3 November: More REneweconomy news
RenewEconomy-
ESB to use inflated costs for wind and solar to justify NEGEnergy Security Board to use vastly inflated costs of wind and solar to justify its National Energy Guarantee. By using prices around 30-40 per cent above actual costs, will support its argument for little new wind and solar to be built in the coming decade.
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Lets be honest: Australia is well behind on renewablesAustralia’s fossil fuel share of electricity generation is higher than that of our peers. This chart is ugly for Australians who care about doing our bit in the 21st century.
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RES drops 758MW wind farm proposal, amid Victoria boomAnti-wind resistance appears to win the day as RES Australia confirms Penshurst Wind Farm no longer an ongoing development opportunity.
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NE: A rushed job that takes us backwards, not forwardsNational Energy Guarantee appears to be a plan to get through the Coalition Party Room, and then a plan to have a plan. Unfortunately, that means many more months of uncertainty.
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Musk says Tesla big battery now more than 80% completeElon Musk says Tesla big battery in South Australia now more than 80% complete, but even bigger storage installations likely to follow.
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Tesla falls behind on Model 3 production, burns cash at record rateProduction line “bottlenecks” at Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory push Model 3 delivery target out 3 months. Musk says, “we’ve got it covered.”
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China contractors and finance may help Adani’s mega coal mineThe potential involvement of China state-owned contractors and financiers may help Adani in its push for the mega coal mine in Queensland.
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Rejected teenagers: the trend of closing young coal plantsIt’s not just old coal power plants that are being closed down. In Italy, the US, and the Netherlands, coal plants that are barely teenagers are being targeted for closure.
Environmental Law cases – Queensland and Adani coal project
Supreme Court of Qld: Environmental Law Australia envlaw.com.au
‘This case study involves a major dispute in the Land Court of Queensland
over the Carmichael Coal Mine proposed in the Galilee Basin of central Queensland
and a subsequent judicial review challenge to the mine’s approval
in the Supreme Court of Queensland.’
envlaw.com.au/carmichael-coal-mine-case
‘ … Two separate disputes (also not the subject of this case study) about the mine involve native title issues
raised by the Traditional Owners of the land on which the mine was proposed,
the Wangan and Jagalingou People.
‘The first of these disputes involved hearings in the National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT) and
the Federal Court under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (NTA) after the
Wangan and Jagalingou People rejected an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) proposed by Adani
for the grant of the mining lease for the mine. …
‘The second dispute concerning native title issues involved an application by
elders of the Wangan and Jagalingou People in the Supreme Court of Queensland for judicial review
of the grant of the mining lease under the MRA based on native title grounds.
That application was also dismissed.
An appeal in the Queensland Court of Appeal was also dismissed in August 2017.
Australian tourism industry must develop an effective climate change policy
Australian tourism policies fail to address climate change https://phys.org/news/2017-11-australian-tourism-policies-climate.html November 2, 2017 Australia’s Federal and State governments are failing to produce effective long-term tourism policy to address climate change, according to the findings of new QUT-led research.
Tourism policy on climate change in Australia is inconsistent and ineffective
Federal and state governments are not collaborating on best practice approaches to tourism policy on climate change
The tourism industry can contribute to the sustainable management of climate changeDr Char-lee Moyle, from QUT’s Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research, and her co-authors from Griffith University and James Cook University analysed 477 relevant documents for their paper – Have Australia’s tourism strategies incorporated climate change?
Just published in the international Journal of Sustainable Tourism, it reveals only 21% of Australia’s tourism strategies mention climate change, with most simply acknowledging it as an issue.
“Despite the fact tourism is worth billions of dollars to our economy and has been found by scientists to accelerate climate change, only five Australian tourism strategies analysed by us (one per cent of the entire sample) even recognised the sector’s impact,” Dr Moyle said.
