GDF SUEZ Australian Energy, coal mine owner, investing big into solar energy
“Solar is becoming totally competitive,” “Solar is an energy of the future. It is the energy with the biggest potential for development. It’s no longer a subsidized niche.”
the shift by Engie from centralised fossil fuel and nuclear capacity to one based around decentralised renewable energy generation is typical of the transformation going on around the world – with Europe’s E.ON, RWE and Vattenfall, and in the US, with generators such as NRG, and network operators in California, New York and elsewhere.
Hazelwood owner makes big push into solar energy, REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson on 10 July 2015 The owner of the Hazelwood coal-fired power station, the dirtiest generator in Australia, has announced a major push into renewable energy, snapping up the international solar farm developer SolaireDirect for about $A300 million.
GDF Suez, now known as Engie under a massive re-branding campaign that signals its shift from fossil 
fuels and nuclear to renewable energy, will become the largest solar and wind developer in France after the purchase.
But its big focus is on the international scene. Gerard Mestrallet, the CEO of Engie, one of the biggest operators of nuclear plants in Europe, says new solar now beats new nuclear on price, with new solar parks costing between $US60 and $US90/MWh. Continue reading
Telstra Business Award goes to Family-owned business Country Solar NT
Family-owned business Country Solar NT named 2015 Telstra Northern Territory Business of the Year CRAIG DUNLOP NT NEWS JULY 04, 2015
A FAMILY-owned business has taken out the Territory’s most prestigious business prize just five short years after opening its doors.
Country Solar NT, which is owned by husband and wife team Jeremy and Pam Hunt, was named 2015 Telstra Northern Territory Business of the Year at a gala ceremony at the Darwin Convention Centre last night.
The company, which began with the couple selling solar panels from the back of their ute, now has clients all across the Top End, including schools, supermarkets and remote communities.
Mr Hunt said the business was committed to providing a high quality local service.
“We’re local and we want to ensure that locals are getting the best renewable energy products available at the best prices to meet their energy needs,” he said.
“Amid the ever-changing rules about solar PV and the past performance of fly-in fly-out solar contractors, we have provided a stable alternative for the home, business and government markets.”
Mr Hunt said the business was committed to the local community and providing sustainable energy………http://www.ntnews.com.au/business/family-owned-business-country-solar-nt-named-2015-telstra-northern-territory-business-of-the-year/story-fnk2tq5v-1227428467238
Tasmania’s Energy Minister hails wind farms, disagrees with Tony Abbott
State Energy Minister Matthew Groom hails wind farms in departure from PM HELEN KEMPTON MERCURY JULY 03, 2015 UNLIKE the Prime Minister, Tasmania’s Energy Minister Matthew Groom is a fan of wind farms and says more infrastructure needs to be built to capitalise on the state’s renewable energy headstart.
“I support the renewable energy broadly,” Mr Groom said after speaking at yesterday’s Tasmanian Minerals and Energy conference at Queenstown. “We have extraordinary resources in Tasmania and some of the best sites on the face of the planet on which to build them
Mr Groom said he was pleased the passing of Australia Renewable Energy Target legislation had given certainty to the wind industry and he looked forward to seeing progress on a new wind farm at Granville Harbour, near Zeehan.
Mr Groom said building a second interconnector cable across Bass Strait to export power was a key part of making the most of our renewable energy advantages. 
He said Japanese investors who recently visited Tasmania were gobsmacked by the state’s energy mix, and we needed to harness that competitive advantage………http://www.themercury.com.au/news/
New wave power technology set to boost economy in Port Fairy, Victoria
Hope for $21m Port Fairy prototype wave power unit to boost local jobs http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-02/hope-for-prototype-wave-power-unit-to-boost-port/6588930, 2 July 15
Moyne Shire Council says the construction of the state’s first prototype wave power unit off the Port Fairy coast, in south-west Victoria, is set to boost the local economy.
The $21 million project, which will be installed in November, is expected to feed 250 kilowatts of renewable energy into the national grid.Mayor Colin Ryan said it was a significant event for the renewable wave energy industry and Victoria.He is hoping it will create new jobs in the region.
