Victoria takes the lead on Renewable Energy Targets
Mixed Response as Victoria Moves on Renewable Energy Targets, Pro Bono, Lina Caneva, Editor, 5 Sept 17 The Victorian government has become the first Australian state to introduce legislation in a bid to have its renewable energy targets enshrined in law, but the move has received a mixed response. The state government said it was “harnessing the power of renewable energy to drive down prices, attract billions of dollars of investment and create thousands of local jobs.”
Premier Daniel Andrews said the Victorian Renewable Energy Targets (VRET) legislation was the largest renewable energy auction in Australia.
The legislation, introduced into parliament last week, set new renewable energy targets for Victoria of 25 per cent by 2020 and 40 per cent by 2025.
“It’s the first time such ambitious renewable energy targets have been enshrined in state legislation anywhere in Australia,” Andrews said.
“Importantly, the VRET will cut the average cost of power for Victorians by around $30 a year for households, $2,500 a year for medium businesses and $140,000 a year for large companies, while driving a 16 per cent reduction in Victoria’s electricity sector greenhouse gas emissions by 2034-35.”
The government said the competitive VRET auction for up to 650 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy capacity would provide enough electricity to power 389,000 households – or enough energy to power Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and the Latrobe Valley combined.
However Grattan Institute energy program director Tony Wood said Australia desperately needed a nationally consistent energy and climate change policy, with bipartisan support……..
Clean Energy Council chief executive Kane Thornton said the commitments made by the state government would “turbocharge” the renewable energy industry in Victoria.
“The renewable energy auction is a major step forward for communities, businesses and the state’s renewable energy industry,” Thornton said.
“This will turbocharge significant private investment in low cost renewable energy to fill the gap and bring power prices down.
“Victoria is realising an immense opportunity to grow its economy and preserve its future energy security through the establishment of a strong and long-term VRET scheme, which will ensure the roll-out of renewable energy projects well beyond 2020.”
Thornton said the auction round was the largest renewable reverse energy auction program to date in Australia, building on the success of the ACT government’s program.
“This is a significant addition to the Victorian government’s clean energy commitments to date, which include solar trams, solar schools, an energy storage initiative and a renewable energy certificate purchasing initiative,” he said.
Victoria’s opposition leader Matthew Guy said the Coalition would oppose the plan. https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2017/09/mixed-response-victoria-moves-renewable-energy-targets/
6 September REneweconomy news
RenewEconomy-
Billionaire Cannon-Brookes backs home energy loan start-upAustralian tech investor Mike Cannon-Brookes has tipped close to $4m into home energy loan start-up Brighte.
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Gas and hydro get big $ in energy markets, solar and wind paid lessHydro and gas generation get higher half hourly prices than coal in Australia’s energy market. Wind & solar PV take a discount.
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Wind and solar facing “valley of death” despite changing economicsAustralia faces energy crisis caused by failure of Labor and Coalition to face reality of both climate change and the technological transformation of the energy sector.A bunch of reasons to be optimistic about clean energy in AustraliaRenewable energy is increasingly profitable without subsidies, and coal has become uninvestable without government intervention – this used to be the opposite.Know your NEM: Baseload and reliability to take centre stageNo one will be surprised if AEMO projects a potential problem this summer in reports to be released this week.
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Electricity bill relief package welcome news for households doing it toughPIAC’s Energy + Water Consumers Advocacy Program (EWCAP) has welcomed the NSW electricity bill relief package, announced yesterday
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Renewable Energy Market Report: Connection worries force prices upThe key issue at moment around LGC prices remains the commissioning dates for new fleet of wind and solar generation.
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How Tesla’s big battery can smash Australia’s energy cartelRegulator report cites seven different occasions where Australia’s big energy players used market power to push up prices nearly 100-fold. No wonder South Australia has pushed for Tesla big battery, which is likely to be able to smash this cartel, despite being derided by the Coalition.
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New “ethical” debt fund targets renewables “merchant” marketWith $50m in backing from Future Super, new debt fund taps renewable energy “sweet spot” – including small to medium solar projects with no PPAs.
