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CEF observes continued price deflation in solar PV and batteries – prices dropped 20% for batteries, and Chinese panels plummeted by 37 to 46% in 2024. This cost reduction has turbocharged deployment rates, with almost 600GW of solar PV installed in 2024. Assuming continued growth in China deployments, 700GW this year seems likely, and CEF projects this will rise to 1,000GW per annum by 2030. BESS installation rates are expected to treble in this timeframe. With solar modules and battery manufacturing capacity at three times the current global installations, expectations of plateauing installations are entirely unlikely. 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

“The single biggest opportunity for Australia is to enhance and pivot our relationship with China,” Tim Buckley, director of think tank Climate Energy Finance (CEF), tells ESN Premium ahead of Solar Media’s Energy Storage Summit Australia 2025. Buckley believes Australia’s positive trade relations with China will increase the investability prospects in the country’s energy storage market, which could prove vital in Australia’s shift to a green economy. Read more

Trump has declared an “energy emergency”, scrapped both environmental restrictions on oil and gas exploration and permits for wind farms, all to the benefit of an oil and gas industry that spent $US219m installing his government. So what is the impact? When Trump last abandoned the Paris Accord, many observers argued they would rather have a recalcitrant US alone outside the tent rather than wrecking things within. The UN treaty that drives the global climate response demands consensus in key votes. Having the US side with fossil states such as Russia and Saudi Arabia might have gummed up a cumbersome process even further. Read more

For Beijing, there is a persistent worry that Chinese companies could find themselves shut out of the Australian market as business and economic matters increasingly become entangled with security issues. And those concerns intensified on Tuesday, after Albanese and Trump spoke about the possibility of the US granting Australia an exemption to its newly announced 25% tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium. Read more

Industry figures fear wariness at the Foreign Investment Review Board about Chinese-linked investment is hindering the flow of capital needed to advance Australia’s energy transition, slowing progress on new wind and solar farms and stalling acquisitions. A $813m deal by a unit of energy major BP to sell five solar farms to Beijing Energy International Holding is close to collapse as the buyer seeks to secure foreign investment approval. Read more

Tim Buckley returns with Grant McDowell to guide us through Spark Club Podcast’s usual segments: Highlights, Lowlights, The Main Story, and What’s Coming Up. This episode kicks off with some positive news from the Middle East, where large-scale solar and battery storage deployments are setting new records. Tim also covers the $2bn Green Aluminium production tax credits, Labor’s 2025 ‘Build Australia’s Future’ plan, and impressive global numbers for large-scale BESS installations. Also discussed was China’s headline energy and economic growth numbers for 2024 Read more

Excerpt from CEF Director Tim Buckley’s interview with Xinhua News about China’s leadership in the global energy transition Read more

While Xi’s Communist Party won’t be rushed as it transitions China’s electricity network, it sees a huge opportunity in the global shift. “China wants to dominate the industries of the future,” says Tim Buckley, the Sydney-based head of Climate Energy Finance, a clean energy think tank. In sector after sector from wind farms to solar panels to battery storage to the rollout of new fourth-generation nuclear power technology, China now leads the world. “I have been watching China for 15 years and they’ve exceeded every expectation I had in terms of their investment and the longevity of their strategic thinking,” says Buckley, who used to be the head of research at Citigroup’s Australian hub. Read more

Tim Buckley comments for this Washington Post feature on China’s extraordinary energy transition progress and the implications for emissions. Read more