Hey Reader, in today's edition: China's dominance shocks Powering the Pilbara Shade on Solar Sharer Investing in the wake of China's dominance When climate tech venture capitalist Yair Reem went to China, what he saw shocked him and forced him to rethink his investment strategy. The strength of China's green tech industry is so strong that in some sectors, there's just no way for the West to compete. In sectors like batteries, it's game over. There's no point continuing to invest in Western...
2 days ago • 8 min read
Hey Reader, in today's edition: Emissions commitments only part of the story Tapping community sentiment Listening to farmers not Facebook Dire predictions won't halt 'bulging' renewables pipeline A crucial science-based benchmark for limiting dangerous climate change is about to be breached, but a chunky pipeline of national renewable energy projects could shift the needle. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Emissions Gap Report 2025: Off Target warned pledges under the Paris...
3 days ago • 8 min read
Hey Reader, welcome to The Energy's weekly data newsletter. This week we explore the government's new plan to push retailers to offer "free" power in peak solar times. Plus we've added wind and solar curtailment to our regular monthly charts. Wait, what? Australia's energy sector appears to have been caught off guard by the government’s Solar Sharer policy, which experts say could have benefited from wider consultation. AGL (ASX: AGL) shares closed down 3.7%, and Origin Energy (ASX: ORG) down...
4 days ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader, in today's edition: NEM review contracts firming up New regulated energy offer Environment bills parked Wind developers fret over NEM review contracts The NEM review panel are getting to the pointy end of their work ahead of delivering their final report to the government next month. A working group has been digging into the detail of the long-term contracts that are at the heart of the panel’s proposed “Electricity Services Entry Mechanism” (ESEM), which aims to kickstart stalled...
5 days ago • 8 min read
Hey Reader, in today's edition: Putting a price on resilience Homework for COP30 Lessons from Norway's grid Add resilience to the energy bill Dangerous winds lashing the east coast and hailstones as big as golf balls are a reminder of the growing vulnerability of the low-voltage (LV) electricity network. The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) and Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) have begun to assign a Value to Network Resilience (VNR) to encourage investment in a network more able to...
6 days ago • 8 min read
Hey Reader, welcome to The Energy Week, your chance to catch up on this week's most important energy news. Prefer to listen? Get The Energy Week on your favourite podcast platform. THE ENERGY WEEK • EPISODE 7 David and Goliath 05:40 MORE INFO This week's top energy news This week the home battery program hit new highs while grid-scale wind and solar projects reaching a final investment decision hit a new low. Capital More than 100,000 home batteries, amounting to 2GWh of storage, have been...
8 days ago • 7 min read
Hey Reader, in today's edition: Ausgrid prepares 'distribution system plan' The next frontier in energy forecasting Biomethane plugged for industrial use Who will win at 'power poker' Climate Change Authority Chair Matt Kean says distributed network service providers, with their knowledge of where spare grid capacity exists, are the “heavyweights that hold many of the cards in this game of power poker”. Regulators are assessing the benefits of diluting ring-fencing rules to allow distribution...
9 days ago • 8 min read
Hey Reader, in today's edition: Batteries disrupting V2G New Q3 high for renewables COP31 'hypocrisy' Home batteries streets ahead of V2G The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has made vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging one of three priority focus areas for its Driving the Nation funding program, seeing a $2.7 billion opportunity in wholesale market benefits. But Christopher Jones, President of the Australian Electric Vehicle Association (AEVA) doesn’t believe V2G is all that it’s...
10 days ago • 9 min read
Hey Reader, welcome to The Energy's weekly data newsletter. This week we explore costly energy bill relief schemes and what might happen now they're being wound down. Unprecedented times (for bills) When the federal government announced its Energy Price Relief Plan in the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine it said the relief would be “responsible, targeted and temporary”, providing all Australians with “a buffer in unprecedented times”. Almost three years on, that temporary relief is...
11 days ago • 3 min read