Capital
|
Potentia Energy completed A$830 million in debt financing for a portfolio of wind, solar and battery assets. The financed portfolio includes more than 600MW across six assets, strengthening the company’s funding base as seeks to expand. The debt is being provided by a group of seven major lenders: Bank of China (SHA: 601988), BNP Paribas (EPA: BNP), HSBC (LON: HSBA), Mizuho (TYO: 8411), Societe Generale (EPA: GLE), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (TYO: 8316) and Westpac (ASX: WBC).
Singapore-listed energy player Sembcorp has agreed terms to acquire Australia’s fourth-largest utility company, Alinta Energy, in a deal valued at $6.5 billion. The deal will see the Temasek-backed business acquire Alinta in whole, including its coal-fired Loy Yang B power plant in Victoria, retail business and renewables assets. (AFR)
 Projects
|
CIMIC’s UGL was selected by Neoen and Tesla to construct Stage 3 of Neoen’s Western Downs Battery in Queensland, after the successful delivery of Stage 1 — with customers including AGL (ASX: AGL), Engie and Shell Energy Australia — and the early completion of Stage 2 (270 MW/540 MWh) in November 2025. UGL will prepare the site and install 312 Tesla Megapack 2XL units, along with high-voltage infrastructure, control and switchroom facilities, earthworks and footings, and will also provide testing and commissioning support for integration with the grid.
Origin (ASX: ORG) approved the $80 million fourth stage of its large-scale battery at Eraring Power Station, adding 360MWh of storage to cover the evening peak. Construction of stage four will begin before the end of the year to come online in the first three months of 2027, with equipment supplied by Finnish technology group Wärtsilä and design and construction services by Enerven. Across all four stages, the total size of the Eraring battery will now be 700MW/3160MWh, the largest approved Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in the Southern Hemisphere, Head of Energy Supply and Operations Greg Jarvis said.
Powerlink energised the connection to Iberdrola Australia’s Broadsound Solar Farm ahead of schedule, allowing testing to ready it for exports to the NEM when construction is complete. Queensland’s Energy Roadmap, as well as extending coal generation to the 2040s, identified the significant body of work by Powerlink in Central Queensland to reinforce the network and connect new power generation sources. Broadsound, located 150km northwest of Rockhampton, will add 377MW of power generation and a 180MW/360MWh BESS.
Policy
|
Under Queensland’s Planning (Battery Storage Facilities) and Other Legislation Amendment Regulation 2025, large stand-alone BESS projects (50MW or more) must now undertake social impact assessment and agree with the local government on community benefits before lodging a development application. All large-scale standalone BESS projects will also be impact assessable, requiring mandatory community consultation. The State Assessment and Referral Agency will now manage all application assessments for these projects, guided by a new State Code 27 that sets benchmarks for safety, bushfire risk, noise, and agricultural impacts.
Australia needs to create new forest plantations the size of the ACT every year if it is to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, which would require reforestation to increase by a factor of at least 100 to meet government forecasts. The findings are part of a Net Zero Australia modelling project, which is funded by gas pipeline group APA (ASX: APA), gentailer Energy Australia, and Iberdrola. (AFR)
Regulation
|
Rewiring Australia welcomed a major rule change which will soon require households across eastern Australia to pay upfront fees of more than $2,000 to connect to gas. The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) made the decision amid declining demand, which will apply to south-east Queensland, NSW, ACT and South Australia from next October. It brings these jurisdictions into line with Victoria which already requires developers to pay upfront gas connection costs.
Limiting the ability of electricity retailers to offer incentives to new customers to sign up to better deals will have major implications for a competitive market, according to the peak body for retailers, the Australian Energy Council (AEC) said, after AEMC proposed changes to retail pricing as part of its pricing review. “There is already a safety net in the form of the regulator-set Default Market Offer and Victorian Default Offer for customers who do not shop around, and these are set so they pay a reasonable price for their electricity,” AEC CEO Louisa Kinnear said. But she conceded other recommendations, such as changes to network tariffs to avoid complexity, would help make a difference for customers and address barriers to “retail product innovation”.
Technology
|
Australian homes are becoming the engine of the clean energy transition, with a significant share of gas-using households planning to switch fully to electricity and smart energy systems set to surge, according to the Telsyte Australian Smart Home Study 2024-2028. The number of EV households is expected to reach more than two million by 2028, with most owners preferring to charge at home and a growing interest in solar-linked and off-peak charging solutions.
UK start-up Cambridge Photon Technology has developed a photon multiplication technology that splits high energy photons to increase usable light for silicon cells. The UK-based startup has three patents relating to its technology, has identified outsource manufacturers that can produce its solution at scale, and has secured seed funding. (PV Magazine)
Climate
|
In a boost for climate science, the federal government allocated $208.8 million over seven years to Antarctic research capabilities. “Supporting Nuyina, our world-leading icebreaker, doing its critical resupply for stations and also doing more marine science, looking at the Marginal Ice Zone and krill, and understanding how the Southern Ocean impacts on global climate systems and on the biodiversity of the Southern Ocean. It's really important. It's part of our leadership in Antarctica,” Emma Campbell, Head of the Australian Antarctic Division, told reporters.
Random
|
NordPass released a study that challenges the assumption digital natives are naturally cybersecurity savvy. The data reveals Gen Z, or zoomers, use passwords as weak as their grandparents’.