“Looking at policy documents from 2000-2014, we have seen Australia’s tourism strategies increasingly focus on adaptation strategies, with mitigation appearing to have fallen off the policy agenda in recent years.
“Even certification and accreditation schemes are essentially viewed by industry as adaptation measures and a way to reduce climate change induced costs such as rising electricity bills.”
Dr Moyle emphasised the link between tourism climate change rhetoric and federal government election cycles.
“We found significantly more tourism climate change strategies were produced during the years the Australian Labor Party was in power at the federal level, with a peak in 2007,” she said.
“State Governments appear to be far less proactive in considering climate change in relation to tourism and, conspicuously, New South Wales did not even mention climate change in any state-level tourism strategies.”
Dr Moyle said there was significant room for the tourism sector to improve and step up action, particularly in developing tangible adaptation and mitigation policies.
“There are opportunities for the tourism industry to contribute to the sustainable management of climate change, including through the development of more ‘green’ products and implementing more environmentally-friendly practices,” Dr Moyle said.
She added that many initiatives proposed and subsequently implemented no longer exist, indicating an extremely dynamic climate change policy environment, as well as a lack of long-term consistent support and planning for tourism climate change response.
“On a positive note, there has been an increased focus on identifying opportunities, strategic needs, barriers, challenges and potential actions in relation to climate change since 2008,” Dr Moyle said.
Explore further: Climate change action focuses on tourist traps, say researchers
More information: Char-lee J. Moyle et al, Have Australia’s tourism strategies incorporated climate change?, Journal of Sustainable Tourism (2017). DOI: 10.1080/09669582.2017.1387121
Provided by: Queensland University of Technology
3 November REneweconomy news
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Energy technologies and business model innovator Justine Jarvinen takes up role as Wattwatchers ChairEnergy technology pacesetter Wattwatchers is delighted to announce the appointment of Justine Jarvinen as non-executive Chair. Ms Jarvinen is currently Chief Operating Officer of the Energy Institute at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and her prior corporate roles include Head of Emerging Technologies at AGL Energy. Ms Jarvinen will lead the Wattwatchers Board […] -
Rooftop solar pushes WA grid demand to 8-year lowRooftop solar has helped push grid demand in Western Australia to its lowest levels in more than eight years.
The costs -financial, environmental, human, – of plutonium-fuelled space exploration
Australia’s international space agency hype https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/australias-international-space-agency-hype,10876 s the current hype about space travel justified, and what of the human and environmental cost? Noel Wauchope reports.
ENTHUSIASM for space travel has been mounting since Australia hosted the recent International Astronautical Congress (IAC), held in Adelaide in September.
Then there was the announcement that Australia is getting a space agency!
We are informed by space scientist Dr Megan Clarke:
“ … more than 3000 of the world’s top space experts wildly cheered [and] all aspects of Australian society were united on the need for a national agency.”
In November, the very brilliant and appealing space travel and nuclear power enthusiast, Professor Brian Cox is to tour Australia! Champion astronaut Scott Kelly has just published his exciting book, Endurance: a Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery.
Dare anyone throw cold water on all this joy?
Intriguingly, the Australian Government, while proudly hyping up this initiative, has not yet come up with a title for the new agency. However, someone else has and they have set up an elegant and professional-looking website for it: Australian Research and Space Exploration (ARSE).
Let’s start with that most important consideration — money Continue reading
Nuclear fuel waste: Extended Storage at Lucas Heights or target SA?
The proposed Intermediate Level Waste Store is predominantly for ANSTO reactor wastes
Briefer (Nov 2017) by David Noonan, Independent 
Environment Campaigner The Federal government has divided Australian community and is compromising safety in proposed import and indefinite above ground storage of ANSTO nuclear wastes in South Australia.
Since April 2016 the Federal government has solely targeted regional communities in SA for a proposed above ground Store to take irradiated Nuclear Fuel Waste (NFW) and long lived Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) from the ANSTO Lucas Heights reactor facility in NSW.