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Will wind and solar be penalised by baseload hysteria?AEMO report will be critical to design of policy and market rules, but wind and solar industry fear they are going to be unfairly penalised, when it is the fossil fuel fleet causing much risk to the energy system.
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2 September REneweconomy news
RenewEconomy-
Australia’s energy future on grid edge – can AEMO give it a push?AEMO again stresses vital role that demand management solutions – and not more baseload coal – will play in the safe, stable and economic running of Australia’s electricity grid, as it transitions away from centralised fossil fuel generation and towards distributed renewables.
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Worsening climate change melts winter heat recordsAustralia has experienced its hottest winter on record as a result of intensifying climate change.
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Fossil fuel marketing terms swamp the ABC and mainstream mediaThe term “low emissions coal” has been used 100s of times in Australia’s mainstream media – which is a lot for something that doesn’t exist.
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Queensland removes feed-in tariff cap on regional solar systemsSolar PV systems of up to 30kW in size will now have access to 11c/kWh feed-in tariffs in regional Queensland.
- Big energy players back major power shift, as GreenSync unveils deX
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GreenSync’s game-changing distributed energy trading platform officially unveiled with backing of AEMO and major energy market players.
1 September More REneweconomy news
RenewEconomy-
Turnbull’s new energy target: Drop the “clean” and ignore climateCoalition reportedly drops links to emission trajectories in draft proposal for a Clean Energy Target. It comes as Turnbull changes tone again on new coal, and the Queensland LNP releases a renewables policy derided immediately as a “farce”.
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How consumers got burned on electricity prices: It started with networksPolicy responses to high electricity prices should pay more attention to how consumers can be helped to use less electricity
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Inspiring green homes open their doors on Sustainable House DayAustralia’s most innovative green homes will be open to the public on Sustainable House Day, taking place on Sunday 17 September.
1 September REneweconomy news
RenewEconomy-
Graph of the Day: States lead on renewables, but who leads the states?Climate Council ranks state efforts on renewables and climate targets as they race to fill the federal government void.Wind output hits record in July, wind and solar 59% in S.A.Wind output in Australia hits record highs in August, with wind and rooftop solar combining to provide 59 per cent of South Australia’s consumption.Indian Auditor-General finds public banks have US$1.8bn at risk on dud coal plantsTwo of India’s leading public sector banks at risk of losing a “significant proportion” of US$7.4 billion loaned over three years to private power producersRooftop solar nears 6GW milestone in AustraliaAustralian homes and businesses have installed 6GW of small-scale renewables – 5.9GW of it rooftop solar.ACT trials electric buses on public transport routeCanberra’s public transport bus fleet will trial two pure electric buses and one electric-diesel hybrid, as it transitions away from ageing diesel fleet.Busting the solar ceiling: The fight for millions of Australians locked out of rooftop solarNew data has shown that in North Sydney, alone, 74% of residents can’t access solar because they are renters or live in apartment buildings. But there are ways to solve the problem – as well as new companies making it their mission.
17 August More REneweconomy News
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Turnbull doesn’t need new baseload, he just needs some ballsNo-one wants to invest in new baseload power. It makes no economic, or environmental sense. Deep down, Malcolm Turnbull understands this, but does he have the courage of his convictions, if that is what they were, to overcome the nonsense from the conservative ideologues?
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WA could be solar exporter, but it needs a solar industry firstReport says WA’s Pilbara must first establish local solar industry if it wants to offer Indonesia competitive rates on PV generation.
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AGL hits pause on virtual power plant in technology “rethink”AGL tells its “virtual power plant” customers in Adelaide their installation will be delayed while it reviews technology choices for the program.
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New demand management plan could match “half a Hazelwood”AER’s proposed demand management scheme could deliver flexible capacity equivalent to half the closed Hazelwood coal-plant.
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Hundreds register interest in Qld renewables + storage auctionQueensland’s 400MW reverse auction for renewables and energy storage has been flooded with interest.
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Wind and solar produce three times more energy than IEA admitsThe IEA energy statistics underestimates the role of wind and solar in the world’s energy mix – by a factor of three. Here’s why.
