Media

As the Australian Energy Regulator announces a projected 20% rise in retail electricity prices from July 1 – a hike which would have been closer to 40-50% had the Albanese government not intervened to cap domestic wholesale coal and gas prices in December last year – we look at the causes and solutions of the energy price crisis. Read more

Tim Buckley comments on the Japanese government sinking $2bn into a coal gasification to hydrogen project in Victoria: “Last time I checked, there won’t be a ship ready to transport hydrogen in the next decade… it looks like they are pushing carbon capture storage and hydrogen shipping – neither of which are proven technologies. If the Japanese government want to commit $2bn into an unproven pilot facility, good luck to them, but I don’t want to see a huge amount of taxpayer money going into a project that is designed to promote the extension of more high emitting coal gasification technologies that have continually failed to work globally.” Read more

Tim Buckley: “I’m forecasting 10 per cent annual module price reductions over the next decade. Module prices are falling — and the speed of the fall is accelerating” as the number of solar panel manufacturing facilities being built in China dramatically escalates. Global solar PV annual production capacity will triple by the end of the year, with most of the new capacity in China. Read more

On the purchase by a little known Australian investor, with Indonesian partners, of two coal mines divested by BHP, Tim Buckley notes: “Divestment by credible leading Australian companies to far-less accountable Indonesian family-controlled companies, in isolation, does little to solve the climate crisis. On the positive, it does progressively starve the fossil fuel sector of capital and acknowledges the fossil fuel sector’s progressive loss of a social licence to operate.” Read more

CEF’s critical minerals report with commentary by Tim Buckley and Dr Alan Finkel featured across 100+ mastheads via AAP. The report calls for urgent action, policy ambition and private investment to leverage Australia’s lucrative opportunity to lead the world in mining, refining and making clean energy products, as it identifies Australia’s “once in a century” opportunity to process critical minerals and manufacture onshore, powered by our abundant renewable energy. Read more

Former chief scientist Dr Alan Finkel on CEF’s new critical minerals report, noting Australia is well-positioned to establish itself as a superpower in the global shift from petrostates to electrostates. Electrostates will be those countries that supply energy transition materials such as critical minerals, or supply renewable energy. Dr Finkel says Australia can be both. With clear direction and heightened ambition from the new government, Australia can be a leading supplier of critical minerals and decarbonised products as the world undertakes its shift to the zero emissions future. Read more

Tim Buckley forecasts a 10 per cent annual module price reduction over the next decade, with his confidence is driven by the increase in the production capacity of PVs in China, which will likely triple by the end of this year. Read more

In this feature on the flaws in the carbon offsets available under the Safeguard Mechanism emissions reduction framework applying to Australia’s biggest emitters, Tim Buckley notes that fossil-fuel multinationals operating in Australia made $120 to $140 billion gross profit last year alone on exports of Australian LNG and coal. Read more

While the federal government’s safeguard mechanism reform is flawed – in particular, offsets should be strictly limited – it does provide the policy architecture for a high permanent price on carbon – essential to driving decarbonisation, alongside the suite of policy initiatives designed to accelerate the energy transition. After 10 years of LNP failure, this is a massive win. Read more

AEMO’s electricity opportunities update today confirms significant progress on grid decarbonisation in the last 6 months – with a staggering 209GW of new firmed renewables worth > A$250 billion in the pipeline – coupled with the urgent need for accelerating investment in generation, long-duration storage and transmission to ensure supply over the next decade. The acceleration of long delayed deployment of EVs and charging networks also means it’s time for AEMO to start modelling EV-to-grid charging opportunities. With ~20 million EVs in Australia within two decades, this equates to a collective new asset base of 800 gigawatt hours of batteries. Read more

Tim Buckley comments on today’s release by the Australian Energy Market Operator of its electricity market update, noting there has been significant progress on decarbonising the energy grid in the past six months, with a 209 gigawatt pipeline of new firmed renewables proposals worth over $250 billion, highlighting the massive regional employment and investment opportunities from decarbonisation – but also observing the urgent need for further capacity investment to offset exiting fossil fuels. Read more

The price on carbon in the safeguard mechanism will be capped at $75/tonne, increasing annually by CPI plus 2 per cent to a possible $100 by 2030. Tim Buckley notes this means that by 2030 the companies that own the polluting facilities can either invest in new clean technologies or processes, or cop a collective $4.9 billion annual hit, which will double again to $9 billion by 2035. Read more