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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

[On Energy News Bulletin] Chevron Australia has reported a $3.5 billion company income tax bill for 2023, following the $4.2 billion paid it paid in tax in 2022, marking its status as one of Australia’s most significant corporate taxpayers. Tim Buckley, former MD of Research at Citigroup and the founder and director of think tank Climate Energy Finance, said the 2022 and 2023 tax payments are a very welcome development. Buckley said, “Chevron’s tax claims represents a significant positive step forward by the ATO in closing the substantial gap in corporate tax paid by multinationals in Australia over the last one to two years. We look forward to seeing similar reports from other multinational energy majors operating here.” Read more

The Minns government will pay Origin Energy up to $450 million over the next two years to extend the life of Australia’s largest coal-fired power station, Eraring, should the company opt in to a deal that NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey insisted was “not an act of corporate welfare”. But some experts, including many from the renewable energy sector, have criticised the government for agreeing to a deal they say is unnecessary. Tim Buckley, the head of pro-renewables think tank Clean Energy Finance, labelled it “yet another massive coal subsidy funded by electricity users in NSW”. Read more

Syndicated widely across 100+ mastheads via AAP | The life of Australia’s largest coal-fired power station will be extended for at least two years beyond its scheduled 2025 closure date. “This is essentially Coalkeeper 2.0 – yet another massive coal subsidy funded by electricity users in NSW” – Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley. Read more

The deal to extend the life of Australia’s largest coal generator – 2.88 GW – is being sold as necessary to “keep the lights on”, but there is no guarantee that it will do that. As Tim Buckley, from Climate Energy Finance, observes, Origin has “kindly offered” to share 20 per cent of any profits, capped at $40 million a year, but will share 80 per cent of the losses with the people of NSW, capped at $225 million per year. “This is essentially Coalkeeper 2.0 – yet another massive coal subsidy funded by electricity users in NSW,” he said. Read more

Climate Energy Finance’s Tim Buckley joins Kieran Gilbert on Sky News to discuss the extension of the life of Eraring coal-fired power station. Read more

Australia’s transition to renewable energy appears to have been dealt a blow, with the nation’s biggest coal-fired power plant to be kept open longer than expected. Read more

Sun-soaked Australia’s lofty renewable energy ambitions were given a harsh reality check on Thursday, as looming electricity shortfalls delayed the long-awaited shutdown of the country’s largest coal-fired power plant. In many cases, nuclear makes sense for energy-deficient countries that had no domestic renewable options, such as Japan, energy analyst Tim Buckley told AFP. “Nuclear has no future in Australia,” he said. “Australia has not continuously built it, we have none of the skillset, none of the engineering, and none of the capacity for nuclear.” Read more

The federal government has set aside more than $500m to encourage battery production in Australia. But it’s not yet clear exactly how the scheme will work. The Government says it’s time Australia played a bigger role in battery production but some experts believe its the wrong place to invest. CEF’s Tim Buckley joins ABC Radio alongside Ed Husic, Minister for Industry and Science; Tony Wood, program director for energy and climate change, Grattan Institute; and New South Wales Energy Minister Penny Sharpe. Read more

Tim Buckley said: In the budget, we saw an excellent $21bn down payment. It is great to see that this is additional funding, not the usual political trick of rehashing previous press releases. The development of the production tax credit (PTC) model for critical minerals and green hydrogen to incentivise onshore value-adding is a very strong step forward, a clear acknowledgement that Australia can’t simply leave it to free markets when other countries have made such significant public interest interventions, undermining global trade. We particularly note the absence of any additional stimulus on “electrifying everything” and only $28m of new funding to better integrate consumer energy resources into the grid. Read more

The Federal Government has released its Budget 2024–25, which focuses on developing renewable energy and easing cost-of-living pressures. Climate Energy Finance (CEF) said the Future Made in Australia package would make it simpler to invest in Australia, and attract more global and domestic capital. CEF Founder and Director, Tim Buckley, said, “CEF has been calling for $100 billion of capital and Budget support over the coming decade to accelerate and turbocharge the development of zero-emissions industries of the future here in Australia. In the Budget we saw an excellent $21 billion down-payment. It is great to see that this is additional funding, not the usual political trick of rehashing previous press releases. Read more

Tim Buckley, founder and director of Climate Energy Finance said the Budget was an “excellent down-payment” that will give Australia enduring comparative advantage and resilient supply chains. It’s a “new front door for investors” with transformational proposals that will attract both global and domestic capital. “This is Australia’s biggest investment, employment, and export opportunity in a century.” Buckley called the critical minerals and hydrogen tax credits a “strong step forward” but highlighted the importance of additional future funding for electrification to attract private capital and urged Australia to front-load investment in this decade. Read more