Media

Despite the progress to date in diversifying China’s electricity supply – and the business models of the country’s power sector SOEs – major challenges lie ahead, Ember says. A number of central SOEs also have major interests in other parts of the coal ecosystem. Central SOE China Shenhua, for example, spent 8bn yuan (about $1bn) on coal mining development and exploration, and only 824m yuan (about $113m) in hydropower in the first half of 2023, according to a report by CEF. Read more

Tim Buckley discusses the LNP’s nuclear furphy with French newspaper Les Echos: The Australian Conservatives’ proposal is nothing more than a political bluff that “conflates higher electricity prices with renewable energy”, said Tim Buckley. Among the weaknesses of the plan in question, he cites the envisaged use of SMRs “which are not even commercially available”. He also notes that, when it comes to nuclear power, “Australia is relying on foreign know-how, because we have no skills, expertise or technology, zero”, which suggests that budgets and delivery times are likely to be exceeded. Read more

Tim Buckley told Straits Times that Australia is set to be one of the world’s largest sources of renewable energy such as wind and solar power, and that these could eventually be used to produce vast quantities of green hydrogen. “Twiggy (Dr Forrest) was too far ahead of the curve – he has now pivoted to something that is more achievable this decade,” Read more

Tim Buckley said disengagement by ACCR was a powerful signal that investors need to reevaluate their trust in emissions-intensive companies. “ASIC is pursuing corporate greenwash as a form of investor deception,” Buckley said. Making public statements that a company is taking action on net zero, and then privately lobbying or funding lobbyists to undermine this action, “is illegal”. “Investors absolutely need to know if a company is undertaking greenwash.” Read more

Star of the South was first pioneered by three Australians back in 2012, before CIP bought into the project in 2017 when it was already one of the industry’s biggest players. “That was a huge shot of confidence to the Victorian government and the federal government,” says Tim Buckley, founder of think tank Climate Energy Finance. Australia’s potential has not been lost on the industry heavyweights. Orsted, RWE, Iberdrola and BlueFloat Energy also won Australian feasibility licences. “We’ve got almost every non-Chinese and non-Indian major global [developer] vying to build offshore wind in Australia,” says Mr Buckley. Read more

Battery storage is supposed to throw a bit more competition into the market. But the problem is that many of these assets are now owned or contracted to the very same energy giants that control the rest of the generation. If anything, it’s made it easier for them to control prices and profits. And being in the grip of the big energy players doesn’t feel like a safe place to be at the moment, especially with gas prices at such highs – five times the price of other international markets – according to Tim Buckley, from Climate Energy Finance. And it gives the Coalition plenty to crow about, something that is now taking hold in the minds of the public. Read more

On The Climatelist podcast, the world of green steel, global carbon pricing, and the opportunities for Australian businesses with Tim Buckley. Discover how China’s dominance in green technologies is reshaping global trade and creating a potential $250 billion export market for Australia. Tim unpacks the complex world of Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms (CBAMs) and explores how Australian businesses can lead the charge in embodying decarbonisation for a profitable and sustainable future. Read more

Three-quarters of the gas extracted by Australia is sold overseas, mostly to customers in Japan, China and South Korea. Does this make Australia a petrostate? Tim Buckley, a former investment banker, now director of the analysis firm Climate Energy Finance, is among those who believe it does. He points to the documented history of Australia’s fossil fuel industry to pay, pressure and cajole governments to get its way. The result is that the country has continued to expand gas and coal operations, with no articulated end in sight, since it rejected a climate-laggard rightwing Coalition administration in 2022 and replaced it with a Labor government promising to take a leadership role on the climate crisis. Read more

Source: AEMO Gas Statement of Opportunities If privatisation of gas and electricity networks and the consequent complexity of the market are partly to blame for high energy bills, it is worth pondering whether a more independent regulator might be in order. We are talking about the Australian Energy Market Operator (AMEO), which independent energy expert Tim Buckley described this week as “captured by the methane gas cartel”. Read more

Tim Buckley comments for this feature on Andrew Forrest’s recalibration of his green hydrogen ambitions. Read more

On Counter Punch: According to Climate Energy Finance’s Xuyang Dong, despite China’s reliance on coal, “having China go green at this speed and scale provides the world with a textbook to do the same” Energy experts claim China is upstaging the United States by taking the pole position on an issue that the world is just starting to experience in real time, i.e., the ravages of global warming. Read more

Tim Buckley discusses with Kieran Gilbert the power price spikes AEMO identifies in its latest quarterly energy dynamics report – including the devastating impacts of aging coal clunker outages. Read more