Catch up
Regulation
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Energy networks will now be able to make investments to protect the grid against potential bushfire and flood risks, including resilience expenditure factors in their revised regulatory proposals from October. The change comes after the AEMC finalised a rule change request from Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio with the aim of network resilience being explicitly recognised in the national electricity rules in the wake of increasing climate change induced extreme weather events.
The AEMC is seeking feedback on its second phase of rule changes to improve the NEM access standards. One of the proposed rule changes stems from an AEMO review finding the projected growth of large, inverter based loads such as data centres and hydrogen could pose risks to power system security. Feedback is due by 19 June.
The Essential Services Commission said its ban on telemarketing in the Victorian Energy Upgrades program was working as it fined one business $69,231 for cold calling in breach of the one-year old rule. The regulator said complaints had dropped sharply, with telemarketing down 24 per cent and door knocking down 75 per cent.
Capital
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Wind energy proponents should plan for 15-25% curtailment going forward, said consultant Jonathon Dyson, after reviewing how much utility-scale solar has curtailed wind over the last five years.
New Zealand power companies Genesis Energy and Contact Energy struck a gas supply deal with Methanex in the wake of the "lowest first-quarter national hydro inflows on record". (New Zealand Herald)
People
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Incoming Pope Robert Francis Prevost - Pope Leo XIV - was expected to continue Pope Francis' legacy as a steward of climate change. He is on record saying the world must move from "words to action" on the deteriorating environmental crisis facing the world, and that humanity’s “dominion over nature” shouldn’t be “tyrannical” but “a relationship of reciprocity.” (Bloomberg)
 Projects
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AGL said it had acquired two pumped hydro projects in the Upper Hunter, without disclosing financial details. The projects are being developed by former PM Malcolm Turnbull’s Upper Hunter Hydro. AGL said it was encouraged by the NSW Government’s decision to maintain 8+ hours as the definition for long-duration storage as well as its increased targets. ”Government support will be required to help bring these critical projects to market,” AGL Chief Operating Officer, Markus Brokhof said in a statement.
Pacific Energy secured a deal with Iluka Resources to deliver a 30MW hybrid power generation facility at the new Balranald mineral sands mine in southwestern New South Wales. The system will comprise a 10.6MW solar farm, 14.4MW of diesel power, and a 5.4MW/3.2MWh grid-forming battery energy system with hydrocarbons-off functionality.
Policy
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Manufacturers Orica and BlueScope escalated their fears of a possible gas shortfall on Australia’s east coast and urged Labor to reconsider its policies to ensure enough supplies were available for domestic users. (The Australian)
Residents of West Australian mining town Collie are open-minded about nuclear energy after the Coalition's election loss. (ABC)
Besides Ukraine, talks between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin this week were expected to hone in on energy. "Beijing and Moscow have parlayed for years on new pipelines. Beijing recently rebuffed a proposal for expanded supplies via Kazakhstan. But now prices are low, Gazprom is semi-bankrupt, and the EU has committed to ending Russian purchases by 2027, Xi could get a good deal, which he can trade in turn with the US, wanting to sell LNG, and the EU, wanting to make EVs." (Geopolitical Dispatch)
Climate
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Tracking the cost of extreme weather and climate events in the US was expected to become next to impossible after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced it would retire its weather and climate disaster database. (CNN)
Technology
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Europe’s nuclear advocates pushed their favourite energy source as a deterrent against the type of blackout that seized Spain and Portugal last week. Specialists and other officials, including those in Spain, aren’t convinced. (Politico)
Research
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Global solar PV growth is expected to slow to 10% in 2025, reaching 655 GW new installations, according to SolarPower Europe's latest Global Market Outlook.
Random
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Five takeaways from the BloombergNEF Summit in New York.
