Coal/electricity/electrification
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JOINT STATEMENT: CLEAN ENERGY & INVESTMENT LEADERS APPLAUD MINISTER CHRIS BOWEN’S MASSIVE BOOST TO CAPACITY INVESTMENT SCHEME
Leading clean energy and investor groups today applauded Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s expansion of the Capacity Investment Scheme to 32GW, a huge stepchange in ambition that will accelerate Australia’s clean energy transition and ensure energy affordability and reliability. See the joint statement CEF released with the Clean Energy Investor Group, representing renewable energy investors with ~11GW of installed capacity across ~70 power stations and a portfolio value of ~$24bn; the Smart Energy Council, the independent body for the Australian smart energy industry with more than 950 members, Nexa Advisory and Solar Citizens. Read more
OP ED | $20-30BN OF TRANSITION CAPITAL AT RISK AS AUSTRALIANSUPER LOOKS TO KILL BROOKFIELD’S ORIGIN ENERGY BID
What kind of game is AustralianSuper, the country’s biggest super fund, playing with Origin Energy? The pension behemoth, with $300bn in assets under management and over 3.26 million members, is shaping up to scuttle a bid by Canadian fund manager Brookfield, plus Singapore’s Temasek and GIC, to acquire Australia’s largest power company, gentailer Origin Energy, owner of near-death coal clunker Eraring, Australia’s biggest coal-power station slated for mothballing in 2025. Is it in the public interest for the acquisition to be blocked when doing so cruels the $20-30bn investment in 14GW of accelerated firmed renewable energy to which Brookfield has committed? Read more
ANALYSIS| STILL WAITING: TREASURER FLAGS AUSTRALIAN RESPONSE TO US INFLATION REDUCTION ACT – GOOD START BUT MORE AMBITION URGENTLY NEEDED
We welcome and applaud the Treasurer’s focus today on 4 key industry and economic opportunities, which reflect the key priorities CEF and its partners have identified: refining and processing critical minerals; supporting manufacturing of generation and storage technologies, including batteries; producing renewable hydrogen and its derivatives like ammonia; and forging green metals including green iron. We need to see further details, but the Treasurer’s assertion that $225bn capital investment is needed by 2050 is too low by orders of magnitude, this timeframe is too late, and it reveals a too-cautious federal policy mindset that risks forgoing Australia’s opportunity to position itself as a leader in global cleantech supply chains as the world moves at breakneck speed to decarbonise. Read more
Big banks take on greening Australia’s $10tn housing stock
Modernising the nation’s $10tn housing stock promises to ease cost of living pressures, improve the health and comfort of homes, whilst helping to solve climate change. Australian banks are the main entry point to financing home energy performance upgrades. With a combined 46% mortgage market share, CBA and Westpac have powerful levers to help transform and decarbonise the sector. Read more
PRESENTATION | Embodied Decarbonisation: How renewables can supercharge Australia’s value-added critical minerals boom
Tim Buckley’s presentation for the Investment Innovation Institute on the global energy transition: how China leads the world in the global technology and investment race, how the US IRA changes everything; Australia’s Critical Minerals Strategy and how we can embody decarbonisation in our exports; and stockmarket examples of energy transition. Read more
SUBMISSION | Inquiry into the NSW Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Bill 2023
CEF partially supports the proposed Climate Bill, but recommend it be strengthened to better align with the climate science, the clear and growing cost of inadequate action and the once-in-a-century opportunities of rapid decarbonisation for investment, jobs and cost of living. The absence of an strong interim emissions reduction target in 2035 is a particular concern, given deep cuts must be front loaded in the next decade if we are to have hope of preventing catastrophic climate change. Read more
PRESENTATION | The drivers of the accelerating energy transition and considerations for global investors
Tim Buckley’s presentation to Northcape, an international boutique fund manager with over $12bn under management, focusses on the acceleration of the global energy transition as capital shifts to decarbonisation worldwide, and potential investor considerations. Read more
ANALYSIS | The massive green iron opportunity is there for Australia to develop, but it requires strategic public capital investment and a decarbonised grid
With Sweden’s H2GS building the world’s first large-scale green steel plant and Europe’s first giga-scale electrolyser, we look at the massive opportunity for Australia – the world’s biggest producer of iron ore – to lead in the production of green iron, and the conditions that make this possible: substantial national interest public capital investment to trigger private investment at scale, and a massive decarbonisation of our grid to supply 100% green energy for processing. We must do more than dig and ship! Read more
PRESENTATION | Renewable Energy & Critical Minerals Superpower
Tim Buckley’s presentation to Ethinvest on the challenge facing Australian industry policy in light of the US IRA and the global energy transition. Read more
REPORT | Fuel Tax Credit Scheme and Heavy Haulage Electric Vehicle Manufacturing in Australia
Our new report argues Australia’s mining sector should become a global leader in electrification of mine equipment, developing onshore battery, recycling and EV manufacturing supply chains and embodying decarbonisation in our commodity exports as a key competitive advantage. We could do this by capping the diesel fuel rebate to $50m pa per firm, clawing back $14bn in tax revenue to 2030 and investing that money in kickstarting an electrified mining transport industry here Read more
OP ED | Aemo Confirms Any Reliability Risks To Electricity Supply Can Be Offset By Expediting New Renewables, Transmission, Storage & Orchestration
As Tim Buckley writes, AEMO’s new 10 year outlook shows expedited approvals of renewables, storage and transmission can offset any reliability risks to electricity supply. Read more