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Decarbonisation

CEF in the media  |  Mar 26, 2024

China’s solar billionaire feels the heat as sector faces upheaval

The Financial Times (UK)

Longi founder Li Zhenguo is laying off thousands of staff in an industry grappling with oversupply The solar industry is cyclical, resulting in periods of boom and bust. Analysts have warned that massive job cuts across the industry are inevitable after several years of excessive focus on output rather than on sustainable profits. Xuyang Dong of Climate Energy Finance, an Australian think-tank, noted that at of the start of this year, China had more than 1,000GW of solar module production capacity in development for domestic and international markets, a far higher amount than current domestic demand. China needs around 280-320GW of new solar capacity a year until 2030 to reach its dual carbon targets. “The amount of money saved by laying off staff is insufficient compared to the 40-50 per cent decline in prices in the market over the last 12 months,” she said. Read more
CEF in the media  |  Mar 22, 2024

AEMO issues another gas shortage warning, but analysts question why

Renew Economy

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has issued what is becoming a routine annual warning of potential future gas supply shortages in Australia, with the release this week of its latest Gas Statement of Opportunities (GSOO). Tim Buckley, the founder and director of Climate Energy Finance said “Why does AEMO have gas use in the power system actually higher in 2040 than they do today? “That’s the gas industry giving the most optimistic view that they can about the future of their industry, and it’s just not going to happen. “AEMO is still failing to understand the massive structural shift of scale and scope for batteries – including of utility scale, behind the meter and in electric vehicles for V2G, plus grid orchestration – to permanently diminish the need for gas peakers, which play a small, critical but diminishing role in grid firming, particularly in season peaks in winter. “We have AEMO doing a gas statement of opportunity that ignores the obvious opportunity, which is to electrify everything and reduce demand.” Read more
CEF in the media  |  Mar 22, 2024

OPINION | Australia has massive battery opportunity, and it needs to think big and go hard to seize it

Renew Economy

Opinion piece from energy leader Danny Kennedy from New Energy Nexus on the opportunity for Australia for invest onshore in battery processing. “Time and again we are faced with this frustrating lack of both vision and understanding of the context, scale and urgency of the task before us. Australia produces over half of the world’s lithium yet retains less than 1% of the profit that lithium eventually delivers in final products of batteries and EVs. Why not invest in manufacturing batteries onshore? It’s a sector ripe for scaling, something we’re told time and again that we can’t do. Why?” Read more
CEF in the media  |  Mar 22, 2024

OPINION | Community benefits from renewables can be locked in through local content requirements

Renew Economy

A coalition of business, union, First Nations and community groups are calling for local content requirements to be built into tenders for the Capacity Investment Scheme. A measured, considered domestic content stipulation in CIS tenders will support domestic clean energy and technology supply chains to mature. It can be a valuable tool that underpins investor confidence both into and by Australian companies. Read more
CEF in the media  |  Mar 20, 2024

A coal billionaire is building the world’s biggest clean energy plant and it’s five times the size of Paris

CNN

“[Gautam] Adani continues to walk both sides of the street,” said Tim Buckley, director of Sydney-based think tank Climate Energy Finance. The Adani Group is not only one of the largest developers and operators of coal mines in India, but also operates the controversial Carmichael Coal Mine in Australia, which has faced fierce opposition from climate change campaigners who say it is a “death sentence” for the Great Barrier Reef. “Rather than ploughing billions into new fossil fuel projects, India would be far better served if Adani put 100% of its efforts and resources into developing low-cost zero emissions technologies,” Buckley added. Read more
CEF in the media  |  Mar 19, 2024

Power prices mostly heading down but some up, says Australian Energy Regulator

SBS

Many Australians could see a reduction in their energy bill prices, according to an announcement made by the Australian Energy Regulator. Yet despite the highly anticipated relief for households, experts say the government could be doing more to lower energy costs during the transition period to cleaner energy. Read more
CEF in the media  |  Mar 19, 2024

Consumers to get “marginal” bill relief despite rooftop PV driving big falls in wholesale power prices

Renew Economy

Australian energy consumers risk benefiting from only a marginal fall in their electricity bills, despite a big plunge in wholesale electricity prices caused by the growth of renewables, and rooftop solar PV in particular. The Australian Energy Regulator on Tuesday released its draft proposals for what is known as the Default Market Offer for 2024/25. Read more
CEF in the media  |  Mar 19, 2024

Energy bill relief, but faster renewables shift needed to permanently slash prices

The New Daily

Sydney Ausgrid electricity consumers will see 3 per cent retail price declines for the new financial year starting 1 July 2024 under the Default Market Offer (DMO) draft ruling from the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) this morning, and small and medium enterprise (SME) customers a much more significant decline of 10 per cent. The default market offer is a maximum price that retailers are allowed to charge. Read more
CEF in the media  |  Mar 19, 2024

Power bills set for a marginal drop

ABC Radio National PM

After two years of hefty increases… it looks like the price of power for consumers in the eastern states is set to drop. The Australian Energy Regulator has today released its draft decision on the nation’s main consumer price caps which are known as “default market offers”. It’s recommended the maximum retailers can charge drop by between one and ten per cent, depending on where you live and whether your bill is for a small business or private residence. Read more
CEF in the media  |  Mar 14, 2024

OP ED | The ‘Banana’ that’s bending efforts to end fossil fuels use

The Australian

CEF worked with Dr Alan Finkel on this op which argues government authorities should apply an affirmative duty of care to displace fossil fuel power with renewables when assessing developments for large scale wind and solar. Read more
Media Releases  |  Mar 14, 2024

Community benefits can be captured in renewables projects through local content requirements

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A coalition including leading union, investor, energy, industry and First Nations peak groups today called on the federal government to embed requirements for locally produced and supplied components into all renewable energy supply chain manufacturing and development. A measured, considered local content requirement (LCR) in CIS tenders will support the domestic clean energy and technology supply chains to mature. Read more
CEF in the media  |  Mar 14, 2024

Gina Rinehart-backed rare earth miner soars in value on news of $840m in support

The Guardian

A Gina Rinehart-backed mining company has soared in value by 75%, after the government agreed to provide financial support as it aims to increase Australia’s production of rare earth elements. The director of Climate Energy Finance, Tim Buckley, says the announcement shows private finance can’t be relied on to provide critical minerals. “We probably shouldn’t be relying on private billionaires to do the national interest,” he says. Buckley says competition from Chinese and US production after president Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act could crush Australian production without government action. “The idea that we’re just going to leave it to the free market is farcical when the American government started with a trillion dollars in subsidies on the table,” he says. Read more
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