Media

A report from a climate finance think-tank says there’s now an even stronger case for closing Australia’s largest coal-fired power station as scheduled next year, thanks to more renewable energy and a growth in battery storage capacity. Read more

Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) quietly released the Energy Security Target Monitor Report it had delivered privately to NSW climate and energy minister Penny Sharpe in October, showing that Australia’s biggest coal power clunker, Eraring, can close on time and there will be no gap in electricity supply. OUr new report, released today – The Lights will Stay On – confirms this, as we map the brilliant momentum in the state on utility scale firmed renewables and consumer energy resources (CER). There is no case for paying hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to keep the ailing, polluting behemoth chugging on. Read more

Analysis of the 2024-30 power sector by the Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley found NSW will have enough capacity to cover the exit of the 2,880-megawatt Eraring station now set for closure by owner Origin Energy in August 2025. “There is no reason why the taxpayer should be on the hook for multiples of hundreds of millions of dollars to keep Eraring open,” Buckley said, adding he had become “materially more confident” after a burst of federal and state moves at the end of 2023 to support more storage and large-scale renewables projects. Read more

Climate Energy Finance Director Tim Buckley said the dismantling of DeGrussa came as no surprise with the end of mine life “absolutely well known” when they solar hybrid power system was commissioned. “There is no surprise there,” he said, adding that in spite of its short lifespan, the DeGrussa power project has been a “brilliant success.” Read more

Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley says that shows just how emissions intensive oil and gas projects are, but also indicates a lack of industrialisation in Australia. “Barossa is a carbon factory with LNG as a byproduct,” he says. “But when we talk about Scope 1 emissions facilities of more than 100,000 mtCO2e/year, we don’t have a lot of them because Australia is a ‘dig and ship’ country. The majority of these facilities are fossil fuel exports anyway.” Read more

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

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

Michael West speaks with energy finance analyst and renewable energy expert Tim Buckley. 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

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