Before Friday’s meeting of energy ministers, for which the federal government refused to put a CET on the agenda, Labor-led Victoria and South Australia called for consideration of a linked-up state-based scheme, and urged Coalition-led NSWto join up. Given recent comments by the NSW energy minister, Don Harwin, who indicated support for the CET, such a move seems plausible………https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/14/clean-energy-target-how-the-states-might-make-it-work
19 July MORE REneweconomy news
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COAG: Can democracy weed out climate deniers?Turnbull’s recent use of the word “delusional” reminds us that climate denial is still alive and kicking in mainstream Australian politics.Australian coal, gas miners seek renewable energy projectsAustralian oil, gas and coal mining body, NERA, issues call for cleantech, renewable energy partnerships, says timing is “spot on” for collaboration.Base-cost renewables: When wind and solar finally kill coalBNEF says building new solar plants will be cheaper than shovelling coal into existing coal generators within 15 years. This will trigger a complete re-make of the energy system, and a share of wind and solar far beyond that contemplated by the Finkel Review.Frydenberg says Zibelman “doing really great job” at AEMOFrydenberg defends AEMO chief Audrey Zibelman from attacks by conservative commentators.
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Greens Senator for SA visits battery storage facility in Southern CaliforniaAustralian Greens Senator for South Australia Sarah Hanson-Young has called on Malcolm Turnbull to intervene to end the delay in fixing energy market rules, including the 5-minute rule, to allow battery storage to compete fairly.
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Leaders’ pledge to galvanise renewable energy leaders to champion gender diversityBetter gender diversity across the renewable energy industry requires leaders from both genders to step up and drive change, the Clean Energy Council said in launching its Women in Renewables Leaders’ Pledge today.
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Business slowly wakes up to reality that renewables are cheapARENA report shows less than half Australian businesses have tapped renewables. But there’s no doubt the idea is starting to catch on.
19 July REneweconomy news
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Coal has lost the energy war, so why are we still fighting?The political fight for coal power in Australia is already lost. Meanwhile, we are missing all the clean energy opportunities that have fallen into our lap.LO3 unveils ‘game-changing’ solar sharing microgrid in South AustraliaUS-based energy sharing company LO3 partners with Yates Electrical to build 6MW solar microgrid in SA Riverland region.Turnbull’s coal delusions as COAG “changes course” on energyIf COAG did change the course of energy in Australia, it is not immediately obvious, given Turnbull’s coal delusion comments. Much will depend on how Finkel recommendations are put in place, and the storage equation and the make-up of the energy security board are critical.Know your NEM: Generator Reliability Option might be dumb ideaThe COAG endorsement of the Finkel Review (apart from the CET) won’t mean much in the short term, but the generator reliability option might be a dumb idea. Meantime, smart companies are showing how to save costs with solar and storage.National Electricity Market has served its purpose – it’s time to move onThe NEM has failed. Its very narrow economic objective was to provide low prices, reliable and safe energy, and to act in the long term interests of consumers. It hasn’t.
18 July REneweconomy news
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GE: Some Australia regions to be 100% renewable in 5-10 yearsGE says parts of Australia will soon get all electricity from renewables, at least for a few days a year, as utility business models disrupted.
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AGL’s Vesey: Clean Energy Target should recognise Paris climate agreementAGL adds pressure to Turnbull government, saying CET needs to be adopted, and needs to reflect Paris climate targets.
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Australia’s $10 billion renewable energy boom: But then what?A $10 billion clean energy investment boom in 2017 could quickly fade without longer term policies. Labor tries to wedge Turnbull on climate policy, just as it did in 2009, while the Greens also say they would look at a Clean Energy Target.
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Clean-tech stocks outperform general market again, as smart investors buy inIt is no surprise that, regardless of the fickleness of environmental politics, smart investors are buying into the businesses that are redefining how we live.
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NSW launches home battery guide, as race to “plug hole” threatens industryNew South Wales issues set of home battery storage guidelines, as industry warns against “jumping to an endgame” on safety.
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Peer-to-peer electric vehicle charging network launched in SydneySydney start-up Everty launches P2P platform allowing electric vehicle owners to rent out their parking space, and home charger, to others.
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Barnaby’s warning: Biggest threat to renewables is lights out in SydneyDeputy PM says Sydney blackout could be end of road for renewables, although NSW Coalition minister earlier praised role of wind and solar in preventing blackout.