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Vector to boost its smart energy solutionsVector will be expanding its energy storage options for residential, industrial, and commercial customers, starting with LG Chem’s battery storage products.
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Delta Electricity engages Entura to support Vales Point solar farmSpecialist power and water consulting firm Entura has been appointed by Delta Electricity to provide engineering services to support the development of the proposed Vales Point power station solar farm.
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Battery storage: Who’s leading on quality and brand recognition?Tesla and LG Chem are leading the battery storage market in terms of brand recognition, but the issue of quality throws up some other names.
REneweconomy news 30 August
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Renewables delivering – despite enemies and “lukewarm defenders”Green Energy Markets Renewable Energy Index shows an industry delivering on its promise: fulfilling a large and growing part of Australia’s energy needs while also providing meaningful employment.
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Sapphire Wind Farm seeks community investors in possible Australian firstSapphire Wind Farm developer calls on community investors to take shares in what will be NSW biggest wind farm.
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Snowy Hydro 2.0 Powering AheadSnowy Hydro 2.0 is already employing 350 people and will create more than 5000 new jobs during the construction phase of the development.
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Know your NEM: Canberra fiddling while Rome burns on energy pricesFederal Government turns attention back to electricity prices, but while their interest is welcome, it is in a sense just fiddling while Rome burns.
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WA mulls three gigawatt-scale PV plants to export solar to AsiaPlans to build three gigawatt-scale solar farms in Western Australia’s Pilbara and Kimberley regions and sell their output to Indonesia via submarine cables, could soon be commercially viable.
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Victoria proposes “hybrid” contracts for new wind and solar farmsVictoria “hybrid” contract for its 650MW large scale renewable energy action, combining fixed payment with “contract for difference” that will cap its exposure.
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NSW on renewables: All talk, not much actionNSW talks a good talk on renewable energy but offers few actions. Its share of new renewables is far smaller than its share of electricity consumption and this is particularly marked in PV, yet Transgrid sees huge opportunities.
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S.A. calls tender for “next generation” renewables and storageSouth Australia seeks bids for “next generation” of renewable energy technologies, including “firming” capacity for wind and solar projects, bulk energy storage, and bio-energy.
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Shell wins approval for 250MW solar plant in Queensland coal countryShell wins planning approval for 250MW solar plant in heart of Queensland’s coal country, in what appears to be its first big move into large scale solar in Australia.
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WA bathes in sunshine, but poorest households lack solar panelsSolar panels are still a rarity in WA’s lower-income areas.
Without Clean Energy Target, Australia’s booming renewable energy will flounder: Frydenberg prevaricates
Renewable energy booming but could soon turn to bust, analysts warn, The Age, Nicole Hasham , 27 Aug 17
Australia produced enough renewable energy to power 70 per cent of households last financial year, new data shows, but advocates warn the booming industry will flounder unless the Turnbull government commits to a clean energy target.
The government is sharply divided over whether to adopt the target, the central recommendation of Chief Scientist Alan Finkel’s review of the national electricity market…….
Mr Frydenberg cited Clean Energy Council figures showing there was a record $8 billion of renewable investment underway, delivering more than 4000MW of new renewable generation capacity.
He has previously said the clean energy target, if implemented, would not come into effect until 2020 so there was “no rush” for the government to make a decision……http://www.theage.com.au/environment/energy-smart/renewable-energy-booming-but-could-soon-turn-to-bust-analysts-warn-20170825-gy4egf
Enough renewable energy to power 70% of Australian homes
Renewable energy generates enough power to run 70% of Australian homes https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/27/renewable-energy-generates-enough-power-to-run-70-of-australian-homes
Renewable Energy Index shows sector will generate power to run 90% of homes once wind and solar projects being built in 2016-17 are completed, Guardian, Joshua Robertson, 28 Aug 17, Australia’s renewable energy sector is within striking distance of matching national household power consumption, cranking out enough electricity to run 70% of homes last financial year, new figures show.
The first Australian Renewable Energy Index, produced by Green Energy Markets, finds the sector will generate enough power to run 90% of homes once wind and solar projects under construction in 2016-17 are completed. The index, funded by GetUp through supporter donations, underlines the advance of renewables, despite Australia’s electricity markets still leaning heavily on carbon-emitting coal and gas-fired generation.