The ARPANSA CEO formally considered this proposed NRWMF Store and stated in May 2015:
“This plan will have the provision for ILW storage above ground for approximately 100 years.”
This nuclear waste storage plan compromises safety by importing long lived reactor waste to SA without any waste disposal capacity or even a program or plan for potential disposal of NFW and ILW. Safety requires these nuclear wastes are isolated from the environment for over 10,000 years.
The proposed 100 year Store in SA for 10,000 year nuclear wastes is a divisive, unsafe and unnecessary plan – given ANSTO’s capacity to retain these nuclear wastes at Lucas Heights.
Federal Contingency options to store Nuclear Fuel Wastes at Lucas Heights: Continue reading
UN rejects nuclear industry participating in clean energy forum: Ben Heard spits the dummy
THE AUSTRALIAN, 31 Oct 17 The UN has blocked the nuclear industry from participating in an international forum on clean energy….
The London-based World Nuclear Association was originally accepted by the organisers of next month’s Sustainable Innovation Forum as a £40,000 ($68,338) gold sponsor, but the deal was rescinded a week later after intervention by the UN environment program.
The organisers then offered a watered-down sponsorship that would include no branding presence, but that deal was also vetoed by UNEP………
Next month’s forum takes place on the sidelines of the UN’s COP 23 climate change conference, where government representatives from around the world will meet to discuss progress towards meeting international emission-reduction targets.
The Sustainable Innovation Forum will be hosted in the purpose-built Climate Action Dome, which itself will be powered by energy generated using food waste from the conference.
Ben Heard, an energy researcher [ ed. more correctly a nuclear promoter] with the University of Adelaide and an advocate for the climate benefits of nuclear energy, described the UN’s intervention as “frightening” and an example of “outright prejudice”. “This family of technologies has been the principal source of carbon-free energy for the last four decades. Along with hydro-electricity, they have been the two big hitters that have actually delivered, and you’re running a climate change conference and you won’t let the representatives of that industry through the door,” he said.
“For me it’s gobsmacking to see this. I’m an advocate for this technology on environmental grounds but it struggles, and part of the reason is time after time it faces this kind of institutional bias which means no-one can even have a conversation about it.”
South Australia’s Whyalla to become a booming renewable energy hub
Whyalla steel city goes green with 1GW of solar and storage, http://reneweconomy.com.au/whyalla-steel-city-goes-green-with-1gw-of-solar-and-storage-92904/ UK billionaire Sanjeev Gupta has made good on his commitment to transform his newly acquired Australian steel business into a renewable energy powerhouses, announcing massive investments in solar and storage that will knock 40 per cent off his electricity costs.
Gupta said on Monday that he would build 1 gigawatt (1,000MW) of dispatchable renewables in and around Whyalla, where his major steel plant is located. This would comprise huge investments in solar, battery storage, pumped hydro and demand management.
He won’t stop there. Gupta is looking to repeat the dose – although with varying mixes and scale of renewables and storage – to power the company’s steel operations in Melbourne, Sydney and Newcastle. He said on Tuesday he wanted these bigger plants to be powered 100 per cent by renewable energy.
The initial development will see a proposed 80MW solar farm at Whyalla expanded to 200MW and completed by the first quarter of 2019.
Queensland Government worried about viability of Adani’s $16.5 billion Carmichael mine
Adani could cost my seat: Trad
Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has cast doubt on the viability of Adani’s $16.5 billion Carmichael mine, which she concedes her electorate is “very strongly” against.
http://www.afr.com/news/politics/jackie-trad-admits-her-electorate-feels-very-strongly-against-adani-20171030-gzbigv
Queensland election 2017: Coal-fired power station report to embarrass Government
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/state-election-2017/queensland-election-2017-coalfired-power-station-report-to-embarrass-government/news-story/7da7a0c139ef1222cce9bce7a280470c
Don’t fund Adani coal project: Pacific Islanders’ call to Australian government
Pacific Islanders call for Australia not to fund Adani coalmine, Caritas says thousands face threats to their wellbeing, livelihoods and ‘their very existence’ due to rising sea levels, Guardian, Naaman Zhou, 1 Nov 17, Pacific Islanders whose homes face eradication by rising sea levels have called on Australia to not fund the Adani Carmichael coalmine, as a new report reveals the worsening impact of climate change across Oceania.
