Telstra’s solar contract part of bigger power play, AFR, Angela Macdonald-Smith 30 May 17 Telstra has lifted the veil on its highly anticipated new energy strategy, revealing it will underpin the construction of a $100 million solar farm in northern Queensland as part of a wider play to protect itself from soaring power prices. Under a deal struck with renewable energy giant RES Group, Telstra will buy all the power generated by a 70 megawatt solar project to be built near Emerald over “multiple” years.
Head of Telstra’s new energy division Ben Burge also said the telco was gearing up to use its hundreds of megawatts of backup power at exchanges around the country to offer electricity into the wholesale market when ultra-high demand causes prices to surge.
“It’s a highly distributed, highly responsive source of energy which over the coming years we will look to make better use of in order to improve our resilience but also to address extreme wholesale prices in the market,” Mr Burge, the former head of Meridian Energy’s Australian business, said.
May 31, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Queensland, solar |
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Does Queensland really want Adani’s dirty, black lung inducing jobs? Independent Australia David Shearman 30 May 2017, On top of ecological destruction and $1 billion in taxpayer subsidies, will the re-emergence of black lung disease, due to government regulatory incompetence, be the final nail in Adani’s Carmichael mine coffin? Dr David Shearman reports.
ON A DAY WHEN a Queensland Parliamentary Inquiry finds catastrophic administrative failures resulted in the reappearance in pneumoconiosis (black lung disease) – a serious but preventable disease – Queenslanders should be asking themselves some important questions.
In particular, whether their State and Federal governments have the competence to deliver the Adani Carmichael mine with its ephemeral jobs and riches or whether the collateral damage to them and to Queensland is likely to be too great.
The reappearance of black lung disease in our wealthy, advanced country is an indictment of health monitoring in the coal industry, for which the Queensland Government has the ultimate responsibility to set health standards. The Parliamentary ‘Inquiry into the re-identification of Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis in Queensland’ identified “major system failures at virtually all levels” and this includes the medical assessments.
Parliamentarians who fondle coal and spruik it as “cheap” need to recognise the true cost of coal lies in the suffering of workers, and the community from air pollution from its mining and combustion. Coal is heavily subsidised by the health services for the cost of care of a significant proportion of the 3,000 Australians who die each year from air pollution.
In promoting this mine, the Queensland and Federal governments have already dismissed the likely demise of the Great Barrier Reef, the significant impact on world greenhouse emissions and the climate of Australia, the increasingly poor image depicted in the international media of Queensland and the concerns of our Pacific Island neighbours about new coal mines. In the face of black lung, the competence of the Queensland Government to regulate and monitor the development and running of this vast mine has to be questioned. It will be difficult to find any reassurance.
Imposed on the Adani mine development are 270 conditions that will need monitoring and supervision by the Queensland Government. Many of these relate to water security, because inland Queensland with its probable drying climate has human and agricultural demands on its water. Unlimited use of water from the Great Artesian Basin is to be allowed in the face of concerns expressed by an eminent scientific committee. These included the impact from possible pressure reduction in bores and impacts on existing settlements.
The possible health consequences of the Adani mine have been detailed by Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) in a fact sheet with a foreword by Professor Fiona Stanley.
May 31, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
health, Queensland |
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28 May 2017, Submission by David Noonan, B.Sc., M.Env.St. To:Senator The Hon Matthew Canavan RE: Proposed Federal government imposition onto community in South Australia of an illegal “100 year” Store for ANSTO’s “10 000 year” irradiated Nuclear Fuel Wastes.
Storage of nuclear wastes affects the rights, interests and safety of all South Australians and is prohibited in our State under the Nuclear Waste Storage (Prohibition) Act 2000.
Proposed imposition of ANSTO reactor nuclear wastes is a major public interest concern in SA and detracts from public trust and confidence in the Federal government, in ARPANSA and in ANSTO.
The National Radioactive Waste Management Facility (NRWMF) comprises two co-located waste management facilities: an above ground 100 year Store for wastes that ARPANSA states require isolation for 10 000 years, AND a Disposal Facility for wastes requiring isolation for up to 300 years.
This submission focuses on the proposed imposition of the illegal Store & consequences thereof.