Renewables, which made up just 7% of national electricity output a decade ago, accounted for 17.2% last financial year. This jumped to 18.8% last month. This is saving the power sector from carbon pollution equivalent to taking more than half of all cars in Australia off the road, according to Green Energy Markets.
Green Energy Markets analyst Tristan Edis said the emergence of renewables, in particular wind and solar, as a “significant source of power” had ushered in a “construction jobs and investment boom”.
“The renewable energy sector has staged a remarkable recovery, after investment completely dried-up under former prime minister Tony Abbott,” Edis said.
He said investors had “recovered their confidence under Malcolm Turnbull”, with help also from “a range of state government initiatives”. Edis said the renewables sector was on track to meet the federal government’s renewable energy target of 20% of total generation by 2020 over a year early, by the end of 2018.
However, the renewable jobs boom underpinned by the RET could “soon turn to bust”, he said.
Renewable investment beyond the RET risked collapsing without the Turnbull government moving forward on chief scientist Alan Finkel’s recommendation for a future “clean energy target”, he said.
At least 46 large-scale energy projects under construction by the end of June were providing enough work to employ 8,868 people full-time for a year. This figure had surged to 10,000 by July. Most jobs were in NSW (3,018), thanks largely to wind farms, while Queensland (2,625) was next, with 70% of its jobs coming from solar farms.
Rooftop solar installations supported a further 3,769 full-time jobs across Australia in 2016-17.
With most projects underway in Queensland, large solar farms still generated less than 2% of renewable energy in 2016-17, the index found.
Generation from rooftop solar, which was “back in 2008 little more than a rounding error”, had “grown spectacularly”, Edis said.
More than 150,000 systems installed in the last year alone would produce enough energy for 226,000 homes, he said.
“Meanwhile these solar systems will also save consumers $1.5 billion off their electricity bills over the next 10 years.”
Miriam Lyons, GetUp’s energy campaigns director, said that “everyday Australians are voting with their rooftops” in a move that “heralds the end of the era of big polluting energy companies dominating the market and manipulating prices to fill their own pockets”.
“Who do we have to thank for the renewables boom? Certainly not the federal government,” she said.
“Instead we can thank the thousands of everyday Australians who stood up and defended the national [RET] from Tony Abbott’s attacks, who saved [the Australian Renewable Energy Agency] from federal government budget cuts, and who pushed their state governments into showing some leadership on clean energy.”
The Australian Renewable Energy Index will be published monthly.
Malcolm Turnbull tries to look climate change good, with Snowy Hydro funding
Malcolm Turnbull to announce millions in funding for Snowy Hydro 2.0 pet project, The Age, James Massol, 27 Aug 17 Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is set to announce millions in extra funding for his pet project, Snowy Hydro 2.0, after visiting the power station on Monday morning. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is set to announce millions in extra funding for his pet project, Snowy Hydro 2.0, after visiting the power station on Monday morning.
The announcement is due to be made in News Corp papers on Monday, but Fairfax Media has learnt the details ahead of time.
Mr Turnbull will attempt to focus on electricity prices and energy policy for the entire week ahead, in an attempt to shift focus away from the citizenship fiasco….
The feasibility study is due to be completed by the end of year; work is already under way on technical and drilling work and it will soon ramp up to be a 24-hour-a-day operation……
The expansion of Snowy Hydro, which will conservatively cost at least $2 billion and which will take at least four years to complete, is designed to provide power for an extra 500,000 homes when finished. The bill for the project could effectively double from $2 billion to $4 billion because of essential upgrades to power transmission lines into Melbourne and Sydney.
When completed, it will effectively function as a giant battery for the east coast electricity market and the new power station will have an estimated generation capacity of 2000 megawatts…..
ARENA began talks with Snowy Hydro about working on the project in February, about a month before the Prime Minister announced the project, and it is hoped the know-how the agency gains from working on Snowy Hydro 2.0 will be used on other pumped hydro storage projects.