Australia: Climate change (to which nuclear power is irrelevant) – theme for August 2017
Of course the Great Barrier Reef is important, to Australia, and globally. It is a World Heritage site, and a unique and wonderful ecosystem. It’s just that I get a bit sick of everyone talking about its economic value – as though business is the only thing that matters to Australians.
Even more, I question the emphasis on the GBR, in context where nobody seems to be talking about the appalling impacts of climate change that are already happening, and will increase, in African and Asian nations.
Climate change is a global tragedy, for humans and other species. We are now in an era, (the Anthropocene) in which global action is imperative – quite the wrong time to put up the barriers, and say “our nation first”
Even if we do think “Australia first” – we’d better realise that WE might need some international help, as Australia is predicted to be hit particularly hard by climate change. Some of these impacts: increasing heat waves, some regions drier, bushfires, changed and damaged ecosystems, sea level rise, increased severity of floods. All this has effects on agriculture, infrastructure, human health, and society, with the most disadvantaged communities suffering the most.
The effects of climate change elsewhere will impact Australia – sea level rise, especially affecting Pacific islands, environmental refugees, food shortages, environmental disasters, social instability, and increasing need for humanitarian aid. Australia is an island, yes, but can no longer function as though the rest of the world doesn’t matter.
Climate change is THE ISSUE right now, although the nuclear issue remains critical too – especially this month, when we remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The nuclear industry’s claims to fix climate change are farcical, and deserve to be ignored; the only relevance nuclear has is that its proponents are holding back REAL answers to global warming.
Queensland Liberal National Party refuses to pull out of Paris Climate Accord
LNP members vote down call to pull out of Paris Climate Accord at Queensland convention, ABC News By Chris O’Brien, 16 July, Queensland Liberal National Party members have steered away from a potentially divisive move against Australia’s global climate position, while the party leader also vowed not to be distracted by federal squabbles in the lead up to the next election.
The party’s annual convention voted down a motion calling on the Commonwealth to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord, after two former presidents warned against undermining the Prime Minister.
“This motion is really about just putting the knife into the Federal Government,” immediate past president Bruce McIver said.
“They’ve agreed on it on our behalf, and I think if we don’t believe we should vote this down today, we are doing them an injustice.”………http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-16/lnp-members-vote-down-call-to-pull-out-of-paris-climate-accord/8713210
Climate denialism rules the Liberal Party – and is bringing about a split within it
The most senior Liberal expressing doubt is former prime minister John Howard, who remains an influential figure in conservative circles.
Some of Mr Turnbull’s conservative critics cite his belief in global warming as evidence he is too left-wing for the Liberal Party.
The split within the Liberal Party is illustrated by its own think tank, the Menzies Research Centre.
More than half of federal Liberal MPs ‘don’t trust’ climate science: think tank http://www.afr.com/news/policy/climate/more-than-half-of-federal-liberal-mps-dont-trust-climate-science-think-tank-20170714-gxb7r2 The majority of federal Liberal MPs are not convinced the science behind climate change is settled and support reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases for political reasons, according to an prominent conservative think tank.John Roskam, the executive director of the Melbourne-based Institute of Public Affairs, said he hadn’t conducted a formal count but found most Liberal politicians shared his doubts about what many experts say is the greatest global threat to mankind.
“More than 50 per cent are solid sceptics and more than 50 per cent feel they need to be seen to do something,” he said in an interview. “The science is not settled.”
The overwhelming majority of climate change scientists accept the atmosphere is warming and humans are responsible. The burning of fossil fuels contributed to an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide from 280 parts per million before 1800 to 396 parts per million in 2013, according to the Australian Academy of Science. Continue reading
Australian States and Federal Govt approve 49 Finkel recommendations, but split on Clean Energy Target
COAG splits over clean energy target, but 49 Finkel ideas approved http://reneweconomy.com.au/coag-splits-over-clean-energy-target-but-49-finkel-ideas-approved-97105/ By Giles Parkinson on 14 July 2017
Four Labor states and governments have formalised their push to purse their own clean energy target mechanism, officially breaking away from the federal government after the Coalition refused to endorse the Finkel Review’s recommendation on the issue.
The COAG energy council meeting in Brisbane endorsed 49 of the 50 recommendations from the Finkel Review, and endorsed the decision to get rid of the “limited merits review” that affects network spending. However, the federal government said it could not commit to a clean energy target.
South Australia, Victoria and Queensland, along with the ACT, said they would ask the Australian Energy market Commission to study how a CET might be implemented by the states saying “they can’t wait any longer”.
It is not clear how long this will take, and how quickly legislation can be introduced, or if it can survive state-based partisan politics given that both the South Australia and Queensland Labor governments are facing elections in the next 12 months.