The Store is primarily for ANSTO irradiated Nuclear Fuel Wastes (NFW) and other existing and proposed reactor wastes, with only minor projected future arising’s of Intermediate Level Wastes (ILW) from States & Territories or from other Commonwealth agencies.
ARPANSA’s CEO (May 2015) has formally considered the proposed NRWMF Store and stated:
“This plan will have the provision for ILW storage above ground for approximately 100 years.”
This indefinite storage plan compromises safety in importing nuclear waste to SA without a waste disposal capacity or even a requisite program for disposal of NFW and ILW.
ARPANSA’s Radiation Health and Safety Advisory Council (April 2010) has provided formal advice which concluded: “that Australia’s current policy of indefinite storage for intermediate level waste does not appear to be consistent with International best practice.”
The import, transport, storage and disposal of ANSTO irradiated Nuclear Fuel Wastes is illegal in SA and was prohibited under the leadership of Liberal Premier John Olsen in 2000:
“The Objects of this Act are to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people of South Australia and to protect the environment in which they live by prohibiting the establishment of certain nuclear waste storage facilities in this State”
Since April 2016 the NRWMF project has exclusively targeted community and environment in SA in an attempt to again impose an illegal Store for ANSTO’s irradiated Nuclear Fuel Waste in our State. 2
The Minister’s release “Kimba 90-day consultation begins”(20 March 2017) invited submissions on potential approval under the National Radioactive Waste Management Act 2012 of two nominated sites near Kimba for assessment as potential sites for the proposed NRWM Facility.
This is in-parallel with the Federal government targeting the iconic Flinders Ranges on the country of the Adnyamathanha people in a serious threat to their human rights and cultural interests.
These are fundamentally State level public interest issues and represent a multi-generational threat to community in SA: including intended Federal requisition of an as yet unnamed SA port for imposition of decades of irradiated Nuclear Fuel Wastes imports, along with affected stakeholders on transport routes, in addition to the rights & interests of community around a potential Store site.
The Federal government has unacceptably failed to take up the recent Advice of the ARPANSA Nuclear Safety Committee (4 Nov 2016) for transparency and for the essential “ongoing requirement to clearly and effectively engage all stakeholders, including those along transport routes”.
This Store also exposes SA to unresolved security and potential terrorist risks in shipping, transport and indefinite above ground storage of irradiated Nuclear Fuel Wastes and other reactor wastes.
However, Lucas Heights is Australia’s best placed institution and facility to responsibly manage ANSTO’s Nuclear Fuel Wastes and can do so through-out the operating period of the Opal reactor.
An “Interim Waste Store” built at Lucas Heights in 2015 has a design life of 40 years and an approved purpose to take both the Nuclear Fuel Waste from France (NFW received Dec. 2015) and NFW to be received from the UK in circa 2020. The ARPANSA license for this Store “is not time limited” and has Contingency options to retain these NFW’s at ANSTO “until the availability of a final disposal option”.
The policy agenda to impose a NFW Store in SA is a flawed, unnecessary, contested and unsafe plan.
A broad public interest campaign protected SA rights and interests from prior Federal government attempts to impose nuclear waste facilities onto our State over 1998 to 2004 – and can do so again.
That “National Store Project” was abandoned – just as this NRWMF Store will have to be set aside.
Further, the Federal government’s flawed policy agenda for imposition of nuclear waste effectively precludes a long term resolution to Australia’s “low level” radioactive waste responsibilities.
The Minister has an obligation to learn the lessons from experience in failure of prior projects in Australia and internationally and not to deny or override key public interest community concerns.
My background includes experience as an Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) Campaigner over 1996 to 2011 based in Adelaide.
May 29, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump, South Australia |
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Todays’ AUSTRALIAN touts a nuclear promotion by Jessical Lovering:
“Jessica Lovering is director of energy at The Breakthrough Institute, a US environmental and energy 
think tank. She is visiting Australia to discuss nuclear innovation with energy policy experts, parliamentarians and government agencies.”
Just let’s be clear on who Jessica Lovering represents, and who is paying for her visit.
Well, the visit is paid for by the Minerals Council of Australia, also sponsored by the breakthrough Institute.
The Breakthrough Institute is a pretend-environmental group that propagandises for new nuclear power It’s interesting that Jessica will be speaking in Sydney on May 30th, and in Adelaide on May 31st – coincidentally, just as the Parliamentary Committe is about to give its blessing to Australia signing up to join in developing new :”Generation IV” nuclear reactors
The Breakthrough Institute launched the Breakthrough Energy Coalition at the start of the COP21 climate talks in Paris, with collective wealth of three hundred and fifty billion dollars.
