Media

According to Clean Energy Finance director Tim Buckley, increased renewable energy supply and reduced fossil fuel price gouging is driving down wholesale prices which averaged A$91/MWh in CY2023, -52% year on year. “This trend has continued, with 4QCY2023 averaging just $64/MWh -41% year on year, and well on its way back down to 2020-2021 levels,” he says via a LinkedIn post. “This argues really strongly for double digit retail electricity price declines come the default market offer effective 1 July 2024, easing cost of living pressures and inflation, which in turn boosts the potential for slightly lower interest rates over the coming year.” Read more

Queensland leads the nation in rooftop solar uptake, however there are concerns about the switch to renewables could come at a cost as the oversupply for the solar power during the middle of the day could bring wholesale electricity prices into the negative. Tim Buckley told 7News Sunshine Coast that the energy retailers asking for compensation is speaking for their self-interests to protect their profit margin. Buckley said consumers who are on the default market offer can expect to see a double digit decline in the retail electricity price come the 1st of July 2024. Read more

On Tuesday this week, the Australian Financial Review went large with the story headlined, “How a big new solar farm became a stranded asset”. That evening, energy analyst Tim Buckley debunked the story on social media. This was not a stranded asset at all, Buckley pointed out. “Zero stranding … [financially] a brilliant success”. Read more

Energy analyst Tim Buckley from public interest think tank Climate Energy Finance said as New Wilkie Energy was a private company, the reasons for it entering administration were not clear. But he said it was likely significant costs for mining operations played a role in the company’s demise. “It’s using contractors, not employees, it probably doesn’t have a lot of capital,” Mr Buckley said. “It was hoping to get product out the door and sold in order to cash in on the very high current coal prices but with that comes a whole lot of risk.” Read more

According to a recent analysis by analyst Xuyang Dong of Climate Energy Finance, a new Australian think-tank, China is on track to exceed Beijing’s target for a 50 per cent boost in the installed capacity of renewable energy generation over the period of the state’s 14th five-year plan, from 2021 to 2025. Read more

Tim Buckley, working for Climate Energy Finance, reviews the likely phasing out of coal energy in Australia by 2038 and the rise of alternative energy sources. He insinuates that the potential for increased use of zero emissions technologies is significant, given the absence of nuclear power. Particularly, Tim singles out the future of rooftop solar in Australia, predicting that its capacity could quadruple in the next 27 years, exceeding the entire current installed capacity within the country. Read more

Australia’s energy transition to renewables is moving at record pace but there are warnings the nation’s main power grid could struggle to manage the shift if more isn’t done. That’s according to the Australian Energy Market Operator, which today released a draft plan to achieve the transition, in order to meet the federal government’s emissions reduction targets. But energy experts say rising costs and community pushback are making the plan tricky to achieve. Read more

With a merger pending between gas companies Woodside and Santos Tim Buckley says from an environmental, social and governance lens, the benefits of scale are less visible. Combining two companies gives an immediate governance cost saving from merging two boards into one and only needing one of the two CEOs, but this is partly undone by the redundancy costs that would need to be paid to the departing chief. Read more

COP28 report card is mixed but secures a focus on a transition away from fossil fuels from nearly 200 countries. Tim Buckley, Australia based independent public interest think tank, Climate Energy Finance. “It’s a good step forward, it’s nowhere near aligned with the climate science.” Read more

In the context of international climate negotiations, which as realpolitik dictates, deal in the art of the possible, the failure to call for a phase out of coal does not overshadow the clear direction taken by the global community – to back in renewables and step back from fossil fuels. Now we need to see action from Australia in kicking its coal and gas habit. Read more

Our full page Canberra Times op ed with John Grimes, CEO of the Smart Energy Council, Rewiring Australia’s Dr Saul Griffiths, Blair Palese of the Climate Capital Forum, Dr John Hewson and Mara Bun: The prospect of nuclear power generation in Australia is now a live debate. There are a number of barriers that make nuclear unviable as a solution for Australia’s energy transition in a timeframe necessary to respond to the climate, energy and cost-of-living crisis. We need energy, decarbonisation and cost of living solutions this decade. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommends a 50 per cent emissions reduction by 2030. As former Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel has noted, It is hard to imagine first operation of small modular reactor (SMR) technology before 2040. Read more

In Singapore’s major newspaper The Straits Times, Tim Buckley agreed that the tripling RE target at COP28 was achievable, with China taking the lead. “China has installed 20GW per month of wind and solar in 2023, up 109 per cent year on year,” he told ST. It is also scaling up production of solar modules to meet global demand. Read more