panellists and sources at the Energy Storage Summit Australia 2025 in Sydney this week. Tim Buckley, founder and director of the think tank Climate Energy Finance, got the ball rolling on Day One yesterday, flipping traditional views on negative pricing events in describing them as “an advantage.” Australia has “world-leading negative pricing in wholesale markets,” Buckley said, noting that in the states of Victoria and South Australia, negative pricing was experienced for 24% and 26% of last year, roughly four times higher than experienced in European power markets. Read more

Despite ongoing manufacturing overcapacity, CEF described a “relentless” investment in the solar PV supply chain, driving a 29% year-on-year manufacturing capacity increase in China in 2024. This is a trend that CEF expects to continue in 2025, which may stabilise some of the record low module prices seen in the industry. “With global manufacturing capacity at 2-3 times current global install rates, CEF does advocate for the global industry to immediately suspend all non-essential capacity expansions for several years,” said the CEF. Read more

Climate Energy Finance Director Tim Buckley said the CEF welcomes the green metals support but a lot more is needed to transform Australia’s value add onshore manufacturing. “Particularly as the government works with our key trade partners to build the case for an Asian CBAM* – carbon pricing in international trade is the ultimate price signal our industry and mining critically needs,” Buckley said. “Until then, we will need to keep tapping taxpayers to fund the transition.” Climate Council economist Nicki Hutley said the confirmed funding commitments for initiatives, like green metals, are welcome. Read more

“DER can be targeted to people most in need and leverage the existing grid capacity, rather than having to wait for massive capital cost blows, and come at a lower investment cost to the government,” he told Renew Economy. Buckley suggested spending $500 million on smart meters for 1 million low income households, and potentially batteries as well, to allow those people to start benefiting from negative midday power prices. It would come at a much lower capital cost to the federal budget, make use of existing grid capacity, and be cheaper than the increasingly expensive proposed and under-construction transmission lines paid for by the $19 billion Rewiring Australia fund, he says. Read more

Chinese solar energy companies had agreed deals to build a string of factories to produce photovoltaic solar components in the United States, with over 20GW of capacity due to come online by the end of 2025, but future projects may now be at risk due to the Trump administration’s policies, the Sydney-based think tank Climate Energy Finance said in its overview of global solar manufacturing trends released on Monday. Since returning to office, Trump has raised tariffs on all Chinese goods, paused tax incentives introduced under the Inflation Reduction Act to encourage manufacturers to shift production to America, and frozen Department of Energy loans, leading Chinese solar firms to become cautious about investing in the US. “Tariffs can protect domestic manufacturers but at the cost of increasing costs for domestic consumers,” said Harry Martin, an analyst at the think tank. Read more

Tim Buckley discussed key energy issues facing Australia. He emphasized the importance of protecting national interests, particularly about key trade partners like China, Japan and Korea, and highlighted the growing importance of batteries in the energy market. He predicts that batteries will be the biggest disruption of 2025, driving the accelerating transition to electric vehicles and solar energy storage. He also noted that batteries can help lower power prices by storing solar energy during peak demand hours. Read more

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) quarterly gas report highlights electrification of gas use is contributing to a downward trend in forecast gas consumption for commercial, residential and industrial users. Since the 2024 Gas Statement of Opportunity (GSOO), AEMO notes domestic gas consumption has continued to decline. The reduction in gas consumption has coincided with noticeably higher retail gas prices compared to recent years and slower growth of new building approvals. Read more

Tim explains that power prices are rising because Queensland hasn’t built enough new energy capacity to replace old coal-fired plants. In Queensland, prices are going up by 3-5%, while Victoria’s increase is lower at 1-3%. Read more