Decision comes after military concludes projects would complicate defending Nato’s newest member against attack
Sweden has vetoed plans for 13 offshore windfarms in the Baltic Sea, citing unacceptable security risks.
The country’s defence minister, Pål Jonson, said on Monday that the government had rejected plans for all but one of 14 windfarms planned along the east coast.
Continue reading...LNP energy minister rules out considering a smaller version of the Pioneer Burdekin scheme
Queensland’s new Liberal National party government has cancelled a Labor hydro project despite public service advice that a downsized version of the scheme would have delivered “exceptional value on both a capacity and storage basis”.
Announced under premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in 2022, the gigantic Pioneer Burdekin pumped hydro scheme formed a key element of the state’s legislated plan for a renewables transition by 2035.
Continue reading...The devastating flooding should spur this month’s Cop29 climate conference to press for immediate action, not look away
Move on. Nothing to see here. Just another ordinary, everyday apocalypse.
If past experience is any guide, the world’s reaction to the floods in Spain last week will be similar to that of motorway drivers at a crash scene: slow down, take in the horror, outwardly express sympathy, inwardly give thanks that fate picked someone else – and foot on the accelerator.
Continue reading...Plant’s owners hope analysis of tiny sample will help to establish how to safely decommission facility
A piece of the radioactive fuel left from the meltdown of Japan’s tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been retrieved from the site using a remote-controlled robot.
Investigators used the robot’s fishing-rod-like arm to clip and collect a tiny piece of radioactive material from one of the plant’s three damaged reactors – the first time such a feat has been achieved. Should it prove suitable for testing, scientists hope the sample will yield information that will help determine how to decommission the plant.
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Young man dies in multi-vehicle crash in Queensland’s Bundaberg Region
A fatal multi-vehicle traffic crash last night at Elliot in Queensland’s Bundaberg Region last night is being investigated by the police forensic crash Unit.
All travel has been appropriately declared and is a matter of public record.
The only people that need to look at the rules are [shadow transport minister] Bridget McKenzie and Peter Dutton. They’ve got some serious explaining to do.
Continue reading...Output from gas plants up 29% on average from a year earlier, Aemo says, even though price was up by a fifth over same period
Greenhouse gas emissions from Australia’s main electricity grid increased for a third quarter in a row as higher power demand drove more use of black coal and gas plants, the Australian Energy Market Operator says.
For the September quarter alone, emissions from the national electricity market (Nem) that serves the eastern states and South Australia rose 2% from a year earlier, Aemo said in its quarterly market report.
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Continue reading...Origin and EnergyAustralia agree to defer bills after brownouts cripple region for better part of a week
Customers who have suffered through Broken Hill’s mass outages are set for a temporary reprieve on their bills as locals continue to be hit with night-time power cuts in sweltering conditions.
Two power companies – Origin and EnergyAustralia – have agreed to defer bills to those who have been affected by the outages that crippled the region for the better part of a week.
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Continue reading...Anthony Albanese to launch schemes in NSW and Victoria today; Domain says rate of price increases is cooling. Follow today’s news headlines live
Bowen derides Coalition’s ‘nuclear fantasy’
Chris Bowen, minister for climate change and energy, is speaking on ABC Radio National this morning.
If I was the energy minister of another country, I would consider the opportunities that I had in that country – but a country saying to Australia, with our excellent renewable resources, that we should go down the nuclear road when we have no nuclear industry, no nuclear expertise of the scale that we would need for a nuclear power industry, is like us going to Finland or Scandinavia and saying, ‘Listen, we know [you have] a lot of snow, but you should really try beach surfing.’ It just doesn’t make any sense.
We have to play to our strengths in Australia, and we have the best renewable resources in the world, and the opposition wants to stop us using them, and in turn, keep coal in the system for longer. They’re quite explicit about that while we wait for this nuclear fantasy to come on board. That would be terrible for emissions and fatal for energy reliability.
Continue reading...Australia must insist on full removal when ExxonMobil decommissions offshore project, Wilderness Society says
An international law expert has warned that abandoning oil and gas infrastructure in Bass Strait would breach Australia’s obligations under international law, if ExxonMobil pursues this plan in decommissioning its Gippsland offshore project.
Prof Donald Rothwell, who specialises in international law at the Australian National University, said Bass Strait was used for international navigation and had special status under the UN convention on the law of the sea and related International Maritime Organisation guidelines.
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Continue reading...Australian miner paying ‘massive bonuses’ for ‘steamrolling ahead with an outdated and unacceptably risky coal growth strategy’, activists say
Whitehaven Coal, one of Australia’s biggest coal producers, faces a rare “second strike” from shareholders this week as climate activists seek to draw attention to the miner’s plans to ramp up volumes and resulting carbon emissions.
The ASX-listed company received a 41% vote against its executives’ remuneration report at last year’s annual general meeting. A vote of at least 25% at this year’s AGM on Wednesday would force a motion to spill Whitehaven’s board.