The role of the ACT is also unclear, given that it will reach its target of 100 per cent renewable energy by 2020.
These same states this week all committed to zero net emissions by 2050, in a ceremony marking the visit of former vice-president and climate campaigner Al Gore.
“It is incredibly frustrating that despite the overwhelming community support for a market mechanism, the Federal Government is still resisting committing to all 50 Finkel recommendations,” South Australia energy minister Tom Koutsantonis said in a statement.
“Opposition from the coal lobby and the right wing of his party is preventing the Prime Minister from acting in the interests of all Australians.”
The federal Coalition has been riven by divisions over the proposed CET, with conservative commentators unanimously condemning the idea, and the rump of Far Right Coalition MPs also voicing their opposition.
Federal energy minister Josh Frydenberg said COAG had agreed a “significant set of reforms …. to ensure a more affordable and reliable energy system.”
The recommendations include the creation of an Energy Security Board. Each jurisdiction will send through a name; and the next few weeks the states will agree on a chair and deputy chair. The other members will be the heads of the three main energy industry regulators, rule-makers and operators.
The disgraceful state of Australia’s politics and media on clean energy
It is an absurd situation we find ourselves in. The public support for these new technologies is overwhelming, as it is in business (apart from those seeking to protect stranded assets), and among most politicians – even many in the Liberal Party, as NSW energy minister Don Harwin revealed late last month.
Yet here we are: Short-term policies; a patchwork of rules on energy efficiency; the worst building stock in the world; the most inefficient and polluting cars; and the world’s most expensive and dirty grid, soaring emissions, and rising temperatures.
And two years after obtaining power, prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is still defending policies he once describes as “bullshit,” too afraid to call out the nonsense spread by those keeping him in power.
How did Australia get this stupid about clean energy? http://reneweconomy.com.au/australia-get-stupid-clean-energy-99268/, By Giles Parkinson on 14 July 2017, Just when you thought that the public debate around clean energy in Australia could not possibly get any worse, any dumber, or any further divorced from reality, it did.
Conservatives have been railing against renewables and carbon pricing for at least a decade. So ingrained has it become in our national psyche that it is like a State of Origin contest between energy sources and their fans. “Queenslander”, shout the league fans. “Fossil fuels” screech the incumbents.
But it plumbed further depths this week. And it got really stupid and really nasty. Conservatives in the government and the media rebooted their attacks on wind and solar energy, and extended it to battery storage and vehicle emission standards, with the Murdoch media dubbing the latter as a “carbon tax on cars.”
Craig Kelly, the chair of Coalition’s energy policy committee, said renewable energy “would kill people”, a claim happily repeated by columnist Andrew Bolt.
Resources Minister Matt Canavan urged the Queensland government to “forget about climate change”, while the LNP in Queensland will this weekend consider a motion urging Australia to quit the Paris climate deal.
Worse, the conservatives started attacking individuals. The verbal assault on chief scientist Alan Finkel was launched way back in February when it was clear he would not toe the fossil fuel line. And even after delivering what many consider a “soft option”, the conservatives rekindled their attack. Continue reading
Renewable energy news 17 July
This government needs to get its head around renewables
Peter FitzSimons
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-letters/peter-fitzsimons-government-needs-to-get-its-head-around-renewable-energy-20170714-gxbn81.html
Queensland
Bonanza tipped from clean power plan
Mark Bailey
QUEENSLAND has seen a clean energy boom, with unprecedented levels of renewable energy investment. And it’s about to pay off.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/opinion-bonanza-tipped-from-clean-power-plan/news-story/8685e735a2b5b906661eda311889d395
Western Australia
Energy-saving hobbit house in WA’s South West
A man from the small West Australian town of Quindalup lives in a home covered by almost 1,000 tonnes of dirt and is proud to refer to himself as a modern-day hobbit.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-15/quindalup-man-builds-hobbit-house-to-save-on-energy/8711758
What a loss! – Scott Ludlam – politicians of integrity are few and far between
On a technicality – an Australian politician, of both integrity and intelligence , has had to resign. As far as I can see, there is no Australian parliamentarian who has the understanding of nuclear/climate issues, combined with the intelligence and ability to advocate for the public good, except for Senator Scott Ludlam.
I watched his Senate interviews, and marvelled at his ever courteous, but ever persistent and probing, questioning of bureaucrats who tried, unsuccessfully, to cover up the hypocrisies that surround Australian politics on nuclear issues.