The Commonwealth owns 13 per cent of the scheme, NSW 58 per cent and the Victorian government 29 per cent. http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/malcolm-turnbull-to-announce-millions-in-funding-for-snowy-hydro-20-pet-project-20170827-gy5042.html
Australia eclipsed in commercial solar uptake
http://www.examiner.com.au/story/4876719/australia-eclipsed-in-commercial-solar-uptake/?cs=97 Reece Turner, 27 Aug 2017, Australia is seeing a new boom in solar energy generation powered by nose-bleeding electricity and gas price rises. In fact, Australian households are approaching 25 per cent solar uptake, which is the highest in the world by a large margin.
In Illawarra, there are 11,259 households powered by the sun and, according to advocacy group Solar Citizens, this saves residents $5.4 million every year. This is great for job creation and the environment.
However, when it comes to businesses installing solar power, Australia’s doing far worse. Estimates are we’re not even in the top 20 countries for commercial solar.
Community energy group Repower and solar engineering company Planet Ark Power hope to change that by helping more companies in Illawarra to take up solar.
This month, at the Wollongong Tennis Club, we’ll be launching “Repower Wollongong”. This follows successful launches of Repower Shoalhaven and Repower Southern Highlands. Indeed, this model of community energy group is one of the most successful in the country, assisting 17 businesses save thousands on their bills.
Many businesses are interested in going solar, but there are some hurdles. One of them can be the upfront costs. A commercial solar system generates free energy for 25 or 30 years, but the initial investment can be anything from $20,000 upwards.
The Repower community energy model removes this hurdle by collecting community investment that pays for the system upfront and then sells the clean energy back to the business at a rate cheaper than grid electricity and with a degree of certainty against rising energy hikes.
It’s a brilliant model delivering returns to the community, helping save on business costs and supporting local jobs. Find out more at www.repower.net.au
Reece Turner is business development manager at Planet Ark Power.
28 August REneweconomy news
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Renewables delivering – despite enemies and “lukewarm defenders”Green Energy Markets Renewable Energy Index shows an industry delivering on its promise: fulfilling a large and growing part of Australia’s energy needs while also providing meaningful employment.
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Sapphire Wind Farm seeks community investors in possible Australian firstSapphire Wind Farm developer calls on community investors to take shares in what will be NSW biggest wind farm.
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Snowy Hydro 2.0 Powering AheadSnowy Hydro 2.0 is already employing 350 people and will create more than 5000 new jobs during the construction phase of the development.
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Know your NEM: Canberra fiddling while Rome burns on energy pricesFederal Government turns attention back to electricity prices, but while their interest is welcome, it is in a sense just fiddling while Rome burns.
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WA mulls three gigawatt-scale PV plants to export solar to AsiaPlans to build three gigawatt-scale solar farms in Western Australia’s Pilbara and Kimberley regions and sell their output to Indonesia via submarine cables, could soon be commercially viable.
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Victoria proposes “hybrid” contracts for new wind and solar farmsVictoria “hybrid” contract for its 650MW large scale renewable energy action, combining fixed payment with “contract for difference” that will cap its exposure.
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NSW on renewables: All talk, not much actionNSW talks a good talk on renewable energy but offers few actions. Its share of new renewables is far smaller than its share of electricity consumption and this is particularly marked in PV, yet Transgrid sees huge opportunities.
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S.A. calls tender for “next generation” renewables and storageSouth Australia seeks bids for “next generation” of renewable energy technologies, including “firming” capacity for wind and solar projects, bulk energy storage, and bio-energy.
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Shell wins approval for 250MW solar plant in Queensland coal countryShell wins planning approval for 250MW solar plant in heart of Queensland’s coal country, in what appears to be its first big move into large scale solar in Australia.
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WA bathes in sunshine, but poorest households lack solar panelsSolar panels are still a rarity in WA’s lower-income areas.
26 August REneweconomy news
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For the first time the smart energy sector will have a truly national training strategy.
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NREL’s new look at generation costs: Wind and solar still cheapestNew study on technology generation costs shows wind and solar remain cheapest, with further cost falls ahead.
