Capital
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The cost of battery storage projects plummeted to new lows globally in 2025, according to BloombergNEF’s Levelized Cost of Electricity 2026 report. The global benchmark cost for a four-hour battery project fell 27% year-on-year to US$78/MWh in 2025 with lower pack prices, increasing competition among manufacturers and improved system designs all contributing to the rapid decline.
The backing of 11 Australian and international financial institutions has helped ACEN Australia roll its 400MW Stubbo Solar project into the $750 million non-recourse portfolio debt facility that it established last April. Stubbo – the first long-term energy service agreement-backed solar project to achieve commercial operations – joins Stage 1 of ACEN’s New England Solar project in a financing pool that is expected to continue growing as new projects are brought to market.
 Projects
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ASL will undertake an eighth tender for firming capacity to address projected shortfalls identified in the recent 2025 Energy Security Target Monitor report, with energy minister Penny Sharpe slating the new tender just weeks after 300MW/3500MWh Great Western battery project was announced among the winners of Tender 6. The seventh tender was announced in October and seeks 500MW of firmed capacity to fill a project gap in 2027-28, after which power will be adequate until 2033-34. (Renew Economy)
Australian Vanadium (ASX: AVL) subsidiary VSUN Energy will partner with Sumitomo Electric for its 50MW/500MWh Vanadium battery energy storage system (BESS) project in Kalgoorlie. VSUN has been working to develop a domestic VFB supply chain combining upstream resources, midstream electrolyte production and downstream battery deployment in WA. Stage 1 expression of interest were due on January 30, and Stage 2 will commence in March.
The Queensland government has committed $50 million in legacy projects to support work related to the CopperString high voltage transmission line from Townsville to Mt Isa. The new funding includes $4.285 million for local infrastructure projects supporting the $225 million Flinders Substation and Hughenden Hub, as well as $1 million for detailed water and sewerage infrastructure design and cost analysis.
Victorian dairy producer Saputo Dairy Australia has flipped the switch on a purpose-built biogas to energy system at its Allansford site that will use Capstone microturbines to turn biogas waste into what is expected to be 25% of the site’s electricity needs. Harnessing the site’s biogas will reduce its emissions by up to 14,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Policy
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The United States will pull out of the International Energy Agency (IEA) unless it stops promoting the deployment of renewables, the country’s energy secretary Chris Wright has threatened in the run-up to this week’s 2026 IEA Ministerial Meeting in Paris, where Wright and over 50 other national energy ministers are gathered. Australian energy minister Chris Bowen sent apologies but has sent ambassador to the OECD Stephen Jones in his stead. (Politico)
The Victorian Parliament’s Legislative Council Economy and Infrastructure Committee is accepting submissions to its inquiry into the development and expansion of waste to energy (WtE) infrastructure until March 27. The ongoing inquiry will evaluate existing WtE plans and policies, the impacts on residential communities and transport infrastructure, and more.
Climate
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Chinese car-maker BYD’s high number of electric vehicle imports has allowed it to accumulate the most New Vehicle Efficiency Standard credits in the country, worth more than $6.2 million. The NVES awards credits to manufacturers that beat annual carbon thresholds, which were set last year at 141 grams per kilometre for passenger cars and 210g/km for light commercial vehicles. (AFR)
Technology
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Data centre operators adopting flexible power strategies will drive up to $210 billion (US$150 billion) in cumulative savings and, researchers have found, “unequivocally” lower emissions because flexibility favours renewables over the gas generation relied upon for sites with fixed power consumption. The Duke University modelling comes as US regulators consider strategies for standardising interconnection of large loads, with potential prioritisation of data centres willing to be flexible. (Latitude Media)
Asia-Pacific regional electricity demand will increase by nearly 50% by 2035 as data centre power demand surges five-fold, Deloitte has projected in a new report, Powering Asia Pacific’s Data Centre Boom, that found “in most AP markets clean energy can now be faster to deploy, with lower costs, and added resilience compared with conventional energy sources.” However, the firm warns, “uncoordinated expansion risks worsening grid congestion and price volatility.”
Research
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Researchers at Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE have produced what they say are the world’s most efficient PV solar modules, with a III-V germanium module delivering efficiency of 34.2% and a III-V silicon PV module delivering efficiency of 31.3% – well above the 24% efficiency of conventional solar cells. The silicon panel is more cost-effective to manufacture but the germanium based unit can be tapped for more demanding applications.
Floating clusters of PV solar panels are being promoted as a way of delivering large quantities of power to densely populated coastal regions, but constant wave action creates reliability and maintenance issues. Researchers argue that this issue can be countered by floating breakwaters that can be deployed with minimal ecological impact even in deep water – with the bonus that the platforms can be built to tap wave power as well. (Science Direct)
People
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Shadow energy and emissions reduction minister Dan Tehan has maintained his position in the wake of new Liberal leader Angus Taylor’s reshuffling of the federal Opposition, while Garth Hamilton has been promoted to shadow assistant minister for energy security and affordability. (The Guardian)