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National energy grid facing summer pressures
ABC Radio National Drive
Tim Buckley told ABC Radio National Drive that the Eraring coal-fired power plants is 43 years old, which is beyond its 40 years life, has created instability of its energy supplies. Australia has been exporting all of its gas and coal and repurchase them from overseas at imported price. The LNP signed off a 2 billion dollars agreement to upgrade Snowy 2.0, as a result there will be 12 billion dollars cost for our taxpayers in 7-8 years. We should not relying on projects like Snowy, but accelerating building battery storage, fast approving solar projects across NSW and Australia to boost energy transition in Australia and protect vulnerable communities to ensure the energy transition can benefit everyone.
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Measures to smooth the energy transition path
AusBiz
Tim Buckley from Climate Energy Finance outlines the pressing need for Australian state and federal governments to hasten the implementation of proposed transmission projects and the adoption of renewable energy and storage, in consideration of the August 2023 Electricity Statement of Opportunities.
According to Tim, there should be an equitable dispersion of the financial advantages that come from renewable energy projects throughout the impacted communities. Tim expresses optimism about Australia’s latent potential in battery storage technology, asserting the nation’s capacity to significantly contribute to the invention, advancement, and application of ground-breaking batteries. Despite increasing uranium prices, Tim disregards its feasibility in Australia due to insufficient private investment and potential environmental hazards.
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Investing in renewables will combat energy supply risk
Canberra Times
Director at think tank Climate Energy Finance, Tim Buckley, said urgent action was needed from state and federal governments.
“Accelerating the pace of energy transformation and transitioning our grid is critical to ensuring reliable energy supply and solving the current energy crisis,” he said.
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Running on empty: Energy regulator warns summer blackouts are ‘significant risk’
InQLD
Director at think tank Climate Energy Finance, Tim Buckley, said urgent action was needed from state and federal governments.
“The message is clear: accelerating the pace of energy transformation and transitioning our grid is critical to ensuring reliable energy supply and solving the current energy crisis precipitated by the hyperinflation of fossil fuels,” he said.
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Old coal clunkers the problem, not the AEMO solution
Michael West Media
Despite alarm in the finance press over the closure of coal plants, according to Tim Buckley, director of independent energy finance think tank Climate Energy Finance “forced outages at Australia’s ageing coal power fleet left the grid short of forecast coal generation capacity for nearly one-quarter of the year.”
Keeping Eraring open would close the forecasted reliability gaps, yet there are concerns regarding the capacity of the ageing generator. And the cost to NSW taxpayers says Tim Buckley is likely to be north of $200m a year.
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AEMO releases National Energy Market report
Energy Magazine
Climate Energy Finance Director, Tim Buckley, said that the AEMO’s statement demonstrates that State and Federal Governments must move with urgency to expedite planned transmission projects, utility and distributed renewable energy generation, and storage.
“While AEMO’s projections show that in the absence of accelerated delivery some gaps in reliability will arise over the coming decade, this is a result of the retirement of 62 per cent of Australia’s end-of-life coal power clunkers by 2033 – generators that are in any case increasingly unreliable and prone to unplanned outages that impact supply,” Mr Buckley said.
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Investing in renewables will combat energy supply risk
AAP
Director at think tank Climate Energy Finance, Tim Buckley, said urgent action was needed from state and federal governments.
“Accelerating the pace of energy transformation and transitioning our grid is critical to ensuring reliable energy supply and solving the current energy crisis,” he said.
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AEMO report shows accelerated transition to renewables can offset any electricity reliability gaps
ABC NewsRadio
As Tim Buckley says, AEMO’s new Electricity Statement of Opportunities demonstrates yet again that state and federal governments must move to expedite planned transmission projects, utility and distributed renewable energy generation, and storage, and that notably, any risks to supply can be adequately addressed by renewable energy transition initiatives currently underway.
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As Asia heats up, leaders must look beyond domestic concerns and unite for climate
South China Morning Post
“We need to level the playing field by pricing in carbon emissions; that is the key policy required before Green Hydrogen development will really scale up,” said Tim Buckley, director of think tank Climate Energy Finance.
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Gas lobby pushing back as momentum builds to get new homes off the fossil fuel
ABC 7.30
“Eighty per cent of the gas in eastern Australia is used by the gas industry itself for export purposes,” Mr Buckley said. “So the idea that we’re running out of gas is a deliberate political misinformation campaign by the gas industry so they can make even more money.”
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Why governments are standing behind ‘coal clunkers’ despite record high power prices
ABC online
Tim Buckley says Origin is simply bowing to the inevitable by shutting Eraring seven years ahead of schedule in August 2025. He says not only is Eraring one of the most exposed power plants to volatile coal prices — if not the most — it is also among the hardest hit by the influx of renewable energy on the system. This is because Eraring — like all ageing coal-fired power plants — needs to run more or less flat out around the clock. But amid a flood of green power — particularly during the middle of the day when solar output was highest — it was having to run despite the daily cratering of prices.
“If I go and flood the NSW market with a shedload of solar, that’s going to gut Eraring, it’s going to gut Bayswater because they have zero flexibility,” Buckley says. It was not designed to be flexible.
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Criticism for proposed Eraring closure delay
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Tim Buckley told Utility Magazine “the leaked recommendation to extend Eraring’s life ignores the dual cost of living and climate crises smashing the people of New South Wales. The hyperinflation of fossil energy is driving these, handing windfall profits to multinationals as taxpayers and our environment wear the costs. Only an accelerated transition to cheap, deflationary firmed renewables will solve these twin crises.”
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