The Breakthrough Institute is a billionaire’s club of “new nuclear” proponents, (to name just a few):
- Bill Gates who owns Terra Power LLC, a nuclear design and engineering company
- Richard Branson, publicly touts nuclear energy and put his name on Pandora’s Promise as executive producer.
- Mukesh Ambani an investor in Terra Power
- Jeff Bezos investor in nuclear fusion
- Chris Hohn’s TCI hedge fund invested in J-Power, a Japanese utility company whose assets included nuclear power stations.
- Vinod Khosla loves nuclear power and is on record blaming environmentalists rather than nuclear energy’s obviously disastrous economics, for its failure.Chinese billionaire
- Jack Ma of Alibaba, involved in China’s investment in the UK’s planned Hinkley-C nuclear power plant.
- Ratan Tata investing in nuclear energy in India
Last time the Breakthrough Institute send a macho man to spin to Australia. Lately they’ve turned to using trendy young women – a case of handing over the poisoned chalice?
May 29, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, spinbuster |
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Adani’s coal mine dealt fresh blow as Queensland shunts $1 billion rail loan role, Brisbane Times, Peter Hannam 28 May 17,
Prospects for the controversial Adani coal mine have dimmed further after the Queensland government said it wanted no role in any federal loan to support the project.
In a statement on Saturday, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said that “consistent with our election commitments, cabinet has determined that any [Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility] loan needs to be between the federal government and Adani”.
If the NAIF does provide funds for the 388 kilometre, $1 billion-plus rail link to support the proposed Carmichael mine, it will do so without the support of the state government. The NAIF’s guidelines say loans should “align” with a state’s needs.”If [Prime Minister] Malcolm Turnbull wants to spend his money in this way, that’s his decision,” a source said, requesting anonymity.
David Barnden, a lawyer for Environmental Justice Australia, said Queensland’s move appeared to block any NAIF loan to Adani under the current laws.”The Commonwealth’s legal power to fund projects through the NAIF is granted by a constitutional power for the provision of financial assistance to the states,” Mr Barnden said.
“If Queensland is not a part of any agreement for NAIF funding, then, in our view, Adani’s railway line cannot receive NAIF concessional loans under the current legal framework.”The NAIF abstention comes a day after the state government called a snap cabinet meeting to settle on the royalty plan to be offered to the Indian-owned miner. Adani says it will consider the plan.
Fairfax understands the cabinet agreed on a capped payment for the first six years of $5 million annually. Any delayed payments would be made up in later years with interest.While touted as a $16.5 billion project – excluding the railway and port expansion – the mine is looking increasingly less ambitious, if it gets built at all. Rather than 60 million tonnes, annual output is likely to be much less than the “mega” scale promoted, and a price tag is closer to $4 billion at least for the start.Ms Palaszczuk defended the royalty plan on Saturday, saying there was no “holiday” and that Adani would have to pay “every cent … in full”.By avoiding involvement in the NAIF loan, the government will argue it has kept its pre-election promise not to provide financial support for the mine. ……
Environment groups have applauded Queensland’s decision to avoid serving as a go-between for the NAIF funds.”Today Queensland Labor are holding firm to their promise at the last election not to throw taxpayer funds at Adani’s coal rail line, by refusing to hand over money from Senator Canavan’s slush fund,” GetUp national director Paul Oosting said.”The pressure is now on the federal government to put an end to special treatment for the megamine, and stand with Australians to say no to Adani.” http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/adanis-coal-mine-dealt-fresh-blow-as-queensland-shunts-1-billion-rail-loan-role-20170527-gweiuj.html
May 29, 2017
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climate change - global warming, politics, Queensland |
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Adani: Government body board members considering rail loan ‘linked to companies who may benefit’ Mark Willacy and Alexandra Blucher, ABC News 29 May 17, Conflict of interest concerns have been raised about two board members of federal government bodies involved in the consideration of a billion-dollar loan to Indian mining giant Adani.
Adani is seeking the loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) for a rail line linking its proposed Carmichael coal mine to the port of Abbot Point in north Queensland.
