Capital
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Japanese energy giant JERA Co has sold its 0.417% and 0.735% stakes in Australia’s Gorgon and Ichthys LNG projects, respectively, to MidOcean Energy. Chief executive of MidOcean De la Rey Venter said the new structure will increase the company’s energy production volume “in resources that aren’t already tied to fixed sales contracts.” JERA senior managing executive officer Ryosuke Tsugara said “Australia remains strategically important to JERA as a trusted and reliable supplier of LNG”, with ongoing investments including Chevron’s Wheatstone LNG Project, the Barossa Gas Project, and Woodside Energy’s Scarborough gas field development project.
A Green Li-ion and RMIT University led consortium will use a $3 million government grant to develop, validate and scale a novel solvent-free process that will help battery recyclers recover nickel, cobalt and manganese from lithium-ion battery waste with profitably nearly four times as high as with current processes. It’s one of 27 projects – the list also includes a contactless I-V solar inspection tool and an AI-driven robotic EV battery disassembly system – funded in the latest, 18th round of CRC-P grants, which provide from $100,000 to $3 million for up to 3 years.
The energy market chaos caused by the Iran conflict will drive overseas trading partners to look towards Australia “as a source of secure, high-volume” LNG supply, Robert Monterosso, economic security research fellow with Sydney University’s United States Studies Centre has noted in a research note analysing potential recovery scenarios for the global LNG market.
Policy
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Energy minister Chris Bowen insists there is no fuel shortage in Australia, but that hasn’t stopped him authorising a temporary relaxation of national fuel standards to allow higher sulfur levels for the next 60 days – a move that will divert around 100 million litres of new petrol supply per month to the domestic market, with a focus on agricultural supply and regions of greatest shortage. The move comes amidst a sharemarket bruising as the federal government finalises its response after the International Energy Agency exhorted its 32 member countries to stabilise oil prices by releasing a total of 400 million barrels of oil from their national oil reserves into their national markets. The extraordinary action last happened after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
With the energy crisis escalating and indeterminate, Australia could very well follow the lead of countries such as Thailand, Pakistan and Bangladesh as they try to reduce demand for petrol by closing schools for a fortnight and ordering government workers to work from home and defer overseas trips, Rabobank economist Benjamin Picton has warned.
Never waste a crisis — the situation has prompted crossbench MPs including Sophie Scamps to press for the lifting of diesel subsidies to encourage more uptake of biofuels and low carbon liquid fuels that could replace petroleum diesel but are in their infancy. Speaking on RN’s Afternoon Briefing however, Minister Bowen said that it would not be a good idea to make diesel more expensive in the short-term, given the limited supplies available.
A temporary levy on energy sector windfall profits is the best policy mechanism to protect households from cost-of-living surges during the current energy crisis, three Victoria University policy experts have concluded in arguing that such a tax would capture part of the gains that normally flow to overseas infrastructure owners. Levies could be redirected “to support households facing higher energy costs, without weakening the federal budget,” they say.
The promise of fuel security and environmental benefits should spawn a domestic sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry, Sydney Airport CEO Scott Charlton has told the Bioenergy Australia Renewable Fuels Summit. Citing a March airport survey in which 70% of Australians support the idea of SAF, Charlton called for increased domestic production of aviation biofuel, which uses agricultural crops and is already being used in the air. Sydney Airport uses 40% of Australia’s aviation fuel, sourcing some 9 million litres of fuel per day, but Charlton warned that “the reliability of that 25-day supply depends on international shipping lanes, global refining capacity and geopolitical stability.”
 Projects
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Foresight Group will expand its renewables portfolio by around 300MW after it acquired New Zealand Clean Energy (NZCE), whose portfolio of late-stage solar and BESS projects includes three sites that are ready to build – at Masterson (89MW), Darfield (106MW), and Dannevirke (72MW). Foresight expects to invest over $500 million to bring the projects to completion this year and next.
Wind and solar power accounted for over 70% of all new electricity capacity growth globally over the past five years, according to a new Global Energy Monitor (GEM) analysis that found Australia has the world’s second largest pipeline of wind and solar projects with colocated storage capacity, with around 44% of projects designed this way – behind only Türkiye (63%) and ahead of Nigeria (43%), Chile (40%), and the Dominican Republic (35%).
