This Month
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
MinRes chairman’s private equity firm scores big cash gift
James McClements’ Resource Capital Funds was given a $116 million handout from Australia’s “green bank”.
- Mark Di Stefano
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
CEFC hands $116m for private equity-backed mining decarbonisation
Resource Capital Funds will use the money to invest in new Australian projects that focus on minerals used in the energy transition such as lithium and copper.
- Alex Gluyas
Macquarie inks $300m deal to finance EVs for ride-share drivers
Splend, a start-up that leases electric vehicles to Uber drivers, plans to increase its fleet of ride-share vehicles to 10,000 after signing a new debt deal.
- Tess Bennett
CEFC acquires minority stake in Palisade Impact’s Energy Locals
In its debut growth equity investment, CEFC has paid $25 million to acquire a minority equity stake in electricity retailer Energy Locals.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
November
- Opinion
- Future Fund
‘I would not have agreed to Future Fund shift’
With $230 billion to come into play, expect a long line of rent-seekers to form a queue, says former treasurer and Future Fund founder Peter Costello.
- Peter Costello
QIC bets on Aussie climate tech companies, backs $200m VC
Queensland’s sovereign fund has joined Westpac and Clean Energy Finance Corporation in backing Virescent Ventures’ second climate-focused fund.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
- Opinion
- Lithium
Liontown survived the lithium carnage, but can it handle Donald Trump?
After taking a wild ride in lithium over the past year, Liontown Resources thinks it can also adapt to whatever the Trump administration produces.
- Jennifer Hewett
October
Westpac joins $200m raise for unshackled climate VC
Westpac and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation will back Virescent Ventures’ second fund, which aims to raise $200 million to invest in climate tech start-ups.
- Tess Bennett
August
CEFC spend to rise to jump-start grid build-out
Funding for big-ticket transmission projects is set to swell spending by Australia’s green bank this year beyond the $1.8 billion invested in 2023-24.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Slow approvals are risking the next mining boom: report
State and federal environmental approval processes are jeopardising tens of billions of dollars of investment in green steel and renewable energy infrastructure, experts warn.
- Tom Rabe
- Exclusive
- Start-ups
Cannon-Brookes, Benioff-backed start-up lays off staff in US pullback
Loam Bio, a start-up that has raised more than $150 million from high-profile investors, has laid off the majority of its staff in the US.
- Tess Bennett
Splend nabs fresh funds from Clean Energy Finance Corporation
The new funds will be put towards taking Splend’s overall Australian fleet to over 5000 vehicles by the end of the year, with more than 2000 being zero-emission EVs.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
June
European renewables outfit TagEnergy takes $4b wind farm bet
The company, backed by the same investment firm behind sector giant Neoen, has locked in financing from major local lenders and the government’s green bank.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
May
- Exclusive
- Mergers & acquisitions
Government-backed green tech firm goes broke, gets acquired for $5m
Scipher Technologies, an e-waste processor that the government invested $15 million in, has been bought for $5 million after it entered administration in March.
- Paul Smith
March
- Exclusive
- Carbon challenge
Could ‘HECS-for-solar’ slash power bills and save climate goal?
Scientist Saul Griffith has a bold plan that could slash your power bill by $5000 a year, cut a quarter of household emissions, and employ thousands of people. Politicians on both sides are listening. Could it work?
- Jacob Greber
Lithium hopeful Liontown in $550m loan from banks, taxpayers
The new agreement will ease concerns over Liontown Resources after January’s spectacular loan withdrawal.
- Peter Ker
February
This low-emissions truck runs on recycled cooking oil
Biofuels are emerging as stopgap fuel for hard-to-abate sectors such as heavy transport, aviation and industrial processing.
- Agnes King
January
- Exclusive
- Venture capital
VCs make $200m bet that climate tech’s time has come
Climate conscious investors, frustrated at the spray-and-pray approach of traditional ventures, are tipping money into a new $200 million climate-focused fund.
- Jessica Sier