Residents of the endangered islands have described their forced displacement as like “having your heart ripped out of your chest” as they called on the Australian government to do more to combat climate change.
A report released by international aid group Caritas on Wednesday found that thousands of Pacific people across the region faced “threats to their wellbeing, livelihoods and, in some places, their very existence” due to rising sea levels, king tides and natural disasters brought about by climate change.
n Papua New Guinea, 2,000 households across 35 coastal communities were displaced by coastal erosion over the past year. In Samoa, 60% of the village of Solosolo was relocated to higher ground.
In the Torres Strait, 15 island communities were identified as at risk over the next 50 years.
The mayor of the Torres Straight Island regional council, Fred Gela, described the forcible removals as like having your heart ripped out “because you are told you’re not able to live on your land”.
Erietera Aram, a resident of Kiribati who works for the Department of Fisheries, said he decided to visit Australia to ask its government to take action.
“We talk about the Adani coalmine,” he said. “That’s a new one. I think it’s not a good idea – it makes the world worse for all of us. It is inconsiderate of other humans on this planet.
“We didn’t think of Australia as a country that would do that. We looked at it as our bigger brother. Proceeding with that new mine is a sad move. We live together in the environment but it’s like they are ignoring us.
“We’re two metres above sea level. With the sea level rise, most of our lands have been taken by coastal erosion. We love our country and we want our children to live there as well, hopefully forever. It’s hard to talk about leaving the place where you belong.”
According to the report’s authors, the impact of coastal erosion and flooding reached “severe” levels in 2016, upgraded from “high” the year before. Climate change also made it “increasingly difficult to maintain the health and integrity” of food and water sources. Water scarcity was deemed a “serious slow-onset problem throughout Oceania”…… https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/01/pacific-islanders-call-for-australia-not-to-fund-adani-coalmine
Australian emissions to ‘far exceed’ 2030 Paris pledge
Australian emissions to ‘far exceed’ 2030 Paris pledge as need for action rises: UN http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/australia-to-far-exceed-2030-paris-climate-pledge-as-need-for-action-rises-un-20171030-gzbiwj.html, Peter Hannam, 31 Oct 17
National pledges to cut carbon emissions fall well short of what’s needed to avoid dangerous climate change, with Australia likely to miss its 2030 commitment by a wide margin, a United Nations body said.
The UN Environment Programme’s Emissions Gap 2017 report found pledges to cut pollution made at the Paris climate summit two years ago are only about one-third of what’s needed to be on a “least-cost pathway” to stopping the worst effects of climate change.
The target is to stop global average temperatures rising two degrees or more above pre-industrial levels. Change on the scale is expected to cause major droughts, food shortages and damaging sea level rise.
The emissions gap to keep with a 1.5-degree goal is 16-19 gigatonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent, while the 2-degree target would need an extra 11.13.5 gigatonnes of CO2-e of cuts by 2030 to be attained, the report said.
“There is an urgent need for accelerated short-term action and enhanced longer-term national ambition, if the goals of the Paris Agreement are to remain achievable,” the report said.
The positive news is that global emissions have largely flatlined for the past three years, thanks in large part to a plateauing in China. Still, other potent greenhouse gases such as methane are rising, and carbon dioxide emissions could accelerate if global economic growth picks up.
Frank Jotzo, a professor at the Australian National University’s Crawford School and a contributor to the report, said tumbling costs of renewable energy and other low-carbon technologies suggest nations could increase their emissions cuts “and it won’t be terribly hard”.