“I’m very happy to hear the news, I think it’s a great opportunity for Port Fairy with potential work opportunities for our locals, be it employment directly involved with the project or service industries and businesses in the town supporting the workers that come for the project,” he said.
“It being the first type of its power generation is a significant event and being the first one in Victoria … to do with currents and it was the desired locality for the operation, which is good news.”
Victoria, unlike USA, may slash solar tariff, rather than promote home solar
For intense, apart from avoided, line losses, there is no credit for network benefits, or environmental benefits. The contrast with some US states, where pricing regulators put the “fair” solar tariff at close to the retail price, is striking.
Regulator wants to slash Victoria solar tariff by 20 per cent http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/regulator-wants-to-slash-victoria-solar-tariff-by-20-per-cent-67417 By Giles Parkinson on 2 July 2015 Victorian energy regulator the Essential Services Commission has recommended that the minimum feed-in-tariff paid for surplus rooftop solar output fed back into the grid be cut to 5c/kWh from the current level of 6.2c/kWh in 2016.
The recommendation, included in a report released this week, suggest that the falling cost of wholesale electricity prices – coincidentally the result of reduced demand and increased renewable energy – justifies the cut. [good graph here on original] Continue reading
Local community funds Repower Shoalhaven renewable energy investment scheme
Repower Shoalhaven renewable energy investment scheme funded by locals, SMH, June 29, 2015 Kieran Gair First, it was the local bowling club. Then the churches. In the Shoalhaven, community solar power is on the rise.
Renewable energy is expected to supply almost 60 per cent of Australian electricity by 2040, according to research by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, which found the fall in renewable energy prices would drive a shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
One community in NSW has already reaped the benefits of an early move to community-owned renewable energy. Non-profit Repower Shoalhaven installed Australia’s first investor-owned community solar project on the roof of the Shoalhaven Heads Bowling Club last year.
Repower raised $145,000 for the project in just two weeks, with 80 per cent of the cost coming from “mum and dad” investors.
The company has just completed its second community solar investment project in the Illawarra region on Figtree Anglican Church and Nowra City Church.
Head of Repower Shoalhaven Chris Cooper said demand for renewable energy is growing as it becomes cheaper. “People want clean energy and they want secure investments and previously there was no real opportunity to do that so we created a system where the community pays for the solar power system and the business repays community investors via a power purchase agreement.
The Repower solar financing model allows local businesses to purchase community-owned renewable energy at a cheaper rate than grid power.
Figtree Anglican Church member and University of Wollongong Sustainable Building Research Centre masters student Daniel Jones said community owned solar had significantly reduced the overall electricity costs associated with running the church…….http://www.smh.com.au/environment/repower-shoalhaven-renewable-energy-investment-scheme-funded-by-locals-20150629-ghwmmk.html
Waste from logging native forests is NOT renewable energy
Abbott government’s RET returns Australia to dark ages of energy production https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/59312, June 26, 2015
The Australian Forests and Climate Alliance released this statement on June 23.
The Australian Forests and Climate Alliance (AFCA) has condemned today’s decision to make burning native forests eligible for Renewable Energy Certificates under the Renewable Energy Target.
“We are going back to using dirty medieval technology that pretends to be sustainable and clean”, said Jill Redwood of AFCA.
“In reality it will undermine real renewables like solar and wind. It will produce more emissions than burning coal and cause immense loss of ecosystems, wildlife and our greatest carbon stores. It’s hard to imagine a worse scenario.
“This is not about ‘waste’ from the forest floor, but is a deliberate waste of our forests. It is about financing the logging of forests as fuel for furnaces.
“The government has been doing grubby back room deals”, said Lorraine Bower from AFCA. “They have promised a Wind Farm Commissioner and tighter controls on wind power in return for the support of key cross bench senators for the wood ‘waste’ regulation.
“Perversely there is proven evidence that living near a biomass plant has major health risks, but none whatsoever have been found from living near a wind farm.”
“This regulation will simply prop up the dying and destructive native forest logging industry now that woodchips are out of favour with customers and the logging industry is 80% plantation based. To date electricity companies have undertaken not to sell ‘Dead Koala Power’. We will now do all we can to make sure people understand that they should steer clear of companies that sell it.”
