Category Archives: Energy

Gas shortages possible during bouts of extreme weather over next four years, Aemo warns

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Customers could face supply gaps if cold weather coincides with low levels of renewable energy generation, report says

South-eastern Australia faces possible gas supply gaps for at least the next four years during bouts of extreme weather, potentially requiring exports to be diverted south, according to the gas outlook from the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo).

Aemo’s gas statement of opportunities (GSOO) report found that gas output in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania would meet demand until 2027. However, customers could face shortfalls particularly if cold weather coincided with low levels of renewable energy generation.

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ABC staff to walk off job next week – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Acting prime minister and defence minister Richard Marles has spoken to ABC News Breakfast this morning after the $368bn announcement of the Aukus deal yesterday.

In response to the reaction from China accusing Australia, the US and Britain of embarking on a “path of error and danger”, Marles defends making a decision that is in Australia’s national interest:

We are seeking to acquire this capability to make our contribution to the collective security of the region and the maintenance of the global rules-based order.

And one of the issues within our region we are witnessing the largest conventional military build-up that the world has seen since the end of the second world war. And it’s not Australia who is doing that, but that shapes the world in which we live.

We’re completely confident these are in complete compliance with non proliferation.

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Australian drivers facing heavy new fines for parking in electric vehicle charging spots

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Experts liken act known as ‘ICEing’ to parking at a fuel bowser, and say high penalties are necessary to encourage EV uptake

Drivers could be fined as much as $3,200 for parking in spaces for electric vehicles as part of little-known penalties introduced in four states and territories.

The fines, some of them added to road rules late last year, range from $3,200 in the Australian Capital Territory to $369 in Victoria.

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Most Australian states face sharp power bill rises, despite government’s intervention

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Energy regulators issue draft default market offer, which set cap for this year’s increases

Power bills for households in three states will rise as much as 23.7% from 1 July if the Australian Energy Regulator’s draft determination, announced on Wednesday, is confirmed. Prices in Victoria may rise by almost a third.

The AER chair, Clare Savage, said the increases were “significant” but they could have been as much as 40% to 50% without the federal government’s intervention in December to cap domestic gas and black coal prices.

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Saudi Aramco’s $161bn profit is largest recorded by an oil and gas firm

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Amnesty International hits out at ‘shocking’ annual figure reaped through sale of fossil fuel

Saudi Aramco has reported a record $161bn (£134bn) profit for 2022, the largest annual profit ever recorded by an oil and gas company, fuelled by soaring energy prices and rising global demand.

The largely state-owned company’s profits rose by 46% year on year and it made more than the recent bumper results reported by Shell, BP, Exxon and Chevron combined.

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NSW to grant coalmines licences for water from Sydney and Illawarra drinking catchments

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Perrottet government quietly gazetted rules day before caretaker period commenced for election campaign

The Perrottet government has introduced new rules that will grant coalmines licences for water from the drinking catchment for Sydney and the Illawarra region.

The government quietly gazetted the rules a day before the caretaker period commenced for the New South Wales election campaign.

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Queensland to spend $5bn on 1,100km CopperString power line to unlock renewables potential

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‘Eureka moment’ project will provide future energy certainty and trigger new minerals processing, Palaszczuk government says

The Queensland government has said it will take control of a $5bn proposal to build a 1,100km power line connecting Mount Isa to the national grid, which it says will “unlock” development of new-economy mineral deposits in the state’s north west.

The project, known as CopperString 2.0, has long been touted as necessary to provide future energy certainty to Queensland’s north-west minerals province, where miners are considering the potential to extract large amounts of copper, cobalt, vanadium, lead, zinc and phosphate.

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Queenslanders to be banned from dumping solar panels in landfill under new recycling program

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More than 25m panels are expected to be installed across the state over the next decade

Queenslanders would be banned from dumping solar panels in landfill within the decade in order to reduce electronic waste under a proposed recycling expansion program.

The Palaszczuk government on Sunday announced its draft e-products waste action plan, which outlined the proposal to ban the dumping of solar panels within five to 10. The plan also aims to encourage the repair and reuse of household electronic products like fridges and mobile phones.

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NSW government called out on net zero goal as own data projects coal and gas emissions until 2050

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Data also shows land sector will absorb more carbon than it emits from 2015 despite passage of laws that make land clearing easier

Labor, the Greens and independent politicians have called on the New South Wales government to explain how emissions projections square with its 2050 net zero goal, after its own data showed pollution from coal and gas extending out to mid-century.

The figures, which are contained within the government’s emissions dashboard, also show the land sector growing as a sink for carbon emissions even after the government loosened land clearing laws allowing farmers to remove more vegetation.

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Philippines oil tanker spill prompts fears for protected marine areas

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Authorities scramble to contain leak from sunken tanker that was carrying about 800,000 litres of oil

Authorities in the Philippines are scrambling to contain an oil leak from a sunken tanker that could threaten the rich biodiversity of more than 20 marine protected areas.

The MT Princess Empress, which was carrying a cargo of about 800,000 litres of industrial oil, sank on Tuesday off the coast of Naujan, Oriental Mindoro province, after it experienced problems with its engine and began to drift due to rough seas. A passing cargo ship rescued the 20 crew onboard.