“More climate action and deeper commitments are needed, but it’s eminently possible to achieve [the Paris climate goal] from the economic and technical perspective,” Professor Jotzo said. “It’s the politics that get in the way.” Continue reading
1 November More REneweconomy news
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Gupta plans to take Sydney, Melbourne steel plants 100% renewableGupta says bigger steel plants in Sydney and Melbourne will go 100% renewable, and there is no reason why an aluminium smelter could not follow.
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Five reasons not to build new coal plant in QueenslandClimate Council report on Queensland renewables offers timely reminder that building a new coal plant in the state’s north is a terrible idea.
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Explainer: The big 3 projects making South Australia capital of battery storageThe 100MW/100MWh battery storage project proposed for Whyalla is one of three big projects that will make South Australia the leader in battery storage, as well as wind and solar.
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NEG must grow new renewable energy capacity, not shrink itIt remains unclear how the NEG will ensure the investor confidence required to deliver a strong pipeline of new clean energy projects.
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Battery of the Nation worthy of national significanceBattery of the Nation would double Tasmania’s renewable energy capacity from 2,500MW to about 5,000MW, through a combination of pumped hydro storage development, private wind power development, and boosting the efficiency of existing hydropower assets.
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Vector wins new Australian smart metering contractVector has announced it has executed a contract to provide metering services to EnergyAustralia with an initial three-year deployment period that will commence before the end of 2017.
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LONGi selected into “New China Nifty 50” by Goldman SachsRecently, the world’s largest investment bank Goldman Sachs selected 50 stocks reflecting the Chinese economy at the new stage, known as the “New China Nifty 50”.
Shock Jock Alan Jones comes out swinging against Adani coal megamine project
“I’m not so stupid as not to understand the money is being tipped into major political parties with a view to getting an end result they seek, including a billion dollars of taxpayers’ money to build a railway line. Why? When they get the railway line they believe further mine approvals will be given and make a fortune out of the coal traffic along the railway line. This is smelly no matter how it’s viewed.”
Alan Jones Cries Conspiracy Over Adani’s Carmichael Coal Mine, “This is smelly no matter how it’s viewed.” Veteran radio broadcaster Alan Jones unleashed a scathing rant against Adani’s proposed $21 billion Carmichael mine on Monday night, criticising the connections the Indian group has in Australian politics through foreign donations.
“There’s something very smelly about this that the Federal Liberal Government, the Federal Labor Opposition, the Queensland Labor Government and the Queensland Liberal Opposition all have got their hands up saying they’re going to support this entity,” he said.
Australia’s clean energy transition is underway – and fast!
Time for Australia to wake up to scale and pace of clean energy transition, REneweconomy By Giles Parkinson on 1 November 2017 UK billionaire Sanjeev Gupta is a very rich man, with a very big business that consumes a lot of energy.
In the last few months he has come to the same conclusion as tens of thousands of Australian homeowners and thousands of businesses, big and small: the best way to cut your bill for energy is to generate your own.
Gupta this week unveiled the details of his plans to build 1 gigawatt of large-scale solar, battery storage, pumped hydro and demand management for the Whyalla steel works and other big energy users in South Australia.
Gupta reckons it will slash his company’s energy bills by around 40 per cent, and he intends to repeat the dose in his even bigger steel plants in Melbourne and Sydney, which he says will be powered 100 per cent by renewable energy within a few years.
Most businesses reckon they can achieve similar savings, which is why the likes of Nectar Farms are turning to wind and battery storage for a $750 million investment in a new glass house and energy park near Stawell in Victoria, and why zinc refiner Zinc Metals is turning to solar to slash the costs of electricity in north Queensland and, like Gupta, help to expand the business.