“Government and UN agencies overseas are coming to the conclusion that this is not renewable energy’, said Redwood. “Investors and consumers are quickly consigning these polluting industries from the Dark Ages to the dustbin of history.”
Big economic benefits to regional communities, from new wind and solar farms
Regional areas to reap economic benefits of new wind and solar farms after new RET passes Federal Parliament ABC Rural By Catherine McAloon 26 June 15 Up to 50 new wind and solar farms are expected to be built in regional Australia, after a bill on a new Renewable Energy Target passed Federal Parliament this week.
An international consortium has announced plans to build a $450 million wind farm near Ararat, in western Victoria, and the Clean Energy Council expects it will be the first of many new projects.
“The Ararat wind farm really represents the first green shoots for an industry that’s been doing in extremely tough for the last 18 months,” the council’s Mark Bretherton said.
“We’re very confident that, with the bipartisan support that’s been restored to the Renewable Energy Target, we’ll see a lot more activity in this sector over the next few years.”
Mr Bretherton said between 30 to 50 major wind and solar projects, worth an estimated $10 billion, were expected to be built over the next five years, with most of those in rural areas.
“Most of the opportunity that we are going to see over the next five years will probably be in the wind and solar farm sector, so what that means is basically where there is the strongest wind and an opportunity to connect to the grid you’ll see wind farms, where there is the best sun, you’ll probably see some solar farms, particularly where there is enough land to build those kind of projects.” He predicted regional areas would see the greatest economic benefits of new renewable energy projects.
“That’s really good news, particularly for people who live in those areas. What it means is extra income being paid to farmers, direct jobs and it means money being paid for community projects as well.
“But apart from local jobs, it also means money is being spent at local restaurants, corner stores, equipment suppliers, motels, pie-sellers and much, much more.”………………http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-26/regional-australia-to-benefit-from-new-renewable-energy-projects/6575566
General Electric prepared to spend $billions on renewable energy in Australia
GE ready to spend billions on renewable energy THE AUSTRALIAN, Damon Kitney, 26 June 15
The local chief executive of global conglomerate GE says its head office has given the green light for the company to pursue potentially billions of dollars of new investments in renewable energy in Australia after bankrolling the nation’s third-biggest wind farm in southwest Victoria.
GE, in partnership with local firms Renewable Energy Systems and Downer, has secured a major contract for the supply of 75 wind turbines to the 240MW Ararat Wind Farm, a $450 million project financed by shareholders RES, GE, Switzerland-based investment manager Partners Group and Canadian pension group OPTrust.
The project was secured by the passage through parliament on Tuesday of a new renewable energy target of 33,000 gigawatt hours of electricity from large-scale renewable energy projects by 2020.
“We are putting $125m of equity into the deal and we would not have done that without the policy certainty we now have,” said Geoff Culbert, president and CEO, GE Australia, New Zealand and PNG.
He said GE wanted to be involved in projects that produced as much of the 33,000 gigawatt hours as possible, noting they would be worth “billions” of dollars.
“We see GE playing an active role in that build-out. We are very heavily focused on trying to build a pipeline of wind deals in Australia and that is recognised right back to head office,” he said.
“We have a pipeline of deals that we have been looking at but we haven’t been able to progress. Now we have certainty we have a pipeline we are going to aggressively pursue. Australia is a really attractive place to invest for GE and we have the support from headquarters to invest more here.”
Two years ago, GE was part of a consortium that received a contract to supply wind turbines for the 55MW Mumbida wind farm in Western Australia, the first use of GE wind turbines in Australia. But political uncertainty about the RET target put further investment by the group under a cloud.
OPTrust managing director Stan Kolenc said the breaking of the political deadlock over the renewable energy target this week would open the floodgates to international investors in the Australian renewables industry………
Mr Culbert declined to comment on Mr Abbott’s views, instead noting that he was optimistic about the future. There are now more than 60 wind projects across the nation.
“There is trillions of dollars sitting on the sidelines globally looking for a place to invest. When you create a market with policy certainty, you unlock that investment,” Mr Culbert said.