Sometimes, people can achieve much outside of parliament, as well as inside. We will have to wait to see what Scott Ludlam will do from now on. Anyway, we wish him well, while much regretting his departure from politics.
And Ludlam has a sense of humour too. Where are we now going to get those sly amusements in the drab world of Australian politics?
Senator Ludlam welcomes Tony Abbott to WA
Sudden resignation of Greens Senator Scott Ludlam
Greens shock: Scott Ludlam resigns over NZ citizenship https://www.crikey.com.au/2017/07/14/greens-shock-ludlam-resigns-over-citizenship/, In a shock announcement, the Greens’ Scott Ludlam has resigned after learning he remained a NZ citizen, Bernard Keane, Politics Editor West Australian Greens senator Scott Ludlam has resigned from the Senate effective immediately after revealing he had recently learnt he remained a New Zealand citizen despite being naturalised as an Australian citizen as a child.
A States’ led Clean Energy Target could work for Australia
Clean energy target: how the states might make it work Victoria and South Australia have suggested a states-led initiative if the federal government continues to stall on a clean energy target. Could it work?, Guardian, Michael Slezak, 14 July 17,
Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, and the ACT defy Turnbull, will “go it alone” on Clean Energy Target
States harden threat to got it alone on clean energy target, THE AUSTRALIAN, 15 July 17 ROSIE LEWIS, Reporter, Canberra @rosieslewis and SID MAHER, NSW Editor, Sydney@sidmaher
Labor states have ramped up pressure on the Turnbull government to adopt a clean energy target but refused to lift bans on gas exploration, triggering warnings from industry leaders that time was running out for a national approach to lowering electricity costs and securing supply.
A crucial meeting of the nation’s state and federal energy ministers yesterday signed 49 of the 50 recommendations handed down by Chief Scientist Alan Finkel, but Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT stuck to their threat to “go it alone” on a target and moved to “immediately develop and design” options for implementing the mechanism………
The Australian Energy Council, representing major gas and electricity businesses, said brokering a national and bipartisan CET was fundamental to overcoming the energy crisis.
“Successful reform and lower energy bills will only come from bipartisan support and national implementation. Investment behind this reform will run for decades, so we need to find broad and enduring agreement to give it the confidence to proceed.’’
Key Finkel recommendations agreed to at the Council of Australian Governments Energy Council meeting in Brisbane include an obligation on intermittent sources of generation such as wind and solar to provide appropriate levels of backup power to guard against blackouts; a requirement for large generators to give at least three years’ notice before closing; and the establishment of an energy security board to scrutinise the National Electricity Market’s health, security and reliability.
The states also backed the federal government’s decision to abolish the Limited Merits Review — a tool the government says has been used by power companies to increase electricity prices — and accelerate the timetable for gas pipelines reform.
The price and availability of long-term electricity retail contracts will be published so big consumers can understand the market they are competing in.
Grattan Institute energy director Tony Wood said the only factors likely to drive any easing of prices were a decision by the Queensland government to order its generators to lower their returns, and the final commissioning of the Gladstone LNG export facilities, which could see more gas made available for domestic use and ease gas prices……
The Australian Pipelines and Gas Association was dismayed that energy ministers had brought forward reforms to pipeline operations by a month. Information disclosure and arbitration rules will now begin on August 1.http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/states-harden-threat-to-got-it-alone-on-clean-energy-target/news-story/2cd2a87bd563c1e940aeeee83a831cc2
Australia’s mining lobby wins, with government’s subtle tactic to hobble environmental groups
Government’s letter to conservation groups has ominous implications, Guardian, Lenore Taylor, @lenoretaylor New reporting rules seem to represent a big win for the campaign by the mining sector and conservative politicians to stifle environmental advocacy. 15 July 2017
The environment department has recently begun sending letters to conservation groups registered as eligible for tax deductible donations, as they do every year. But this year the correspondence is different, in a disturbing way.
In the past the groups, which include all the big names such as the Australian Conservation Society, The Wilderness Society, Lock the Gate, Greenpeace etc, as well as small local conservation organisations, were simply asked to reveal the total expenditure from their public fund. This year they have also been asked to break down their expenditure into the amounts spent on “on ground environmental remediation”, “campaign and advocacy”, “research” and other administration.
It sounds like a boring technicality but it seems to represent a significant victory in the long-running campaign by the mining industry and conservative politicians to hobble advocacy for the environment.
According to the mining industry’s argument, enthusiastically adopted by conservative politicians including the resources minister, Matt Canavan, environmental groups should not be able to claim tax deductions for all the donations they get from members of the public who want to support their campaigns.