It’s why Telstra has contracted to take the output of a 72MW solar farm in Queensland, and will do the same with many more such facilities; it’s why Foster’s Brewing is going 100 per cent renewables;why Woolworths is also turning to solar, along with countless other large retailers, and mining groups.
Households can do even better. The pay-back for a rooftop solar system is probably less than five years – for an asset that will last 25 years. The savings on an electricity bill, even without the generous “premium” tariffs that too many still enjoy, are well over 50 per cent.
As Gupta says, and nearly two million household and businesses understand, it’s not a difficult equation. The cost of solar has plunged 90 per cent in the last five years, and the cost of storage is following suit.
The cost of grid power, on the other hand, has more than doubled…… http://reneweconomy.com.au/time-for-australia-to-wake-up-to-scale-and-pace-of-clean-energy-transition-
Well deserved award for RenewEconomy founder Giles Parkinson
RenewEconomy founder Giles Parkinson wins award, as RE page views hit 25 million, http://reneweconomy.com.au/reneweconomy-founder-giles-parkinson-wins-award-as-re-page-views-hit-25-million-61271/ RenewEconomy founder and editor Giles Parkinson on Monday was announced as the winner of a major environmental prize, the Deni Greene award, as the cumulative total of page views on the website passed 25 million.In a ceremony in Hobart on Monday, the prize for environmental leadership in a professional capacity was presented to Giles by Bob Brown, the head of the Bob Brown Foundation and the former Senator and Australian Greens leader.
Also receiving awards were Stop Adani activists Adrian Burragubba, (Environmentalist of the Year), Murrawah Maroochy Johnson (Young Environmentalist of the Year), and Ken Peters-Dodd, on behalf of Reef Defenders (Community Environment Prize).
Brown said it was appropriate that the prizes went to activists working to stop the Adani mega coal mine, given that it was a landmark issue that ranked in importance with the Franklin Dam campaigns in Tasmania in the 1980s.
Brown quoted polls that showed the overwhelming majority of Australians were opposed to the mine. Yet, he noted, in the last federal election, 90 per cent of votes were made for parties that do not oppose the project. (The Greens are the only party that do).
Parkinson said he was delighted to receive the reward, and the recognition of RenewEconomy’s growing stature as a source of news, information and analysis that is all but impossible to find in mainstream media.
Deni Greene was a US energy expert, who first came to Australia to advise on energy efficiency and co-generation projects to provide an alternative to damming the Franklin River and building other dams.
She became a leading expert and helped design some of Australia’s formative climate change and clean energy policy documents.
Alan Pears, a previous winner of the award, told RenewEconomy that in 1990 Greene led a project that produced a report showing how Australia could cut its emissions by 20 per cent by 2005 – and benefit from this effort by $6 billion.
“She was mercilessly attacked by the energy establishment, and paid a high price in lost work. But that study was very solid – it just challenged the group-think about the cost and practicality of addressing climate change. In another decade or so, many people will realise she was right,” Pears said.
And as a sign of that growing interest in climate and clean energy solutions, RenewEconomy’s total page views since its launch in 2012 has soared through 25 million in October.
Page views have grown 50 per cent over the last 12 months and now average around 800,000 per month. Monthly unique visitors average nearly 300,000 – an extraordinary number for a niche publication.
Parkinson said that readers were attracted to the website’s two major themes: the falling costs and exciting developments in renewable and storage and grid technologies, and the growing frustration with policy design, politicians and regulators.
1 This month.
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/235274195556
19 May – Webinar- Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia
Start: 2026-05-19 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
End: 2026-05-19 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
20 May – Webinar – The dangerous world of AUKUS, US, military occupation and suppression of dissent
National Webinar, 20th May, 2026, 6.30pm AEST. Confronting laws restricting/suppressing protest speech and action
Speakers: Former Sen. Rex Patrick, Lawyer Nick Hanna ,Arthur Rorris ,Jorgen Doyle, Sen David Shoebbridge,
Facilitator Kelley Tranter.
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 