Yesterday
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
- Renewables
Grok Ventures boss woos wealthy families for Sun Cable
The chief executive of Mike Cannon-Brookes’ private vehicle is plotting a pivot – opening it up to outside investors.
- Primrose Riordan
This Month
- 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
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
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
The reason Australians aren’t buying electric cars
The industry can overcome “range anxiety” by building thousands of charging stations across Australia, experts say.
- Aaron Patrick
To get power bills down, your suburb needs a battery
A power company wants to install hundreds of local batteries. Bureaucracy is getting in the way.
- Aaron Patrick
The big equity problem in household EV charging
Gavin Dufty, executive manager of policy and research at the St Vincent de Paul Society, says the current electricity tariff system is not fit-for-purpose when it comes to EV charging.
- Ronald Mizen
Three big challenges for Australia’s net-zero transition
Addressing the missing middle, allaying community concerns and more government cooperation will all be critical to the future of the net-zero transition, according to energy experts.
- Ronald Mizen
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
Powering our energy future
The Australian Financial Review and Ausgrid hosted a roundtable exploring the role of electrification in our transition to net-zero.
- Updated
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
‘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
Grant King to succeed Jerry Maycock as Transgrid chairman
The changeover at the helm of the NSW grid owner comes as the build-out of the transmission system has become a major stumbling block to the energy transition.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
- Opinion
- Energy transition
Culture war is driving Coalition’s plan to stop renewables rollout
The first auction of the Capacity Investment Scheme has received more than 40 gigawatts of project registrations, showing there is a strong pipeline of renewables ready to go with the right policy settings.
- Chris Bowen
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
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
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
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