Green group Environmental Justice Australia said the two board members had connections to Queensland mining companies that could benefit financially if the Adani mine is approved and as such have a potential conflict of interest.
They have written to the NAIF and to the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (Efic), the government credit agency, which is helping to evaluate the loan.
Environmental Justice Australia said Annabelle Chaplain was a board member of Efic but also a director of Downer EDI, which has a $2 billion commercial arrangement with Adani.
It also said Karla Way-McPhail was a NAIF board member as well as being the chief executive of two companies that do work in the mining industry. One is Undamine Industries, which hires out labour and machinery to support mining operations.
The second is Coal Train Australia, a mining training company based in central Queensland.
Efic board member Ms Chaplain is listed as an independent non-executive director of Downer EDI, whose $2 billion arrangement is to conduct drilling, blasting and coal haulage at the Carmichael Mine, if it goes ahead.
According to Downer EDI’s last annual report, Ms Chaplain held 74,000 shares in the company, putting her stake at more than $450,000. Downer EDI chief executive Grant Fenn told The Australian Financial Review last year the company was a “supporter” of the Adani mine and that the Indian giant was “a very large potential customer”.
‘Clear connections’ to companies that could gain from loan
Environmental Justice Australia said both Ms Way-McPhail and Ms Chaplain had clear connections to companies that could benefit financially if the Adani project was approved.
“We understand NAIF is considering proposals by an [Adani company] and Aurizon Holdings Ltd for Galilee Basin rail projects that would cart thermal coal to the Great Barrier Reef Coast,” Environmental Justice Australia wrote in its letter to both government bodies.
“There is a perception that Ms Way-McPhail could gain an advantage if either project were to proceed.”
Efic told the ABC Ms Chaplain was unavailable for interview…….
The NAIF has been accused of excessive secrecy over the operation of its board and the board’s deliberations. The ABC reported earlier this year the NAIF rejected a freedom of information request for the dates and locations of its upcoming board meetings. The NAIF chief executive said the “disclosure of the dates of board meetings could reasonably be expected to adversely affect the NAIF’s operations” by creating media attention and protest activity……http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-29/conflict-of-interest-concerns-over-adani-rail-loan/8564368
May 29, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics, secrets and lies |
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New data has coastal communities all at sea http://www.examiner.com.au/story/4689488/new-data-has-coastal-communities-all-at-sea/?cs=97
28 May 2017, New modelling on sea level rise caused by climate change shows that what was once considered the worst-case scenario, only four years ago, is now more likely if we continue on a high-emissions path. In January, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the US released a report detailing global and regional mean sea level rise.
Scientists found that a rise of up to 2.7 metres by 2100 is in fact plausible, whereas the previous high scenario from the 2013 report – from the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change – was around 74 centimetres for the same year.
So why the increase? This year’s NOAA report includes the latest science on the rapid ice melt in Greenland and Antarctica as well as the latest results regarding Antarctic ice sheet instability and how these factors will contribute to global mean sea level rise.
These results align with other data. According to NOAA, in 2016 we experienced the warmest global surface temperature on record, having set new records for the previous two years.
In April this year there was record-low Arctic and near-record-low Antarctic sea ice.
These events have massive implications for Australia. Our coastal communities will be impacted by sea level rise and billions of dollars of infrastructure will be at risk. To quote Barrack Obama, “we are the first generation to experience climate change and the last generation that can do something about it”.
We now have a picture of what our worst-case scenario looks like for our coastal communities. Reducing emission levels will limit the impact of sea level rise. But sea level rise will happen and we need to understand the level of local risk to our coastal communities so that we can invest in protecting them.Nathan Eaton is Principal Consultant for NGIS and creator of the website, Coastal Risk Australia
May 29, 2017
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AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL |
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South Coast 2100: what sea level rise could do to Canberra’s beach getaways http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/south-coast-2100-what-sea-level-rise-could-do-to-canberras-beach-getaways-20170524-gwc19u.html Stephen Jeffery Canberra holidaymakers at the end of this century could drive down the Kings Highway to find the villas and waterfront homes of Batemans Bay below the high tide line.
Updated mapping from Coastal Risk Australia has estimated the effect of plausible sea level rises on the south coast by 2100.
Earlier this year, the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this year lifted the “plausible” sea level rise to as high as between 2 and 2.7 metres by 2100 if emissions remained at their current levels.