Canavan, while a backbencher, conducted his own deep investigation of green groups’ activities for a previous Senate inquiry, concluding that tax deductibility should be pared back……
The mining industry peak bodies believe they should themselves be free to campaign for public subsidies for new coal mines or coal-fired generators, or to spend millions to overturn a mining tax, in the interests of, and funded by, their cashed-up multinational members.
But they say the environmental groups that argue for the interests of the natural environment should be able to receive tax deductible donations only for “on ground environmental remediation” – planting trees and the like – and not for public debate and advocacy.
That’s why the new reporting requirements are seen as ominous……..
But if you believe Australia is a richer place for doing its part to address global warming, for limiting tree clearing, protecting endangered species or the Great Barrier Reef, or for insisting on proper remediation of mine sites, then it’s taxpayer money well spent. And, by definition, that’s a belief the hundreds of thousands of Australians who donate to environmental groups share.
And if you believe better decisions are reached when politicians, and the public, hear all the arguments, not just those from businesses with expert lobbying teams, why should a self-interested campaign by the mining industry get to disadvantage, even silence, all the voices that disagree with their business interests? https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/15/governments-letter-to-conservation-groups-has-ominous-implications
Queensland Liberal National Party confirms its status as the Party For Fossil Fools
Queensland LNP pledges to promote coal and ‘resist environmental groups’
Proposals before LNP state convention include pulling out of Paris climate agreement and banning migrants from nations that recognise sharia, Guardian, Joshua Robertson, 14 July 17, Queensland’s Liberal National Party has resolved to use its next stint in state government to push for the promotion of coal mining and “fully resist environmental groups” that stand in the way.
The pro-coal vow was one of the opening resolutions of an LNP state convention set to rule on up to 77 rank and file proposals for new policy, including calling on the federal government to echo Donald Trump’s US administration by pulling out of the Paris climate agreement.
A mixed agenda from the three-day event also includes calls to ban immigration from nations that recognise sharia, privatise the ABC, and condemn public spending on “altering traffic lights for ideological purposes”.
One proposed resolution calls on the federal government to ensure Adani’s corporate structure makes its tax liability similar to Australian companies before it is given any loan through the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.
That proposal is from the LNP’s Moggill branch, in Brisbane’s leafy, well-heeled western suburbs.
Moira Williams, from the activist group Stop Adani Brisbane, said this showed “that the grassroots of the LNP are concerned about Adani’s reliance on tax havens, and they know that lending $1 billion of taxpayers’ money to this company is a risk for the taxpayer”.
“That the Adani Group has a complex network of companies that extends to a global tax haven, the Cayman Islands, is no secret. It is no wonder that the LNP membership are concerned about the potential for Adani to receive significant public funds from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.”
The first vote of the convention on Friday backed a resolution from the rural Burnett branch to call for “Get Up and other blatantly political organisations” to register as third parties with electoral authorities to enable scrutiny of funding sources, advertising and political activities.
The convention, which sets official party policy for consideration but is not binding on the LNP parliamentary arm, is the last before a Queensland election due by May 2018.
A proposal from the Groom branch near Toowoomba called on the federal government to “pull out of the Paris Climate Accord as it weakens Australia’s sovereignty and economy without helping the environment in any measurable way”.
The Queensland environment minister, Steven Miles, said the fact the LNP was debating a withdrawal from the “historic Paris climate treaty … underlined the differences between Labor and the LNP on climate policy”.
“In the very same week as Queensland Labor announces we will decarbonise Queensland’s economy in line with the treaty, the LNP wants to pull out of it,” he told Guardian Australia.
“This explains [opposition leader] Tim Nicholls’ hysterical response to our policy. He’s hopelessly beholden to a backward looking party base. Increasingly the LNP is the party of fossil fuels, while Labor accepts the need to transition our economy and is taking steps to do so.”…… https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jul/14/queensland-lnp-pledges-to-promote-coal-and-resist-environmental-groups
1 This month.
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/235274195556
19 May – Webinar- Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia
Start: 2026-05-19 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
End: 2026-05-19 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
20 May – Webinar – The dangerous world of AUKUS, US, military occupation and suppression of dissent
National Webinar, 20th May, 2026, 6.30pm AEST. Confronting laws restricting/suppressing protest speech and action
Speakers: Former Sen. Rex Patrick, Lawyer Nick Hanna ,Arthur Rorris ,Jorgen Doyle, Sen David Shoebbridge,
Facilitator Kelley Tranter.
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 