Latest
Fortescue green dream sullied by spying revelation
Andrew Forrest is nowhere to be seen after the discovery that private investigators were hired by the company to spy on the families of former employees.
- Brad Thompson
Coal power on comeback trail as wind, solar falter
Electricity generation from coal has surged for the first time in nine years, wrecking emissions cuts and hammering home the disarray of Australia’s energy transition.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
- Exclusive
- Emissions
NSW coal power stations put on notice over CO₂ limits
The new licence conditions come amid a resurgence in coal power generation in the state and across the National Electricity Market in the June quarter.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
- Opinion
- Energy transition
Energy transition will cost much more than politicians are pretending
The brutal reality is that taxpayers and consumers will be on the hook for much higher costs under a renewable or nuclear energy system.
- John Kehoe
Why overseas money is pouring into Australian green energy
The country’s electricity generation sector is being radically reshaped, and there is hardly a household name among the big participants in solar, wind and batteries.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
This Month
RBA inflation target challenged by power prices
Other areas of the economy will need to offset the impact of higher than expected power prices to keep inflation within target, economists say.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith and Ronald Mizen
Power prices to surge amid sluggish rollout of clean energy: UBS
Wholesale power prices could be almost 50 per cent higher than last year, the investment bank’s analysts warn, as renewables project development has stalled.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
June
- Opinion
- Emissions
Better carrot and stick provides investment certainty for carbon cuts
The climate safeguard mechanism for large emitting facilities means reaching the 43pc emissions reduction target by 2030 is certainly “doable”.
- Kerry Schott
Nuclear power would do little to reduce need for renewables: report
The task of reaching a net-zero emissions power sector is “Herculean” but can be done without nuclear.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Nation’s first renewable energy zone wins approval
The Central-West Orana infrastructure project is intended to drive up to $20 billion in private investment in solar, wind and storage projects.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Nuclear out in cold in $122b power grid plan
The energy market operator says work needs to start on another $3.4 billion of transmission lines in its latest $122 billion plan to transform the power grid.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
- Banking Award Winner
- Women in Leadership
The ‘utterly shocking’ moment that made Westpac leader want to flee
Siobhan Toohill, the winner of the Financial Services - Banking category, faces a new frontier after 10 years leading Westpac’s sustainability efforts, including convincing the board to ditch new oil and gas projects.
- Ayesha de Kretser
‘Dark doldrums’ hits wind power supply
A “drought” in wind power generation, described by the German word dunkelflaute meaning “dark doldrums”, has surprised the market and contributed to a squeeze on east-coast gas supplies inflating wholesale prices.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Sir Andrew Mackenzie: time to focus on the best few climate solutions
The Shell chairman says the world’s carbon challenge is harder than he realised while running BHP, and it’s time for a global focus on a few winning solutions
- Peter Ker and Lap Phan
- Exclusive
- Mergers & acquisitions
Renewables investing ‘not for everyone’, says Brookfield-target Neoen
Neoen global boss Xavier Barbaro says the capital intensity of the renewables industry is impacting investor appetite.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Rio Tinto puts biofuels before batteries in carbon credit push
The miner reckons farmers should be eligible to earn carbon credits for growing crops that can be turned into carbon-neutral biofuels.
- Peter Ker
Rio Tinto punts on British start-up to plug renewables gap
The mining giant joined a $575 million investment round for Highview Power, which says its storage technology can firm renewable power.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Skyrocketing gas prices intensify fears of shortage this winter
There are growing fears the long-forecast shortage in supplies in the south-eastern states will emerge this winter, hitting manufacturers hard.
- Updated
- Angela Macdonald-Smith and Gus McCubbing
Grong Grong (population 150) does its bit to solve the energy crisis
Small-scale solar farms like that at Grong Grong can fly below the radar but represent a large opportunity to plug renewable power into the system.
- Nick Lenaghan
Over budget and plagued with delays: UK nuclear lessons for Australia
The big challenges facing nuclear power in Britain, both for large reactors and SMRs, are not technological or economic, but largely administrative and logistical.
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Exclusive
- Nuclear energy
Switkowski backs nuclear push, Dutton promises costings
Ziggy Switkowski says nuclear power has a role to play in the zero-emissions energy mix and would deliver a positive return to taxpayers.
- Phillip Coorey
- Opinion
- Canberra Observed
Dutton is prepared to take risks, but he is no onion eater
The signature difference between what the Coalition unleashed on Wednesday and the debilitating climate fights of the past is that both parties are operating from the assumption that emissions need to be reduced.
- Phillip Coorey
Tech no hurdle for Coalition’s nuclear plan
Several proven technologies would fit the bill for the opposition’s nuclear expansion plan, while Australia has a head start on nuclear regulation, experts say.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Labor’s AUKUS embrace negates nuclear waste argument: Dutton
Labor has already agreed to establish a high-level nuclear waste dump under the AUKUS pact.
- Phillip Coorey
Gas shortage warning exposes deep energy mess
Low wind power amid a cold snap is threatening to create a gas shortfall – exposing the effect of supply restrictions and jeopardising the Coalition’s nuclear ambitions.
- Updated
- Angela Macdonald-Smith and Gus McCubbing