Continue reading...Nationals MP Keith Pitt claims Coalition would have mandate if it won federal election despite opposition to nuclear power from state’s incoming LNP government
A senior federal Labor minister has accused Peter Dutton of trying to “force nuclear energy on Queenslanders” following the LNP’s state election win after which a Coalition MP claimed the federal party would forge ahead with its power plan.
The federal Nationals MP for Hinkler, Keith Pitt, on Sunday said the Coalition would have a mandate to press ahead with its nuclear policy if Dutton won the next election.
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The Rail, Tram and Bus Union of NSW (RTBU) conducted a five-minute work stoppage early this morning, which is leading to delays across the network.
Sydney Trains says this has led to minor delays and “larger than normal gaps in services may be experienced”, according to an alert:
Trains stops and platforms may change at short notice and some trains may be cancelled. Extra travel time may be experienced in some cases and you may need to change to continue your trip.
The action was set to happen in select locations across the network to ensure we could ramp up stoppages whenever needed.
The rail agencies continue to bargain in good faith with the Combined Rail Unions for a new enterprise bargaining agreement. Sydney Trains are working to minimise the disruption to commuters as much as possible.
Continue reading...NSW premier Chris Minns says state’s far west let down by privatisation after region’s only working large-scale emergency generator failed
Chris Minns is flying to Broken Hill after a storm left about 20,000 people without power and put pressure on the energy operator Transgrid to explain why it did not have a backup plan to prevent the outage.
The New South Wales premier will meet affected residents on Thursday after announcing an inquiry and declaring a natural disaster to unlock emergency relief funding for the outback town and surrounding communities.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: Those with ‘interest in keeping world hooked on fossil fuels’ should not oversee climate talks, say report authors
Azerbaijan, the host of the Cop29 global climate summit, will see a large expansion of fossil gas production in the next decade, a new report has revealed. The authors said that the crucial negotiations should not be overseen by “those with a vested interest in keeping the world hooked on fossil fuels”.
Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil and gas company, Socar, and its partners are set to raise the country’s annual gas production from 37bn cubic metres (bcm) today to 49bcm by 2033. Socar also recently agreed to increase gas exports to the European Union by 17% by 2026.
Continue reading...Authorities say they are gradually re-establishing electrical service across the island, including to hospitals
Cuba’s government said on Saturday it had made some progress in gradually re-establishing electrical service across the island, including to hospitals and parts of the capital, Havana, after state-run media earlier reported the national grid had collapsed for a second time in 24 hours.
Most of Cuba’s 10 million people, however, remained without electricity on Saturday afternoon.
Continue reading...World Without End topped bestseller lists but was criticised for embracing nuclear power
In 2019, France’s best known climate expert sat down to work with its most feted graphic novelist. The result? Perhaps the most terrifying comic ever drawn.
Part history, part analysis, part vision for the future, World Without End weaves the story of humanity’s rapacious appetite for fossil fuel energy, how it has made possible the society people take for granted, and its disastrous effects on the climate.
Continue reading...Lowering voltage about 5% could lower emissions and save customers on the national electricity market around $110 a year, research shows
Ever wondered why your trusty toaster abruptly failed or your widescreen TV suddenly went on the fritz, far too early in the life of the appliance?
Excessively high voltage levels might be to blame for their premature demise, energy experts say.
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Continue reading...But wholesale prices are down by 25% compared with the June quarter in New South Wales, down 9% in Victoria and down 12% in Tasmania
Wholesale power prices across much of eastern Australia were sharply higher in the September quarter from a year earlier because of increased reliance on gas, hydro and batteries, the Australian Energy Regulator said in its quarterly report.
Average prices ranged from $114/megawatt-hour in Queensland to $201/MWh in South Australia. The biggest year-on-year increases were in Tasmania, with prices up 290%, Victoria’s increasing 114% and SA’s 76% higher.
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Continue reading...Jürgen Maier’s vision for company includes the potential to borrow its own money in order to rival multinationals
Britain’s new national energy company will eventually become a major power generator, running its own windfarms, tidal power and carbon capture schemes and potentially borrowing its own money, according to its new chair.
Jürgen Maier, the chair of Great British Energy (GBE), told the Guardian in an interview that his vision for the company far outstrips its current scope and would put it on a par with multinational firms such as Denmark’s Ørsted or Sweden’s Vattenfall.
Continue reading...Energy crisis panel warns country is ‘dangerously unprepared’ and must shift away from gas quickly
Britain is at risk of experiencing a repeat of the sharp increase in energy costs which has fuelled the continuing cost of living crisis because it relies too heavily on gas, according to an expert panel of industry leaders.
The Energy Crisis Commission has warned that the UK is still “dangerously underprepared” for another crisis because it continues to rely on gas for its power plants and home heating.
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