Tim Buckley, director of think tank Climate Energy Finance, said Australians would be paying “a multi-billion dollar ‘nukebuilder’ tax for generations to come by being forced to front the cash for a national buildout of government-owned nuclear reactors”. “Electricity prices would skyrocket as private investment in new replacement capacity is crowded out, resulting in undersupply for the next 15-25 years while we wait for the LNP’s nuclear white elephants to arrive,” Buckley said. Read more

Syndicated in News Corp state based mastheads across Australia – Climate Energy Finance Director Tim Buckley says Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s plan to use nuclear energy is “financially illogical”. Read more

Director of think tank Climate Energy Finance Tim Buckley says nuclear is “financially illogical” and is about extending “climate wars”. Mr Buckley told Sky News the proposed plan announced today does little to address the current climate challenges, and the infrastructure delivery plan is not commercially viable. “We have no nuclear capacity in Australia,” he said. “We don’t have the workforce, and we can’t afford the 20+ year delay (opposition leader) Peter Dutton is proposing today.” {scroll down to 4:06pm post at link). Read more

Syndicated globally via AFP – Australia’s conservative opposition will build nuclear power plants across the country if it wins the next election, according to plans detailed Wednesday that have reignited debate over climate policy. Opposition leader Peter Dutton said he would overturn a 26-year nuclear ban to build seven government-owned reactors on the sites of ageing coal-fired power stations.Climate finance expert Tim Buckley said nuclear power in Australia was “impossible”. “The idea that nuclear could be up and running in 2035-37 is fanciful, and even that is too late given our concurrent climate and energy crises,” he said. Read more

The coal industry tells us that the outlook for Australian metallurgical coal – most of which comes from Queensland – is bright. Coal miners even link demand for met coal with the transition to renewable energy, insisting that that met coal is essential to make steel and, therefore, to make wind turbines. Simon Nicholas, joined by fellow financial analyst Tim Buckley, will be in conversation with InQueensland writer John McCarthy about the future demand for metallurgical coal at a FREE EVENT in Brisbane on 1st July. Simon will also speak at similar events in Rockhampton on July 3rd and Mackay on July 4th. Read more

The Minns government will pay Origin Energy up to $450 million over the next two years to extend the life of Australia’s largest coal-fired power station, Eraring, should the company opt in to a deal that NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey insisted was “not an act of corporate welfare”. But some experts, including many from the renewable energy sector, have criticised the government for agreeing to a deal they say is unnecessary. Tim Buckley, the head of pro-renewables think tank Clean Energy Finance, labelled it “yet another massive coal subsidy funded by electricity users in NSW”. Read more

Syndicated widely across 100+ mastheads via AAP | The life of Australia’s largest coal-fired power station will be extended for at least two years beyond its scheduled 2025 closure date. “This is essentially Coalkeeper 2.0 – yet another massive coal subsidy funded by electricity users in NSW” – Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley. Read more

The deal to extend the life of Australia’s largest coal generator – 2.88 GW – is being sold as necessary to “keep the lights on”, but there is no guarantee that it will do that. As Tim Buckley, from Climate Energy Finance, observes, Origin has “kindly offered” to share 20 per cent of any profits, capped at $40 million a year, but will share 80 per cent of the losses with the people of NSW, capped at $225 million per year. “This is essentially Coalkeeper 2.0 – yet another massive coal subsidy funded by electricity users in NSW,” he said. Read more

Climate Energy Finance’s Tim Buckley joins Kieran Gilbert on Sky News to discuss the extension of the life of Eraring coal-fired power station. Read more

Australia’s transition to renewable energy appears to have been dealt a blow, with the nation’s biggest coal-fired power plant to be kept open longer than expected. Read more

Sun-soaked Australia’s lofty renewable energy ambitions were given a harsh reality check on Thursday, as looming electricity shortfalls delayed the long-awaited shutdown of the country’s largest coal-fired power plant. In many cases, nuclear makes sense for energy-deficient countries that had no domestic renewable options, such as Japan, energy analyst Tim Buckley told AFP. “Nuclear has no future in Australia,” he said. “Australia has not continuously built it, we have none of the skillset, none of the engineering, and none of the capacity for nuclear.” Read more

The federal government has set aside more than $500m to encourage battery production in Australia. But it’s not yet clear exactly how the scheme will work. The Government says it’s time Australia played a bigger role in battery production but some experts believe its the wrong place to invest. CEF’s Tim Buckley joins ABC Radio alongside Ed Husic, Minister for Industry and Science; Tony Wood, program director for energy and climate change, Grattan Institute; and New South Wales Energy Minister Penny Sharpe. Read more