Electricity/electrification
AGL China Coal Critical minerals Decarbonisation Electricity/electrification Energy crisis Finance Sector & Emissions Hydrogen India & Adani offshore wind Renewables Taxes and subsidies US IRA/EU NZIA et al
Explainer: China’s dominance in wind turbine manufacturing
Reuters
China has by far the world’s biggest wind turbine production capacity, or 60% of 163 gigawatts (GW) in 2023, says Brussels-based industry association Global Wind Energy Council. China exported about $1.42 billion of turbines and components to the EU last year. The situation in China’s wind turbine sector is similar to that in the solar sector, with massive domestic capacity increases underpinned by extensive government support, said Xuyang Dong, China energy policy analyst at Climate Energy Finance in Sydney. “With a domestic supply glut and world leading technology, China will increasingly seek to export turbines.”
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Webinar: How to make money out of battery storage
Renew Economy
Battery storage is the hot-spot in the Australian renewable energy transition right now, but it has barely touched the sides when looking at its potential. The so-called “Swiss Army Knives” of the renewable energy transition have learned how to make returns in some key parts of the grid, but much of their potential – long duration storage and specific services – remains difficult because either the market does not exist, or because of the lack of funding and support. Tim Buckley joins Giles Parkinson, Founder & Editor of Renew Economy, alongside Paul Curnow from Akaysha Energy and Daniel Burrows from Eku Energy.
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How Combet could supercharge the Future Fund’s role in the net zero economy
Capital Brief
Greg Combet’s ascension to incoming chair of the Future Fund is already generating plenty of discussion around the sovereign wealth manager’s role in investing in Australia’s green economic transition, even though he won’t take the reins until July. “They’ve gone from having a climate luddite to a climate evangelist in the chair — so you would expect the fund to have a more significant role and invest more in that area,” said Tim Buckley, director of think tank Climate Energy Finance.
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China solar industry faces shakeout, but rock-bottom prices to persist
Reuters
Consolidation in China’s crowded solar power sector is pushing smaller players out of the market, but excess production capacity – with more on the way – threatens to keep global prices low for years.
“Many non-solar companies in China have been enticed by massive sustained market growth opportunities in solar and favourable policy support,” said Dong of Climate Energy Finance, who expects most plans by such players not to materialise.
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EU launches 2 probes into China solar manufacturers
The Financial Times (UK)
Xuyang Dong of Climate Energy Finance, an Australian think-tank, said that “China’s estimated wafer, cell and module capacity that will come online in 2024 is sufficient to meet annual global demand now through to 2032. This shows an immense domestic solar production oversupply, which has resulted in price slump in solar components”.
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OP ED | Solar Sunshot puts Australia in global cleantech race, and Liddell is the perfect venue
Renew Economy
The Federal Government last week announced a $1 billion investment in Australian solar manufacturing in the historic fossil fuel heartland of the Hunter Valley, the Solar Sunshot program. Its establishment at the Liddell coal power plant site is symbolic. The play is designed to boost a regional economy formerly dependent on fossil fuels, and help pivot the region and future workforce into the zero-emissions industries of the future, presenting a stark alternative to the Coalition’s “vision” of a nuclear reactor for every former coal generator site.
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Australia’s fossil fuel dominated grid to have hefty shadow carbon price, starting at $66 a tonne
Renew Economy
Tim Buckley, from Climate and Energy Finance, wrote on LinkedIn that the shadow price of $A105/t by 2030, rising to $A221/t by 2040 and $A420/t by 2050 gives a credible price signal consistent with the cost to Australians of carbon pollution for all new energy infrastructure assessment and approvals. Buckley also says it shows the likely trajectory of carbon emissions pricing as strongly upwards over time, consistent with the International Energy Agency (IEA) modelling. “It’s past time the polluters paid,” Buckley wrote last year when assessing the NSW government’s proposed shadow carbon price, a mechanism that would have knocked controversial gas projects such as Narrabri on the head.
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“We’re not trying to compete with China:” Why Australia’s Solar Sunshot is not a flight of fancy
Renew Economy
Tim Buckley, the founder and director of Climate Energy Finance, says Solar Sunshot puts Australia in the global cleantech race, while also rebuilding its sovereign manufacturing capabilities and bolstering energy security and economic resilience. “Sunshot and these related initiatives are important steps in a uniquely Australian response to the US Inflation Reduction Act – the $1 trillion “green new deal” that is turbocharging cleantech re-industrialisation in the US and attracting a tidal wave of hundreds of billions of dollars of private capital,” Buckley says.
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Keeping the lights on at Eraring could cost taxpayers $150m per year
The Sydney Morning Herald
NSW taxpayers could be on the hook for as much as $150 million a year for every year the Eraring coal-fired power plant remains open, energy analysts predict, with the Minns government refusing to detail the terms of its negotiations with owner Origin Energy ahead of a likely extension beyond 2025.
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State faces huge bill for major coal plant’s life
Canberra Times
In Canberra Times via AAP and syndicated to 100+ mastheads: Origin Energy has been in talks with the state government to extend the life of its Eraring plant, located south of Newcastle, after a review warned the scheduled 2025 closure would result in electricity shortfalls and price hikes.
NSW officials are yet to confirm how long the plant’s life could be extended or how much it will cost.
But analysis by independent think-tank Climate Energy Finance, released on Thursday, found keeping the plant open past 2025 could cost between $120 million and $150 million per year, paid to Origin to subsidise the extension.
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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?”
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The Australian Energy Regulator says electricity prices are mostly falling but some are rising
SBS
Tim Buckley is director of Climate Energy Finance, a public interest think tank. He said more action could be taken to further lower energy prices in the meantime. Buckley suggested some ways that electricity bills could be lowered while also helping Australia achieve its necessary net zero targets. For example, he mentioned induction cooktops and water heaters and these aspects can really reduce the cost of living pressure and permanently alleviate these problems through accelerated deployment. That means getting away from the high, expensive methane gas that Australia has been addicted to for the last 30, 40, 50 years. Buckley believes there must be a coordinated government campaign to help consumers get through this cost-of-living crisis.
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