The map showed the highest risk scenario, a two metre rise during the highest tides, would engulf most beachfront properties and promenades in Batemans Bay and Batehaven.
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- Further north, the Shoalhaven River would claim much of the low-lying farmland between Nowra and the ocean, stranding Shoalhaven Heads, Greenwell Point and Culbarra Beach.
The canal properties that front Sussex Inlet would go underwater, while the Princes Highway would be cut at Dolphin Point and on either side of Moruya.
- Merimbula Airport would be inundated, according to the forecast, as would the marina and Market Street bridge over Boggy Creek.
The worst effects of the sea level rise would be felt elsewhere in the state, including in the Illawarra, Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Ballina and Byron Bay.
Parts of Sydney, including two airport runways, would also be adversely affected, based on the estimates.
NOAA estimated sea levels rose 0.65 millimetres per year between 1886 and 2010 in Sydney, with a global mean rise of about 3.2 millimetres per year between 1993 and 2014.
NGIS, which developed the mapping tool, used Google technology and local tide measurements to create Coastal Risk Australia.
The NOAA report, published in January, was developed through analysis of the expected melting rate of Greenland’s and Antarctica’s ice sheets.
“Recent results regarding Antarctic icesheet instability indicate that such outcomes [higher sea level rises] may be more likely than previously thought,” the report said.
“There has been continued and growing evidence that both Antarctica and Greenland are losing mass at an accelerated rate.”
Shoalhaven and Eurobodalla councils developed a south coast regional sea level rise policy in 2014.
Shoalhaven adopted a projected 36 centimetre sea level rise by 2100 in 2015, but agreed to conduct revised projections every seven years.
Eurobodalla has adopted a 50-year planning period for residential development and 23 centimetre sea level rise by 2050, but will also revise the guidelines every five to seven years.
Bega Valley Shire Council’s climate change strategy warned of a rise of up to 91 centimetres by 2100.
The strategy recommended future risk assessments, a coastal strategy and the incorporation of sea level rise consideration into environmental planning, infrastructure development and emergency management.
May 29, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
climate change - global warming, New South Wales |
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I wonder if the radioactively polluted area in Hunter’s Hill is included in this. Also, just how clean is the Lucas Heights area? Or should I say Baren Ridge – sounds cleaner than Lucas Heights, doncha think?
Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton announced the review on Saturday after Fairfax Media revealed that the Environment Protection Authority had been keeping “significant” chemical contamination hidden to protect residential property prices.
“There will be an independent urgent review into the procedural guidelines for contaminated land management,” Ms Upton said in a statement…..
An independent review last year found the authority had decided “not to routinely declare all sites where the contamination is significant enough to warrant regulation”.
The authority wanted to avoid “blighting” land prices but its head, Barry Buffier, denied that property prices were the “driving factor” in the organisation’s decision-making.
Environmentalists and the state’s opposition said they were alarmed that residents throughout the state could be unknowingly living on top of dangerous chemicals.
Fairfax also revealed the EPA was struggling to assess and prioritise many thousands of sites that had been reported as contaminated. …..http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/land-contamination-review-follows-fairfax-media-toxic-state-investigation-20170527-gwek1e.html
May 29, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
environment, New South Wales |
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Federal Labor feels the heat over Adani, and Coalition is sweating too, Guardian, Katharine Murphy, 26 May 17
The biggest environmental campaign seen in Australia since the 80s is causing bumps in the road for both sides of politics When it comes to the Adani Carmichael coalmine, the spotlight this week has been trained on Queensland as the state government battled an internal split on whether to give the project a royalties holiday. There have also been murmurings in Canberra, where Labor MPs are starting to express public opposition to a project many have been privately wringing their hands about.
But to fathom the next phase in the political battle against the project, we need to train our eyes a bit further south.
Over this past week in Victoria, the Greens have launched a new fundraising drive to produce placards which will begin appearing shortly around the electorates of Melbourne, Batman, Wills and Melbourne Ports.
The placards have a simple message, easily consumed from a passing car or tram. They say: Stop Labor’s Adani Mine. It won’t stop with some signage. The Greens are planning to door knock the inner urban electorates where they now slug it out with Labor in hand-to-hand combat during federal elections.
