Colin Packham

Colin Packham is the energy reporter at The Australian. He was previously at The Australian Financial Review and Reuters in Sydney and Canberra.

@Colpackham

Colin Packham

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energyMining & Energy

A Santos Ltd. pilot well operates on a farm property in Narrabri, Australia, on Thursday, May 25, 2017. A decade after the shale revolution transformed the U.S. energy landscape, Australia — poised to overtake Qatar as the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas — is experiencing its own quandary over natural gas. Photographer: Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg

Santos’ $3.5bm Narrabri project must be approved to avoid gas crisis

CEO Kevin Gallagher says Australian authorities must approve its $3.5bn Narrabri project if they want to avert a looming east coast gas shortfall and safeguard jobs.

Colin Packham

energyNation

$WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 15: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Energy Chris Wright testifies during his Senate Energy and Natural Resources confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on January 15, 2025 in Washington, DC. Wright is a U.S. engineer and entrepreneur serving as the CEO of Liberty Energy, which is the second-largest hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, company in North America. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)$

Energy secretary backs nuclear, attacks net zero

The comments underscore the US’s commitment to fossil fuels under Donald Trump and the forthright encouragement that Washington will place on allies to follow suit.

Colin Packham

exclusiveRenewable energy & economy

Conceptual Design for a nuclear fusion facility. Picture: Supplied

Australian firm in US nuclear fusion joint venture

Type One Energy has struck a series of agreements to build a nuclear fusion pilot facility in the US, a development that moves the technology closer to reality.

Colin Packham

energyNation

(FILES) This file picture taken on November 4, 2021 shows steam rising from the cooling towers of the Liddell Power Station next to Lake Liddell in the town of Singleton, some 70km (43 miles) from Newcastle, the world's largest coal exporting port. - Australia's oldest coal-fired power plant will shut down on April 28, 2023, as the country, a once-notorious climate straggler, prepares for a seismic shift towards renewable energy. (Photo by Saeed KHAN / AFP) / TO GO WITH: Australia-climate-politics-energy-coal, by Steven TRASK

Warning of 70pc rise in energy bills in decade

Australians have endured substantial increases in their energy bills and a think tank has warned more is inevitable without policy changes.

Colin Packham

energyBusiness

APLNG’s 1000th Cargo of LNG leaving Gladstone Harbour. Picture - Supplied

Origin boss calls for energy market reform now

Australia’s largest electricity and gas retailer says market rules must be urgently changed and action taken to address structural gas deficits in order to ensure the country’s grid remain reliable.

Colin Packham

energyRenewable energy & economy

Wind turbines are pictured in Tarifa, southern Spain, on January 24, 2025. (Photo by JORGE GUERRERO / AFP)

Surge in renewable energy funding

More than $9bn worth of renewable energy projects secured financial commitments in 2024, buoying hopes that Australia could yet reach its 2030 emissions targets.

Colin Packham

energyMining & Energy

MUSWELLBROOK, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 27: Liddell Power Station stands next to Lake Liddell as chimneys at the Bayswater Power Station seen emit water vapour on April 27, 2023 in Muswellbrook, Australia. Liddell Power Station, one of Australia's oldest coal-fired power plants, will shut down on Friday, 28 April, after 52 years in operation. The AGL-owned facility opened in 1971 and was once the most powerful generating station in Australia. With Australia making the transition from coal power to renewables, the site will be transformed into a new low-carbon industrial energy hub. Demolition of the plant will begin next year, with more than 90 per cent of the materials to be recycled, AGL says. The closure of Liddell Power Station will stop 8 million tonnes of Carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere every year, media reported. (Photo by Roni Bintang/Getty Images)

AGL eyes gas peaker in every state

AGL has also unveiled a target of formally approving the construction of 1.4GW of batteries over the 12-18 months, if the regulatory landscape improves.

Colin Packham

exclusiveMining & Energy

Origin to win prized transmission access

Securing access to a key cog in the NSW renewables plan will come as relief to Origin following its $300m acquisition of the giant Yanco Delta wind development.

Colin Packham

emissionsPolitics

Climate Active exodus lifts fears

Labor to continue with voluntary emission offset scheme despite a spate of companies leaving amid concerns about the validity of some credits.

Colin Packham and Sarah Ison

energyMining & Energy

Too late to avert a gas crisis in Victoria, says Woodside

Woodside Energy says it’s too late to avoid an economically damaging gas shortfall in Victoria thanks to a decade of political opposition to the fossil fuel industry.

Colin Packham

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/colin-packham