Media

Tim Buckley comments on the record 73.6% renewables in the NEM last week, noting this is significant but more work is needed on CER and batteries to ensure we grasp our clean energy future – slashing energy bills for households and business Read more

Tim Buckley said the partnership between Australia’s SunDrive and leading Chinese solar panel manufacturer Trina is a strong positive for the federal government’s Solar Sunshot program and broader Future Made in Australia strategy. Read more

Tim Buckley says the partnership of leading Australian solar start-up SunDrive with China’s Trina solar is a great opportunity for the Australian industry to benefit from China’s clean energy nous to accelerate decarbonisation. Read more

Tim details CEF’s new report on the $100bn plus in cleantech capital China is investing around the world into solar, wind, EVs, batteries and more, including what Australia needs to go to attract this capital to speed our energy transition. Read more

Tim Buckley, a leading energy analyst and director of Climate Energy Finance, added, despite a strong increase in investments in renewable energy since the December 2023 COP28 pledge to triple installed capacity by 2030, they are not yet on track to meet this goal, with global capacity expected to grow by 2.7 times by the end of the decade. “This reflects a 25 per cent lift in collective ambition compared to last year, driven by decreasing costs for solar and battery technologies. Increased support from developed nations is crucial for facilitating the energy transition in developing countries, helping to rapidly decarbonise in line with climate science,” Tim Buckley said. Read more

Energy analyst Tim Buckley is director of think tank Climate Energy Finance and said the battle for Korea Zinc, the world’s largest zinc refiner, was globally significant. “To me it looks like two Korean families who have cooperated together for a long time and now there is a divergence of views and one of the Korean families has brought in one of the most successful Korean private equity firms, MBK, to come in and buy control,” he said. But Mr Buckley said it was simply too soon to predict ramifications on the move towards “green” zinc in Australia and Ark Energy’s renewable energy projects. “There is a fear that the company could go through a major strategic pivot, but to some degree we’re incidental to the central game plan in Korea,” he said. Read more

The flaws in the Adani Godda power plant agreement have been widely documented in international media as well. Tim Buckley, a leading energy expert, told The Washington Post in 2022 that Bangladesh would pay over five times the country’s average wholesale electricity price for power from Adani’s plant. Even if coal prices revert to pre-Ukraine war levels, Bangladesh would still be paying 33 percent more for Adani’s electricity compared to its domestic coal-based power plants. Buckley described this contract as “an absolute gouge” and questioned how any reasonable person could have signed such a detrimental deal on behalf of Bangladesh. Read more

As Tim Buckley and AM Jonson write the record high of low-cost wind and solar in the grid comes as we are still waiting for the Coalition’s budget projections on its plan to nationalise the eye-watering cost of seven nuclear plants. Read more

Distributed internationally via AFP – Australia remains one of the world’s leading exporters of coal and gas and has relied heavily on fossil fuels to keep the lights on. But climate finance expert Tim Buckley said August’s record figures were caused by wild weather and a warm start to the spring, which had reduced demand on the grid by up to 20 percent. “It’s a historically low coal share for Australia in the national energy market, but it’s also a sign of where we are going,” Buckley told AFP. “It will only be a few years from now that coal is contributing virtually nothing,” he added. Read more

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has released its latest Electricity Statement of Opportunities (ESOO), painting an optimistic picture of Australia’s energy future. The report suggests that with continued investment in new renewable and storage projects, the nation can successfully transition beyond coal-fired power generation. Tim Buckley, Director of Climate Energy Finance, highlighted that AEMO’s forecasts show power supply reliability can be maintained over most of the next 10 years, provided that established programs and initiatives are delivered on time. Read more

The global dynamic in the energy transition focuses on Australia, Europe or the US, with occasional reference to China. The capacity and deployment stats coming out of China are staggering, and not well reported. The good news is there is indeed a clear and consistent voice on China, based here in Australia. Tim Buckley from Climate Energy Finance is a banking analyst with deep experience on the rise and rise of China in solar, wind, batteries and EVs. Tim follows the data points closely and observes trends not cutting through elsewhere. Read more

Tim Buckley, Climate Energy Finance Director said AEMO’s new 10 year ESOO concludes there is no reliability gap until 2034 in any state in the NEM unless there are project delays in the deployment of replacement capacity. “AEMO forecasts show that power supply reliability levels can be maintained over most of the next 10 years – assuming programs and initiatives already established are delivered on time and in full,” he said. “We simply need a lot more zero-emissions energy capacity approved and built, particularly utility-scale renewables.” Read more