Catch up
Capital
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Shares in Origin Energy (ASX: ORG) surged on reports the company’s minority-owned UK business Octopus Energy was weighing the US$14 billion demerger of tech arm Kraken. (Reuters) (Bloomberg)
South32 (ASX: S32) divested a Colombian mine and smelter to a subsidiary of industrial conglomerate CoreX amid a flood of “dirty” nickel and booked a US$130 million impairment. RBC Capital Markets analyst Kaan Peker said the sale would increase South32's exposure to forward-facing commodities such as copper, zinc and aluminium. (The West) (Reuters) (Capital Brief)
“The transaction is consistent with our strategy and will further streamline our portfolio toward higher margin businesses in minerals and metals critical to the world’s energy transition. The transaction will deliver a clean separation of Cerro Matoso and provide additional balance sheet flexibility to support investment in our growth options in copper and zinc.” - South32 CEO Graham Kerr
 Projects
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Renewables developer AMPYR Australia said it had achieved financial close of its 300MWh Wellington Stage 1 BESS that once finished in 2026 will connect to the Central-West Orana REZ. AMPYR recently signed a 10-year virtual offtake agreement with ZEN Energy for 150MW of the battery’s capacity. The company is backed by Singapore-based investment firm AGP.
Onshore wind developer Quenda warned its project may not be running by the time WA coal-fired power shuts down, due to a lack of transmission and "marathon" approvals. Projects planned for southern WA include wind farms around West Arthur, Narrogin, Williams, Boddington and Scott River. In Boddington, about 130km south of Perth, the companies behind the 300MW Marradong Wind Farm are yet to make a final investment decision. (ABC)
Dozens of planned renewable energy supply factories have been cancelled, delayed or downsized, in the US, all hit by soaring costs, high interest rates and slow-growing EV demand, reports Bloomberg. Trump’s recent megabill will only add to their woes.
Policy
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The South Australia algal blooms are a reminder of the urgent need to cut national greenhouse gas emissions and bolster the case for other nations to do likewise, according to Climate Change Authority Chair Matt Kean. He said the authority was working on advice for the Albanese government on setting “as ambitious a 2035 goal as possible” for reducing Australia’s carbon pollution. (AFR)
“There is another prompt for action looming: The Trump administration’s budget, passed into law on Friday, will slash climate-related science from satellites to ocean buoys. The accuracy of weather forecasts, climate modelling, and other services for our defence and economy hang in the balance unless we fill the gaps with our own sovereign capability or can muster new overseas partners. The Climate Change Authority will have more to say on the challenges soon.” - Climate Change Authority Chair Matt Kean
Regulation
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Energy retailer Pacific Blue Retail, which also trades as Tango Energy, was slugged $961,550 for failing to credit accounts of over 6,000 customers, with the offending stretching across three years. Under Victoria’s rules, where a distributor makes a guaranteed service level payment, the energy retailer must apply the credit to the customer’s account within 10 business days. Almost 300 who did not have their credits applied to their next bill were receiving payment difficulty assistance.
Technology
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Melbourne-based Cavendish Renewable Technology launched an electrolyser it said would redefine green hydrogen economics. At the heart of the proprietary “C-Cell” is an ultra-thin ceramic membrane electrolyte that could also be suitable for carbon-to-fuels electrolysis for synthetic hydrocarbons and industrial feedstocks, fuel cells for mobile and stationary energy, and flow batteries for grid-scale storage using redox couples.
“A lot of solutions have been proposed, but very few deliver where it truly matters - on both performance and cost. With C-Cell, we’re not proposing anything that contradicts the laws of thermodynamics or depends on speculative science. It’s simply an elegant way of utilising internally generated heat during electrolysis to significantly reduce electrical energy input - without needing any external thermal source. That said, if low-grade external heat is available, our modelling indicates the efficiency could be improved even further. We aim to validate this through upcoming trials. - Cavendish Renewable Technology CEO Dr Aniruddha Kulkarni
Climate
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Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen is off to Tuvalu, Palau, Samoa, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands for talks on co-hosting COP31 climate talks in 2026, if Australia’s bid wins. He will also visit key energy infrastructure, including the 15MW Palau Solar Farm, one of the Pacific’s largest renewable energy projects and backed by Australia under a regional partnership program.
People
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The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) appointed ACT career public servant Geoffrey Rutledge as Chief Executive. He begins in the role on August 11.
"Geoffrey's extensive experience leading policy development and his deep understanding of the energy and climate change sectors make him ideally suited to lead the AEMC during this transformative period for Australia's energy markets.” - AEMC Chair Anna Collyer
Mineral Resources (ASX: MIN) appointed former Origin Energy Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Lawrie Tremaine, also a former CFO of Woodside Energy, to the board as a non-executive director and chair of the sustainability committee.
Dan McGrail, formerly of RenewableUK, has been appointed as the permanent Chief Executive Officer of UK-government-owned Great British Energy. He has been acting in the role for the past four months.
Research
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Monash researchers released a practical guide to seabird flight behaviour to ensure seabirds such as the albatross, petrels and shearwaters are protected alongside future offshore wind farms. Collision risk is one aspect of the environmental assessment process for project proponents, but with no offshore wind farms in the Southern Hemisphere there are still key knowledge gaps.
“Seabirds typically fly close to the ocean surface, so raising the height of turbines is one very practical way to mitigate collision risk. The work we have done aims to constructively inform policy development at the intersection of biodiversity conservation and renewable energy; two areas inherently linked.” - Lead author Dr Mark Miller, Research Fellow in the Monash School of Biological Sciences
Random
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Higher US tariffs will be delayed from an initial July 9 implementation date to August 1. (ABC) (The Guardian)