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Supply crunch casts shadow over Australian solar boomChina’s unexpected 2017 boom in solar PV installation could have an unfortunate impact on the ambitious plans of many in Australia’s surging solar sector – a bottleneck in module supplies and price rises that could impact the huge pipeline of project.
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VSUN edges closer to home storage market for vanadium batteriesAustralian Vanadium says VSUN subsidiary well advanced in negotiations to roll out residential vanadium redox flow battery.
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Vales Point coal plant looks to build 45MW solar farmOwners of Vale Point coal generator looking to build 45MW solar farm on landfill site of now closed coal units.
Economists find the Finkel Clean Energy Target plan ‘better than nothing’
Finkel’s Clean Energy Target plan ‘better than nothing’: economists poll The Conversation, Director, Carbon and Energy Markets., Victoria University, August 25, 2017 Few topics have attracted as much political attention in Australia over the past decade as emissions reduction policy.Amid mounting concern over electricity price increases across Australia and coinciding with blackouts in South Australia and near-misses in New South Wales, the Australian government asked Chief Scientist Alan Finkel to provide a blueprint for reform of the electricity industry, in a context in which emissions reduction policy was an underlying drumbeat.
In a new poll of the ESA Monash Forum of leading economists, a majority said that Finkel’s suggested Clean Energy Target was not necessarily a better option than previously suggested policies such as an emissions trading scheme. But many added that doing nothing would be worse still.
Read more: The Finkel Review: finally, a sensible and solid footing for the electricity sector.
The Finkel Review’s terms of reference explicitly precluded it from advising on economy-wide emissions reduction policy, and implicitly required it also to reject emission reduction policies such as an emissions tax or cap and trade scheme.
One of the Finkel Review’s major recommendations was a Clean Energy Target (CET). This is effectively an extension of the existing Renewable Energy Target to cover power generation which has a greenhouse gas emissions intensity below a defined hurdle. Such generation can sell certificates which electricity retailers (and directly connected large customers) will be required to buy.
The ESA Monash Forum panel was asked to consider whether this approach was “preferable” to an emission tax or cap and trade scheme. As usual, responses could range from strong disagreement to strong agreement with an option to neither agree nor disagree. Twenty-five members of the 53-member panel voted, and most added commentary to their response – you can see a summary of their verdicts below [on original], and their detailed comments at the end of this article.
A headline result from the survey is that a large majority of the panel does not think the CET is preferable to a tax or cap and trade scheme. None strongly agreed that the CET was preferable, whereas 16 either disagreed or strongly disagreed, and four agreed……..https://theconversation.com/finkels-clean-energy-target-plan-better-than-nothing-economists-poll-82066
Energy Minister Frydenberg stalling on decision about $110m Port Augusta solar thermal funds?
Frydenberg calls for advice on $110m Port Augusta solar thermal funds, REneweconomy
In a statement late Thursday, Frydenberg said he had written to SolarReserve asking for details about the proposal to spend $650 million building a 150MW solar tower plant with molten salt storage near the shuttered coal plants outside of Port Augusta.
“Solar thermal plants operate in a similar way to traditional fossil fuel power plants with steam spinning a conventional turbine, which means they can contribute to network stability and reliability when coupled with built-in storage,” Frydenberg noted.
A contract signed between SolarReserve and the South Australian government promises a price cap of $78/MWh for all the state government’s electricity needs, but the price is dependent on SolarReserve accessing the cheap equity on offer from the federal government.
That offer – made by both mainstream parties in the lead up to the last election – was reinforced in the federal budget by the Turnbull government as part of a tax policy deal with Senator Nick Xenophon.
However, the funds had yet to be allocated to any project. ARENA was tasked with seeking expressions of interest on the solar thermal funding for Port Augusta, but did not call for detailed proposals…..
“ARENA and the CEFC have a strong track record in supporting the commercialisation of emerging technologies and will use that expertise to take solar thermal to the next level in Australia,” he said in a statement.
The IPFA advises the Federal government on funding and financing solutions for nationally significant infrastructure across all sectors, including energy. http://reneweconomy.com.au/frydenberg-calls-for-advice-on-110m-port-augusta-solar-thermal-funds-54190/
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