The Ararat project is also being supported by a power purchase agreement with the ACT government which guarantees the purchase of about 40 per cent of the energy produced at the site http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/ge-ready-to-spend-billions-on-renewable-energy/story-e6frg8zx-1227415347623
South Australia’s Renewable Energy Future
Renewable energy future for South Australia http://indaily.com.au/opinion/2015/06/25/renewable-energy-future-for-south-australia/ MARK DIESENDORF | 25 JUNE 2015 The closure of Alinta Energy’s Leigh Creek Coal mine and two Port Augusta power stations will cost 438 jobs in South Australia, but over several years this could be transformed into an opportunity to create many new jobs in renewable energy.
South Australia’s wind and solar resources are huge, and SA is already the leading Australian state in non-hydro renewable energy utilisation, with about 40 per cent of its annual electricity consumption coming from wind and sunshine.
State electricity supply has operated reliably and stably for hours when the contribution of variable renewable energy reached two-thirds of demand, and wind power and gas coped admirably recently when the coal-fired Northern power station went unexpectedly offline.
The SA electricity system could be operated entirely on scaled-up, commercially available, renewable energy sources. This is the conclusion of the studies underlying my report to the Conservation Council of South Australia, now available online.
Our hourly simulation modelling at University of New South Wales shows the South Australian system could be supplied by a combination of variable renewable energy sources (wind and solar PV), and flexible, dispatchable sources (biofuelled gas turbines and concentrated solar thermal power with thermal storage).
It is the combination of variable and flexible sources that is the basis for reliability. Continue reading
Wind farm research: Tony Abbott’s strategy to delay development by creating uncertainty
You don’t need to remove a policy to kill investment. You only need to make things uncertain
More research is good, but not if wind experts are told what to find, The Conversation, Will J Grant, 24 June 15 “………..Research on this topic doesn’t exist in a political or economic vacuum. It is well established that renewable energy broadly, and wind turbines in particular, are matters of significant political debate.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott last week asserted that his intention when renegotiating the Renewable Energy Target was to “reduce the number of these things (wind turbines) that we are going to get in the future”, while his government is also considering appointing a “wind commissioner” to address complaints about the industry.
Meanwhile, key members of the Senate Committee – including John Madigan, David Leyonhjelm, Bob Day, Chris Back, and Matthew Canavan – have used their positions to speak stridently against wind energy. Against this backdrop, is it really possible to pause the world to undertake entirely neutral research?
Telling researchers how to research
There are allegations that suggest the Senate Committee is less interested in truly independent, high-quality research than its members might claim, and is instead recommending to the NHMRC the researchers whose work they would like to see included in future assessments……..
we’ve had inquiry after inquiry into this topic – with no rigorous scientific process finding any evidence of a human health impact – Continue reading
Australia’s Senate passes law to water down the Renewable Energy Target (RET)
Revised Renewable Energy Target Legislation Passes http://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/ret-legislation-passes-em4886/ June 24, 2015 Legislation for a watered-down Renewable Energy Target (RET) was passed last night, ending nearly one and a half years of uncertainty for the Australian renewables sector.
The RET has now been officially slashed from 41,000 GWh to 33,000 GWh by 2020.
However, Australia’s Clean Energy Council says major renewable projects would now pick up pace; leading to $40 billion of investment and the creation of 15,200 jobs over the life of the RET, while helping to protect 20,000 current positions.
“While this has been a challenging process, and we are disappointed by the level of reduction of the target for large-scale renewable energy, the passage of this legislation provides the platform for a doubling of renewables over the next five years,” said Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Kane Thornton.
“The legislation also removes the two-yearly reviews of the scheme and ensures no changes to the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme, which is great news for thousands of people working in the rooftop solar and solar hot water sectors.” Continue reading
Tony Abbott – dangerously wrong about energy policy
The BNEF report – see details on it here – predicts that households and business will account for more than half of Australia’s demand by 2040, and is the latest, and most comprehensive, of a series of reports that highlight the rapidly shifting sands of the global energy market, and the move from centralised generation to a decentralised future.