While a couple of Labor MPs, David Feeney and Peter Khalil, have got out ahead of the new onslaught by outing themselves as opponents of Adani, the Greens are telling their supporters the objective is to force the federal Labor leader, Bill Shorten, to rule out supporting the Adani coalmine…..
The anti-Adani effort links in to coordinated global efforts by the environment movement to stop new coalmines. #StopAdani (and the associated activities) is the environmental movement’s equivalent of a multinational corporation – with Queensland the local frontline of a global, anti-coal offensive……
One Liberal said to me forcefully this week when I asked how Adani was playing out on home turf: “Christ, I wish it would just go away.”
One Labor figure puts the problem for his party this way: “It is talismanic. It’s the litmus test. Adani has become shorthand for ‘are you serious about climate change?’.” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/27/federal-labor-feels-the-heat-over-adani-and-coalition-is-sweating-too
May 26, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics |
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Palaszczuk rules out royalty holiday for Adani http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/palaszczuk-rules-out-royalty-holiday-for-adani-20170526-gwe937.html Felicity Caldwell, 27 May 17
Queensland cabinet has decided not to grant a royalty holiday for the Adani Carmichael mine.
It comes after ongoing reports of tension between the Left and Right factions in the Palaszczuk cabinet over royalties for the Adani mine. Adani released a statement on Friday evening following news of the unanimous decision.
“Adani Australia will give urgent consideration of state cabinet’s decision tonight on a royalties arrangement for the $16.5 billion Carmichael coal mine project.” “Adani will analyse the details when they have been formally provided (and) confirms again that it will pay every cent of royalties to the state as was always the case.”
Ministers were called to a cabinet meeting on Friday afternoon to make a decision on the issue. In a brief statement released at 5.29pm on Friday, Ms Palaszczuk said state cabinet had “unanimously agreed to a new policy approach for the future development of the Galilee and Surat Basins and the North West Mineral Province”.
“Under this new policy, the Adani Carmichael mine will pay every cent of royalties in full,” Ms Palaszczuk said. “There will be no royalty holiday for the Adani Carmichael mine.”
On Monday, May 22, Adani announced it would postpone its final investment decision on the $21 billion central Queensland project after learning the cabinet did not make a ruling on royalties.
Earlier this week, Ms Palaszczuk told journalists that cabinet would meet as usual on Monday, May 29. She did not flag the unexpected Friday afternoon meet-up. More details would be released in “due course”, Ms Palaszczuk said.
May 26, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
climate change - global warming, politics, Queensland |
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German battery giant Sonnen teams with Australian solar tile maker to take on Tesla, One Step Off The Grid, By Sophie Vorrath on May 25, 2017 German battery storage giant and major Tesla rival, Sonnen, has opened up competition on yet another front in Australia, with the announcement this week of a partnership with a local roofing company that is set to launch its own version of an integrated solar tile.
Sonnen said on Thursday that it had signed an agreement with Australian company Bristile Roofing to be the national supplier of solar powered energy storage systems for homes using its new solar tile, which is due to hit the market in September.
Under the deal, Bristile will offer the Sonnen AC Coupled modular battery storage system to the builder market, as well as its new Sonnen DC Hybrid range.
The storage system includes an inverter, battery modules, and an energy management system with built-in smart appliance control. The systems have a 10-year guarantee, but are designed for a 20-year life, according to Sonnen.
Bristile, which is a part of the building materials group Brickworks, says it expects to target the estimated 102,000 new-build homes throughout Australia in 2017-18, with a number of builders the company deals with “looking to offer integrated solar systems” as a standard feature of off-the-plan homes…..
The deal come’s just weeks after Tesla announced that its own, much-hyped solar roofing tiles were open for Australian orders, with down-payments, ahead of delivery in 2018.
Tesla, which has previously claimed the tiles would be no more expensive that a regular roof, making the solar power generation “a bonus”, has estimated that the “typical homeowner” should expect to pay $US21.85 per square foot for the tiles. Bloomberg, however, puts the price at $US42 per sqaure foot, including materials and labour.
Prices are yet to be revealed for the Bristile Solartile. https://onestepoffthegrid.com.au/german-battery-giant-teams-australian-solar-tile-maker-take-tesla/
May 26, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, solar |
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AEMO says major market reform essential to cut energy prices http://reneweconomy.com.au/aemo-says-major-market-reform-essential-to-cut-energy-prices-28327/ By Giles Parkinson on 26 May 2017
Two key Australian energy institutions have again pushed for more rapid and wholesale changes of market rules, saying this was essential if Australia was to manage new technologies and return to its former status of a low-cost energy nation.
