Category Archives: Energy

‘Let Rome burn’: Coalition MP says allowing blackouts the only way to turn voters off renewable energy

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Exclusive: Power outages in major cities would help build opposition to climate policies, Colin Boyce tells podcast

The Coalition MP Colin Boyce says he believes the way to turn voters against renewable energy is to “let Rome burn for a while” and allow power blackouts to occur in major cities.

Guardian Australia reported on Wednesday that Boyce had described blackouts as a “big political opportunity” at a meeting of climate science deniers in late 2023.

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Coalition MP Colin Boyce told climate science deniers blackouts a ‘big political opportunity’

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Boyce tells Climate and Energy Realists Queensland that opposition to renewables is growing and fellow MPs should adopt a ‘do nothing strategy’

Coalition MP Colin Boyce told a group of climate science deniers that blackouts were “a big political opportunity” and that he had urged fellow MPs to adopt a “do nothing strategy” that would allow power outages and build opposition to net-zero policies.

A video of Boyce, posted on YouTube, speaking to the Climate and Energy Realists Queensland group, includes comments by the Flynn MP that net-zero climate policies “need a rethink”.

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Peter Dutton’s nuclear power plan could lead to major electricity shortages, analysis says

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Coalition’s proposal overestimates the reliability of Australia’s ageing coal generators, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis says

Peter Dutton’s plan to build less renewable energy and keep Australia’s coal plants running longer has overestimated the reliability of ageing generators and could lead to major electricity shortages, according to a new analysis.

The Coalition has pledged to put taxpayer-funded nuclear reactors at seven sites around Australia and has pointed to modelling by Frontier Economics that shows the country’s ageing coal fleet would need to take up the slack in electricity generation while they are built.

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EU mulls plan to let importers break Russian gas contracts without penalties

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European Commission may reportedly let companies declare force majeure as part of strategy to rid bloc of Russian fossil fuels by 2027

The European Commission is considering plans that would allow European companies to break long-term Russian gas contracts without paying penalties to Moscow, it has been reported.

Citing three officials with knowledge of the plan, the Financial Times reported that the commission was studying the possibility of allowing companies to declare force majeure, which would absolve importers of their obligations to pay penalty fees for ending contracts.

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Victorian Liberal leader distances state party from Peter Dutton’s nuclear proposal: ‘Our focus is gas’

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Exclusive: Brad Battin says he had a conversation with the federal opposition leader about the ‘language’ he would use about plans to build a nuclear reactor in eastern Victoria

The Victorian opposition leader says he discussed the language he would use to distance the state party from the federal Coalition’s campaign to build a nuclear reactor in the Latrobe Valley, telling Peter Dutton “it’s your campaign”.

The Loy Yang coal-fired power station in the Latrobe Valley east of Melbourne is one of seven proposed sites for the federal Coalition’s proposal to build nuclear reactors, the centrepiece energy policy the federal Liberal leader will be taking to the 3 May poll.

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Rightwing media falsely blame Ed Miliband for UK steel crisis, experts say

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Net zero and clean energy can actually help save the steel industry, experts point out

Ed Miliband and the UK’s net zero target are being falsely blamed for the UK’s steel crisis, experts have said.

On Saturday, parliament passed a law containing emergency powers to gain control of the last remaining maker of mass-produced virgin steel in England, based in Scunthrope, after its Chinese owner, Jingye, declined government support to keep the plant running over the next few weeks.

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Rightwing lobby group Advance says it makes ‘no apology’ for support given to anti-Greens groups

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Spokesperson acknowledges supply of flyers, T-shirts and corflutes to ‘dozens of community groups’ seeking to defeat party’s candidates

The rightwing advocacy group Advance has acknowledged it is paying for election materials attacking the Greens to be used by third-party groups during the election campaign.

“Advance is working with hundreds of volunteers from dozens of community groups to defeat Greens candidates and we make no apology,” a spokesperson said.

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Will global climate action be a casualty of Trump’s tariffs?

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Clean energy investors likely to pull back from US, but other countries may seize opportunity to speed transition

Donald Trump’s upending of the global economy has raised fears that climate action could emerge as a casualty of the trade war.

In the week that has followed “liberation day”, economic experts have warned that the swathe of tariffs could trigger a global economic recession, with far-reaching consequences for investors – including those behind the green energy projects needed to meet climate goals.

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NSW solar farm to supply almost half energy needs of major gas company

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Shift away from fossil fuels by BOC is expected to cut company’s Australian emissions 40% by 2035 and follows similar commitment by Rio Tinto

A major industrial gas company in Australia will shift its power use away from fossil fuels and instead meet nearly half its electricity needs across three states from solar.

BOC, owned by global gas and engineering company Linde, supplies speciality gases to large manufacturers, industry and oxygen to hospitals.

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Gas boiler fittings outnumbered heat pumps by 15 to one in UK last year – report

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Poorer households shut out of heat pump market and grants should be increased to speed up rollout, thinktank says

Gas boiler fittings outnumbered new heat pump installations by more than 15 to one last year, and only one in eight new homes were equipped with the low-carbon alternative despite the government’s clean energy targets.

Poorer households are also being shut out of the heat pump market as the grants available are inadequate and should be increased, according to a report by the Resolution Foundation thinktank.