The Community Batteries for Household Solar, which pledged to build 400 batteries that could be shared by households, has been hit by delays and cost blow-outs, according to an Auditor-General's report. It found the average amount of funding per kilowatt-hour of battery capacity was $1586, or almost 60 per cent more than budgeted. But each grant was capped at $500,000, meaning that while the program cost was not hit by the blowouts, the batteries would have been much smaller than initially intended. (AFR)
Energy systems
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Google parent company Alphabet is working to redefine grid visibility with Tapestry, an AI-powered tool that’s working to build a completely unified model of the electric grid. The tools are designed to improve visibility across America’s “fragmented and strained system,” according to the company, whose general manager Page Crahan will talk about the value of AI and Alphabet’s “moonshot for the electric grid” in a March 17 webinar.
Regulation
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The Australian Energy Market Commission has opened consultation on two rule change proposals that would enhance the system security frameworks of the NEM. The first request, submitted by AEMO in November, seeks changes to system strength, inertia and Network Support and Control Ancillary Services frameworks, Regulatory Investment Test for Transmission process and more, while a second rule proposed by the Australian Energy Council and Clean Energy Council would strengthen the ‘actionability’ of AEMO’s annual Transition Plan for System Security and increase procurement standardisation. Submissions on the consultation paper close on April 16.
The AEMC is requesting that gas pipeline service providers provide details of any new or updated pipeline services they operate, for inclusion in the agency’s Pipeline Register. Pipeline operators should complete the AEMC’s online form and email it to AEMC by March 27.
The lack of a “single, reliable source of truth” drove the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and software company DlgSILENT Pacific to propose a NEM rule change that would specify open access to non-confidential power system data through development of an ‘Open NEM Model’. ARENA explains that the new rule, which will be fleshed out through an AEMC consultation paper due out on May 28, would facilitate sharing data models across platforms and create a single, AEMO-managed online space where users can access data.
Technology
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Today’s electric truck technologies are mature enough that the vehicles offer a legitimate alternative to diesel driven vehicles whose viability is being challenged by looming diesel fuel shortages, a Swinburne University energy expert has argued. New models can travel over 400km on a single charge and use hot-swappable batteries to keep the trucks on the road, professor of transport technology and sustainability Hussein Dia says, noting that despite their higher acquisition costs electric trucks can be charged for half the cost of buying diesel – with no emissions and no disruption from the unfolding global energy crisis. Firms including Janus Electric are specialising in converting existing trucks to electric.
The Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity (A2EP) has launched an online tool designed to help Australian businesses switch from gas heating to electric heating systems powered by renewable energy. Options on the Renewable Heat Selection Tool include electric thermal energy storage (eTES), electrode boilers, heat pumps, geothermal heat pumps, biogas and biomass boilers, electric resistance boilers and concentrated solar thermal.
Research
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Significant research gaps threaten Australia’s energy transition goals, the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA) has warned in pushing for greater coordination between government, industry and research institutions. ACOLA identified five priority research areas including researching how energy transition decisions and responses are made; technical research into an integrated energy system; skills mapping to strengthen workforce and capability; analysis of commercial value from the transition; and an updated governance model against holistic metrics and benchmarks. “Without a coordinated national research agenda Australia risks slowing transition delivery and forfeiting the economic, social, and security benefits generated by net zero,” ACOLA CEO Prerana Mehta told the ACCELERATE 2035 summit.
At the same time, Australia’s university energy institutes have called on the Australian Government to double public investment in energy research, development and innovation. The Energy Research Institutes Council for Australia (ERICA) wants the government to recognise energy as a nationally significant R&D priority and commit to a staged increase in public energy R&D investment to reach 0.06% of GDP by 2028. “Research is what helps us learn what’s working, fix what isn’t and train and support the people who will keep the transition reliable and affordable over the long haul,” said Professor Yolande Strengers, Research Director of the Monash Energy Institute. Australia ranks 27th among OECD countries for R&D intensity.
Climate
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Infrastructure Australia’s newly released Infrastructure Priority List has emphasised the importance of climate resilience and the net-zero transition, with five key infrastructure priorities including clean energy infrastructure such as large-scale renewable energy generation, renewable energy zones and infrastructure decarbonisation. The Green Building Council Australia welcomed the list’s energy focus, with CEO Davina Rooney noting the importance of “thoughtful planning across energy, transport and water infrastructure.”
CSIRO’s Environment Research Unit is being downsized with staff told on Thursday that 102 full-time equivalent positions would be cut. Climate scientist professor Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick said that the losses would impede Australia's ability to accurately model climate change. (The Age)
People
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The AEMC is filling two positions on its Reliability Panel, and is seeking nominations for a Generator representative and End use customer representative, to commence after the terms of the current members expire in June.
Arup’s APAC Resources and Critical Materials team has welcomed Paul Williams as its new unit leader. A 25 year industry veteran, Williams replaces Joyanne Manning, who has moved to lead Arup’s global resources business.