Testimony from the Australian Energy Market Operator and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency underlined their plea for changes to market rules, changes which many in the industry say have been stalled under the current market rule maker. New AEMO chief executive Audrey Zibelman says Australia used to have low energy prices, but had obviously lost that status. “The question is, how do we use the resources we have to get back to that level of affordability?” she told a parliamentary inquiry in Canberra.
The answer was with new technologies like battery storage and demand management, a new set of market rules. “What we need is to think how to get these opportunities into the market. We are operating 20th Century power system trying to keep pace with 21st Century change,” Zibelman said.
Both AEMO and ARENA have been highly critical of the slow pace of reform of Australian energy market rules, the province of the Australian Energy Market Commission and the COAG energy ministers.
In its submission to the parliamentary inquiry into a modern electricity system, AEMO said that Australia’s rule making was not sufficiently forward-looking to meet the needs of the “paradigm shifts” the National Electricity Market was undergoing.
In particular, AEMO and ARENA want rule changes that can encourage battery storage and demand management, and that will address the over-investment in networks and generators that are responsible for Australia now having some of the highest electricity prices in the western world. Continue reading →
May 26, 2017
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AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, energy |
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Nuclear the NSW Nationals’ solution to energy crisis, JAMES WAGSTAFF, The Weekly Times, May 24, 2017 “…..NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro said with rising energy costs “crushing businesses, farmers and families”, all available options, “including nuclear energy”, must be considered…….
NSW Greens energy spokesman Jeremy Buckingham labelled the comments as “extreme” and an example the Nationals were “stuck in the wrong century pushing coal and nuclear, and ignoring the massive renewable energy potential of Australia”.
Victorian Farmers Federation president David Jochinke said he would be “open to discussing any strategy that has sound economic, social and environmental principles; however, an opinion needs to be backed by a fact”…..
National Irrigators Council chief executive Steve Whan said that while irrigators were “agnostic about sources of power — including renewables — as long as it’s reasonably priced and reliable” nuclear was “probably unrealistic” given high construction costs and the likelihood of community opposition…..http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/national/nuclear-the-nsw-nationals-solution-to-energy-crisis/news-story/6cedf439e992fd746b1606fb2fff5c49
May 26, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics |
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Most Queensland voters oppose taxpayer support for Adani coalmine – poll
59% give thumbs down to state or federal assistance for Carmichael mine as state government faces factional fight over whether to give project a royalties holiday, Guardian, Katherine Murphy, 25 May 17 Queensland voters have given the thumbs down to taxpayer support for the controversial Adani coalmine, with 59% saying they were opposed to state or federal assistance.
A new poll of 1,618 Queenslanders taken by ReachTel indicates 57% of the sample objected to a loan for a rail link between the mine and Abbot point, which is championed by the federal resources minister Matt Canavan.
Just over 50% of the sample said a decision by the Queensland government to grant the project a royalties holiday would be a broken election promise.
The poll was commissioned by the progressive thinktank the Australian Institute.
It comes as the state Labor government is battling an internal split on whether or not to give the project a royalties holiday.
Federal government sources have also told Guardian Australia that Canavan can expect strong internal pushback against any proposal to grant a concessional loan to Adani. Some argue the concept is objectionable.
This week officials from Infrastructure Australia told Senate estimates they had not identified the proposed rail line as a priority, and they had not consulted the body which is expected to stump up a concessional loan, the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.
Adani is seeking a $900m concessional loan from the Naif for the rail line. Infrastructure Australia and the Naif are required to consult on projects worth more than $100m.
As well as facing internal resistance to taxpayer support, the environment group, the Australian Conservation Foundation, has warned the Turnbull government it will pursue all avenues, including possible legal action, to stop a concessional loan being granted to the rail line.
The new poll also comes as federal Labor MPs this week have also broken ranks to express public objections to the controversial project…… https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/25/most-queensland-voters-oppose-taxpayer-support-for-adani-coalmine-poll
May 26, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
climate change - global warming, politics, Queensland |
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Antinuclear 