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Palau president backs Australia’s bid to host Cop31 climate summit after Dutton labels it ‘madness’

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Surangel Whipps Jr says he would be ‘deeply disappointed’ if attempt were abandoned under Coalition

The president of Palau has delivered a pointed barb at Peter Dutton while strongly backing an Australian bid to host a UN climate conference on behalf of the Pacific, arguing that it would boost regional solidarity and he would be “deeply disappointed” if the attempt was abandoned under the Coalition.

Speaking at a renewable energy conference in Sydney on Wednesday, Surangel Whipps Jr described seeing two-thirds of an island in his archipelago country disappear under water in his lifetime. “For those of us in the Pacific who have lived through storm surges, rising ocean levels and increasingly high tides, the phrase ‘water lapping at our door’ is not a metaphor or a punchline. It’s our fear and reality,” he said.

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Trump signs orders to allow coal-fired power plants to remain open

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Move aimed at addressing rise in power demand for datacenters, AI and EVs, but environmentalists call it a step back

Donald Trump signed four executive orders on Tuesday aimed at reviving coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel that has long been in decline, and which substantially contributes to planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.

Environmentalists expressed dismay at the news, saying that Trump was stuck in the past and wanted to make utility customers “pay more for yesterday’s energy”.

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Coalition releases long-awaited modelling showing energy plan could drive down household gas bills by 7%

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Peter Dutton says policy would be ‘gamechanger’ despite experts questioning whether it would work

The Coalition’s plan to create a domestic gas reservation for the east coast would drive down household gas bills by 7% and industrial gas bills by 15%, newly-released estimates.

The opposition’s long-awaited modelling by Frontier Economics, released on Tuesday evening, estimated the changes would bring down new domestic gas supplies to $9 or $10 a gigajoule, and came after experts shed doubt on whether the policy could drive down prices through a government market intervention.

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LNP orders review of Queensland’s emissions reduction target of 75% by 2035

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Conservation groups condemn the move along with the government’s decision to extend the life of coal power stations

Queensland’s target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 75% by 2035 could face the scrap heap, with the state energy minister ordering a review of the ambitious legislation.

The Clean Economy Jobs Bill was passed into law last year, with the backing of both Labor and the Liberal National party.

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Unsafe for Russia to restart Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, says Ukraine energy chief

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Energoatom CEO, Petro Kotin, says ‘major problems’ need to be overcome before it can safely generate power

It would be unsafe for Russia to restart the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and would take Ukraine up to two years in peacetime if it regained control, the chief executive of the company that runs the vast six-reactor site has said.

Petro Kotin, chief executive of Energoatom, said in an interview there were “major problems” to overcome – including insufficient cooling water, personnel and incoming electricity supply – before it could start generating power again safely.

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‘They’re everywhere’: workers warn of rat infestation at Somerset nuclear plant

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Unions urge energy giant EDF to take action as concerns mount over health of construction staff

Workers building the troubled Hinkley Point C nuclear reactor in Somerset have raised concerns that the construction site is overrun by rats.

The Unite and GMB trade unions are understood to have warned the developer, the French energy giant EDF, that urgent action is needed because the rodents are “everywhere”.

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Samoa suffering energy crisis after weeks of power outages

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Pacific country this week declared state of emergency over power cuts that have caused huge disruption to businesses and daily life

Samoa is in the grip of an “energy crisis” prime minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa said this week, as she declared a state of emergency over power outages that have swept the country for weeks, causing huge disruption to businesses and daily life.

The government is scrambling to provide relief to affected businesses and households, with temporary power generation units due to arrive next week.

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Bowen says Dutton ‘making it up as he goes’ on gas plan as experts question lack of detail

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Opposition leader promises to release secret modelling within days as former ACCC chair urges Coalition to explain how they would lower prices

Energy minister Chris Bowen claims Peter Dutton is “making it up as he goes” with his gas plan, as experts question how a Coalition government would force gas producers to sell to Australians at cheaper prices.

In his first public comments on Dutton’s plan to bring more gas into Australia’s energy market, Bowen claimed the Coalition was simply dusting off a plan created under the former Morrison government.

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Methane emissions from Queensland mine may be gross underestimates, UN research finds

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Data collected by two planes suggests large open-cut coalmine in Bowen Basin is releasing methane at higher rates than official estimates

Emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane at a Queensland coalmine were likely between three and eight times higher than officially reported, according to UN-backed research that flew aircraft over the site.

Queensland’s open-cut coalmines are known to be a major source of methane and experts are worried that official figures could be a gross underestimation of actual emissions.

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Proposed nuclear power plants in Queensland could not access enough water to prevent a meltdown, research finds

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About 1,000 times the combined capacity of Wivenhoe and Boondooma dams was required to cool Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactors in 2011

Proposed nuclear power plants in Queensland would not have access to enough water to stop a nuclear meltdown and could strain capacity on drinking water and irrigation supplies even under normal operations, research has found.

Analysis by the Queensland Conservation Council (QCC) has found that one of the two nuclear reactors proposed for the sunshine state under the energy plan that the Coalition will take to the upcoming federal election would require double the water currently used by the existing Callide coal-fired power station. The other, Tarong, would use 55% more water than its existing coal station.

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