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Carbon challenge

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South Australia’s Northern coal power station in Port Augusta was closed in 2016 and subsequently blown up.

Power findings show ‘failure of privatisation’: SA energy minister

Minister Tom Koutsantonis says the behaviour of large power generators reported by the Australian Energy Regulator is “extremely concerning”.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Yallourn coal station in Victoria. Coal and gas plants dominate the market when solar is offline.

Energy grid’s power imbalance could blow out bills, AER warns

In a review to be released on Friday, the energy regulator also said the government should consider the need to diversify ownership as it underwrote projects.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith
Project EnergyConnect will link South Australia’s grid to NSW’s.

Milestone reached to unlock Snowy 2.0 power

The government’s green bank has committed its single biggest investment to the HumeLink transmission project, which is considered critical to the cleaner energy transition.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith

Coal demand hits record with Australia bulking up

Australia is over-represented on the world stage as a source of new coal output, the International Energy Agency found.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith

Nickel shutdowns ease WA’s gas shortage fears

While gas for Western Australia’s domestic users is adequate for the next few years, a shortfall may emerge in 2028, the market operator says.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith
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This Month

Vanadium batteries are good for stationary energy storage.

Japanese giant buys Aussie battery start-up in coal to minerals pivot

Idemitsu has taken majority control of Vecco Group as it tries to move towards investments in critical minerals and energy storage.

  • Peter Ker
APA’s AGM in October attracted protesters concerned about the development of Beetaloo gas.

New pipeline unlocks Beetaloo gas for NT customers in 2026

A deal signed with pipeline owner APA Group looks set to stoke controversy over the development of a massive new onshore gas resource.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith
EnergyAustralia executive, operations and projects, Sue Elliott, at the Mount Piper power station near Lithgow in NSW last Thursday.

EnergyAustralia’s fight for future of NSW coal plant

The large Mount Piper generator may be needed by the market for another 15 years, but in a vastly different role that will require policy support.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith
Opposition leader Peter Dutton (centre) flanked by shadow energy spokesman Ted O’Brien (l) and Nationals leader David Littleproud in Brisbane on Friday.

Any hope of a rational debate about nuclear power is gone

Households and businesses would be better served by a rational debate on the merits of including nuclear power in the future energy mix. They aren’t getting that.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith
Much less new transmission would be needed under the Coalition’s nuclear plan.

Dutton’s nuclear costings underpinned by ‘distorted numbers’

Critics point to what they call four miscalculations in the modelling by Frontier Economics.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith
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A transmission “bottleneck” is emerging in WA’s southwest.

The human factor holding up wind power project

A bottleneck is emerging in Western Australia’s transmission infrastructure pipeline, an industry source has warned.

  • Tom Rabe
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape (r) and Anthony Smare, president of PNG Chamber of Resources and Energy, in Sydney on Tuesday.

PNG PM’s big hopes for delayed LNG project

James Marape reported “good progress” in reducing a 50 per cent cost blowout that delayed the Papua LNG project, but doubts remain on its timing.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith
Hitting it for six: The minimum standard of six star thermal efficiency ratings set in 2010 was upgraded to 7 stars last year.

Older, ‘cheaper’ houses hide costs that bite owners

More than 80 per cent of Australia’s houses have half the energy efficiency of the latest standards – and that’s going to make them less valuable.

  • Michael Bleby

Rio Tinto says carbon price pain justifies action on emissions

Carbon pricing schemes in Australia and Quebec mean almost half of Rio’s emissions are subject to penalty and would soon cost $940 million per year if not tackled.

  • Peter Ker
Peter Dutton’s nuclear policy is about to be tested.

CSIRO doubles down on nuclear power as too costly, slow

The science agency’s latest report on future energy needs comes just ahead of the long-awaited costings for Peter Dutton’s nuclear energy policy.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith
Potentia Energy CEO Werther Esposito in Sydney on Friday.

Revamped Potentia Energy scours market for big battery investments

The company once known as Enel Green Power Australia has plenty of cash to splash on renewable assets.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith
A BHP pilot boat near the mining giant’s iron ore facilities at Port Hedland in the Pilbara.

The Pilbara plots its path from diesel to clean, green mining

Port Hedland is bang in the middle of the country’s industrial engine. There are ambitious plans to decarbonise with miles of transmission and new generation.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith
David Di Pilla.

Di Pilla finds big super backers as he clinches $950m clean energy buy

The veteran dealmaker’s HMC Capital is acquiring a portfolio of renewable generation assets from Neoen and becoming a major player in the energy transition.

  • Updated
  • Angela Macdonald-Smith
There are fears of blackouts and surging electricity prices in the hottest months of the year.

Emergency market operator moves to plug gaps ahead of hot, wet summer

The energy market operator has placed emergency energy reserves on standby ahead of the hottest months of the year and warned about managing gas supplies.

  • James Hall
APA’s Port Hedland solar farm and battery project will help BHP cut emissions from its port operations.

APA plots path from gas to become a Pilbara solar and batteries giant

The company, which opened its latest electricity project in Port Hedland on Tuesday, expects to tick off on more investments in the region within a year.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith
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More energy customers entered hardship programs in 2023-24 as cost-of-living pressures mount.

Household hardship mounts as energy prices increase

More households are entering hardship programs to try to keep with their energy bills, even as government rebates take the edge off sharp price rises in the past year.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith

November

Tim Nelson and three other experts have been tasked with rewriting the rules for the National Energy Market.

‘Nothing’s off the table’: Expert panel to overhaul electricity market

Energy Minister Chris Bowen has tapped former AGL Energy executive Tim Nelson and three other industry specialists to review the National Energy Market.

  • Updated
  • Angela Macdonald-Smith
Origin Energy’s Unit 3 at its huge Eraring coal power plant on the Central Coast should be back online this weekend.

Generators scramble after NSW’s near miss on blackouts

More than 2000 megawatts of coal power capacity is due back online within 10 days, as generators scramble to avoid a repeat of Wednesday’s close shave on the NSW power grid.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith

Electrification and renewables could slice 20pc off energy bills: AEMC

The agency that writes the rules governing the electricity and gas markets estimates big savings for families if they move away from petrol cars and gas.

  • Angela Macdonald-Smith
One unit is unexpectedly out of action at AGL’s large Bayswater generator in the Hunter Valley.

Blackout risk lingers in NSW as coal outages hit

The tight electricity supply in the state follows an unusually large number of unexpected outages at coal power units.

  • Updated
  • Angela Macdonald-Smith

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/carbon-challenge