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UK energy firms must pass on price savings to customers, ministers warn

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Grant Shapps to tell suppliers that reduced wholesale prices must be seen in consumer prices

Ministers have warned energy firms that they must pass on the benefits of lower wholesale prices to consumers, amid concern that bills could rise this spring.

In a speech on Wednesday, Grant Shapps will tell energy suppliers that reduced wholesale prices must be seen in consumer prices, “no ifs, buts or maybes”.

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Confusion surrounds China’s energy policies as GDP and climate goals clash

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Wave of permits for coal-fired power plants sparks concern as ambitions for GDP growth and lowering emissions come into conflict

China’s energy policies are fast creating a type of “emissions ambiguity”, as the twin goals of boosting GDP growth and reducing carbon emissions come into conflict.

The uncertainty is whether and when the world’s biggest carbon emitter will start to curb greenhouse gas pollution. The release of the country’s annual statistics communique on Tuesday did not clear things up.

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Asic sues Mercer Super for allegedly ‘greenwashing’ fossil fuel and gambling investments

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Corporate regulator claims the company misled members in a fund that promoted its sustainable credentials

Corporate pension fund Mercer Superannuation misled members by investing in coal and other fossil fuels, along with alcohol and gambling stocks, in a fund that promoted its sustainable credentials, the corporate regulator has alleged.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has started legal proceedings against Mercer in its first court action over alleged “greenwashing”, a term that describes misleading claims made about a product’s environmental and sustainable credentials.

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Selfish or a godsend? Readers share their views on wood-burning stoves

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Demand for wood stoves is soaring in energy crisis despite research showing their harmful effects

Demand for wood-burning stoves, including in urban areas, has soared as households look for more affordable ways to stay warm during the energy crisis.

Campaigners have called for stricter legislation on their use because of their negative impact on air pollution and health, with wood burning in the UK gaining in popularity over the past decade.

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Embrace local solutions to meet UK net-zero targets, MPs and peers urge

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Exclusive: Cross-party group recommends policies such as mortgage penalty for landlords of energy-inefficient homes

The UK will need to embrace innovative, community-based solutions to environmental and energy problems if it is to have any hope of meeting looming net-zero deadlines, a cross-party group of MPs and peers has recommended.

A report by the all-party group on a green new deal argues for a combination of robust, top-down policies on green issues including localised power generation, food and transport schemes. Recommendations include a mortgage penalty for landlords who let energy-inefficient homes, and also real community decision-making, notably on power schemes.

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Methane emissions ‘incredibly cheap’ to cut without needing offsets, safeguard mechanism inquiry told

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Hearing into Labor’s changes to the scheme told a 75% reduction in methane was possible using commercially competitive existing technology

Methane emissions from the oil and gas industry are “incredibly cheap” to cut and companies could improve their financial position by embracing existing technology to stop carbon leaks, an inquiry into the Albanese government’s climate policy has heard.

A hearing into proposed changes to the safeguard mechanism – a Coalition policy applied to industrial emissions that Labor plans to revamp – was told the International Energy Agency (IEA) had estimated a 75% reduction in methane was possible using commercially competitive existing technology, such as capturing the methane and using it to generate electricity.

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China approves biggest expansion in new coal power plants since 2015, report finds

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Concerns about energy shortages drive increase as projects progress at ‘extraordinary’ speed

China approved the construction of another 106 gigawatts of coal-fired power capacity last year, four times higher than a year earlier and the highest since 2015, research shows.

Over the year, 50GW of coal power capacity went into construction across the country – up by more than half compared with the previous year – driven by energy security considerations, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and Global Energy Monitor (GEM) said on Monday.

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Energy infrastructure payments of $200K deemed ‘slap in face’ to Victorian farmers

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State government defends payments for projects designed to help guarantee energy stability across Australia’s east coast

A move to pay landowners $200,000 per sq km for energy infrastructure imposed on their properties has been labelled a slap in the face by a Victorian farmer.

Residents living in the path of several transmission projects in regional Victoria have previously protested against high-voltage power lines and towers more than 80m high and are calling for infrastructure to be placed underground instead.

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Australia at risk of electricity supply shortages as renewable projects lag behind coal plant closures

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Successive La Niñas have eased demand but with many renewable and storage projects now delayed, the energy market operator has revised its projections

Australia’s main electricity grid will probably avoid major supply shortages next summer, but risks escalate in later years as ageing coal plants exit potentially faster than new renewables and storage projects come on line.

The projections are contained in the Australian Energy Market Operator’s (Aemo) updated Electricity Statement of Opportunities (Esoo) report, released on Tuesday.

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NSW Labor pledges $1bn state-owned investment company for renewable projects if elected

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‘Privatisation does not work. It has been a disaster for New South Wales and under Labor it stops,’ leader Chris Minns says

A New South Wales Labor government would create a $1bn state-owned energy security company to drive investment in renewable energy projects and lower prices in the state, the party’s leader, Chris Minns, has said.

On Sunday, Labor will pledge to establish a NSW “energy security corporation”, an investment vehicle for renewable energy projects in the state, should the party win the 24 March state election.

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