This has been canvassed by the likes of the CSIRO, the International Energy Agency, the biggest utilites, and global investment banks.UBS last month came up with a report stating that a scenario where 50 per cent of all electricity generation was provided by solar by 2050 could not be ruled out. Much of this would be behind the meter, on the rooftops of homes and businesses.
Morgan Stanley has predicted 2.4 million homes in Australia will have battery storage.
Tony Abbott in denial about Australia’s energy 
future http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/tony-abbott-in-denial-about-australias-energy-future-36757 By Giles Parkinson on 23 June 2015 There was a brief exchange on the ABC TV’s Q&A program on Monday night that neatly summed up all that is wrong with Australia’s energy policy.
Grahame Morris – a former chief of staff to Coalition prime minister John Howard, and a corporate lobbyist who is influential in the government of Tony Abbott – had, in the words of host Tony Jones, steam coming out of his ears at the idea that wind and solar could offer a future energy solution. Flapping his arms about and pointing his finger, Morris exclaimed: “Look, not everyone wants a bloody big windmill in their backyard … nuclear power is clean … one of the problems with the third world with poverty is that they don’t have electricity. We have coal and we have uranium that can provide energy sources for those people. You are talking about poverty … that is the answer.”
Morris also scoffed at the idea of climate change and, with that, pretty much summed up the policy position of the Abbott government, its principal advisors, and the conservative think tanks that influence and applaud it.
It is a discourse – the belief in the primacy of centralised generation, be it coal or nuclear – that is guiding the Abbott government’s climate, energy and industrial policy. Disconcertingly, it is a view that spreads to the Labor Party, too, judging by the response of Labor’s Joel Fitzgibbon, from the Hunter Valley.
It’s also parroting the key marketing point of Big Coal: one that ridicules or downplays climate science, talks down the need to act, and places its faith in ageing technologies. The push against wind farms is a symptom of the view that nothing can or should change, and green policy can’t be allowed to be right about anything.
But it is plain wrong, and dangerously so. Continue reading
Wind farm set to be developed on Tasmanian cattle farm
Granville wind farm project awaits Senate vote http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/national/granville-wind-farm-project-awaits-senate-vote/story-fnjj6012-1227411859560, 23 June 15 HELEN KEMPTON Mercury THE 1900 cattle grazing on Tasmania’s most isolated farm will soon share the land with up to 33 wind turbines if Australia’s Renewable Energy Target is passed in the Senate tomorrow.
West Coast Wind plans to start construction of its wind farm on Royce Smith’s 1255ha beef property at Granville Harbour, outside Zeehan, at the end of the year. Already, a wind monitoring station is recording bankable energy data as investors in the $200 million project are secured. At 80m tall, the wind monitoring tower is as high as the turbines will be.
Renewable energy will dominate Australia’s electricity in 25 years
Australia’s electricity ‘to be dominated by renewables’ in 25 years, Rt.com : June 23, 2015 Renewable energy in Australia will outrun conventional means such as fossil fuels by 2040, accounting for 59 percent of electricity generation, according to energy analysts.
Rooftop solar systems are expected to squeeze out retiring coal and gas plants, the Guardian reports, referring to New Energy Outlook 2015, published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
However, analysts say that Australia’s carbon emissions from electricity are unlikely to fall significantly for at least two decades and will reduce only 9 percent by 2030 compared with 2014. Pollution will remain “stubbornly high” if the government doesn’t accelerate the closure of coal and gas plants.
It will be cheaper to replace retired electricity plants with wind or solar farms rather than with modernized coal plants even without the government’s participation, Kobad Bhavnagri, the head of Australia’s Bloomberg New Energy Finance, told the Guardian.
The Australian coal industry is currently focused on export and it has been “quite some time” since a new coal power station was built in Australia, he said………
If Australia places restrictions on fossil-fuels, it would be able to achieve 100 percent of renewable energy usage by 2040, Andrew Blakers, the director of the center for sustainable energy systems (CSES) at the Australian National University told the Guardian.
Moreover, the country would be able to achieve greenhouse neutrality a decade later if it switched to electric transport, including cars, trams and trains, he added.
“And it would be in everybody’s medium- and long-term interests to do so,” he said. http://rt.com/business/269227-australia-renewable-energy-sources/
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