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Environmental approval processes are obstructing critical renewable energy infrastructure needed to develop a lucrative green steel industry in Western Australia’s resource-rich Pilbara, experts warn. A Climate Energy Finance report estimates Australia has the potential to double its iron export value to $250 billion by producing green iron, but not if it loses out to international competitors because governments and industry fail to develop the sector. Former Australian chief scientist Alan Finkel said the country’s regulatory systems were “too complex, unbalanced and slow”, with environmental approvals potentially obstructing critical renewable energy infrastructure. Read more

As Climate Energy Finance argues in a new report, the decarbonisation and electrification of the Pilbara should be a national priority. Part of this focus should be investment in common user infrastructure for the electricity grid to enable the rollout of large-scale solar and wind projects, and part should be initiatives such as co-location of solar and wind power with green metals refining to reduce the size of the challenge in expanding the electricity grid in the Pilbara. The consequences of acting too slowly or inefficiently will be severe. The international competition will be fierce. Brazil, South Africa and other countries can dig and ship their iron ore to countries in the Middle East, where they will use low-cost, zero emissions electricity to convert the crude iron ore into refined green iron. Read more

Syndicated widely via AAP | Australia has a “once-in-a-century opportunity” to lead the world’s green iron industry but could miss it if governments, mining firms and investors fail to take urgent action, a study has found. The 78-page report, released on Tuesday by independent think tank Climate Energy Finance, analysed the nation’s potential to transform its iron industry using renewable energy and found it could double export revenue to $250 billion a year. But it also found only two per cent of electricity used in Western Australia’s Pilbara region came from renewable sources and warned Australia could lose the opportunity to other countries if it delayed reforms. Read more

Companies in the Pilbara need to think bigger if Australia is to achieve both emissions reductions goals and if they want to capitalise on an annual $250 billion green iron opportunity, says a new report. Miners and oil and gas companies need to accelerate plans to share their energy infrastructure and create a single common-user electricity grid, says the Superpowering Up report from think tank Climate Energy Finance (CEF). Ending the feudal approach to energy infrastructure in the Pilbara, where every company builds and owns generation and grids on their own patch, there is scope to add the estimated $50-100 billion of extra renewable energy generation needed to decarbonise Australia’s biggest mining region. Read more

A report released by think tank Climate Energy Finance (CEF) has claimed that decarbonising the Pilbara region of Western Australia is key to doubling Australian iron exports by value to $250 billion. The report, SUPERPOWERING-UP, was released on Tuesday and warns against continued inaction in greening the Pilbara’s energy supply. According to the report, only 2 per cent of the region’s electricity is from renewables, with “fragmented corporate energy production and grid transmission structures” standing in the way of progress. It identifies a single common-user electricity grid infrastructure (CUI) as the key ingredient in decarbonising the region. Read more

A new report has recommended the Pilbara invest in common-user infrastructure (CUI) to leverage Australia’s role in resources decarbonisation. ‘SUPERPOWERING-UP: Accelerating the electrification and decarbonisation of the Pilbara’ made several recommendations to the Federal Government, including investing in renewables-powered green metals refining, critical minerals processing and cleantech manufacturing. Among the recommendations to the WA Government was the prioritisation of the development of a comprehensive single CUI plan in the Pilbara region, and the legislation of the state’s Climate Change Bill 2023 to drive acceleration of net-zero across the state. Read more

A new CEF report has found that without immediate action to decarbonise the Pilbara – and harness hydrogen – Australia risks losing its place in the future green iron industry. A new report from Climate Energy Finance (CEF) warns that failing to decarbonise and electrify Western Australia’s Pilbara region could jeopardise Australia’s future in the green iron industry. The report, titled Superpowering-Up, highlights the critical role of hydrogen in transforming Australia’s iron ore exports into high-value green iron, positioning the country as a leader in the global renewable energy market. Read more

fDI Intelligence – Powering ahead: China’s huge investment in clean energy manufacturing and installation means it will hit its 2030 decarbonisation targets six years early. China’s global leadership in the energy system’s decarbonisation is nothing short of astonishing. There is a significant chance that the country, which represented 56% of the world’s coal consumption in 2023 according to the Energy Institute, will reach peak coal demand later this year. National carbon emissions will potentially peak and then plateau in lock-step. Read more

Liddell Power Station in Australia’s Hunter Valley burned through coal for five decades before closing last year. Opposition leader Peter Dutton now wants Liddell to be reborn as something banned in the country for a quarter of a century: a nuclear power plant. Tim Buckley, director of the Climate Energy Finance think-tank, said the opposition’s proposals would displace private capital with a “communist-style policy” requiring more than A$100bn of public funds. “It is not impossible, but it is financially illogical,” said Buckley, who questioned the move’s political motivations ahead of an election. “This is not nuclear versus renewables. This is about extending the climate wars.” Read more

As a confidential report to the NSW government, suggesting that closing Eraring would push power prices up, is released to the public, Tim Buckley provides a withering critique: “Does this analysis assume they (the NSW government) stand there like startled rabbits in the headlights and do absolutely nothing for a couple of years in the face of the stark knowledge that the largest coal fired power plant is at the end of its useful life and going to close? The permanent solution is not bandaids and more taxpayer subsidies for an end of life, unreliable high emissions coal clunker. $450m of tax payer monies would have crowded in a lot of permanent, low cost, zero emissions private projects.” 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