Capital
|
Queensland vegetable grower Kalfresh has secured $80 million in funding to build its Kalfresh Bioenergy Facility, a 40ha facility where food waste and crop residues will be transformed into natural gas. The site, which is funded by Wollemi Capital and the Queensland Investment Corporation, is part of a $291 million agricultural industrial precinct at Kalbar. It will deliver 24/7 renewable energy using anaerobic digestion technology, and is the first large-scale deployment of the technology in an Australian farming region.
A joint project between La Trobe University and the Indian Institute of Technology Indore to develop thermal insulation panels from recycled PV panels has received federal government funding. The project focuses on high-value reuse of difficult components including glass and silicon wafers.
Global clean power purchase agreement volumes fell for the first time in 2025 after nearly a decade of growth, as power prices and policy risks redefined market activity. Corporations announced deals for 55.9GW of clean power in 2025, 10% down from the record set the prior year, according to BloombergNEF in its 1H 2026 Corporate Energy Market Outlook. (BloombergNEF)
 Projects
|
Reports that new gas generation will be kept offline for years due to a looming supply crunch for gas turbines are overstated, a new Jefferies equity research note has concluded. It reports producers of the turbines are expected to increase supply by more than 80% by 2030, to more than 125GW globally. Data centres will be a key driver of demand, with behind-the-meter solutions accounting for 45GW — up 25GW compared to last year, and growing around 17% per year. (Latitude Media)
TotalEnergies H2 (TE H2) will no longer seek a Federal Court ruling that its proposed 2.7GW, 2500ha Wak Wak Solar Farm, near Humpty Doo in the Northern Territory, is unencumbered by native title. TE H2 — which had faced criticism for allegedly “bulldozing” the rights of the native Wulna people — will instead work with the Northern Land Council (NLC) to negotiate an Indigenous land use agreement. (ABC)
The federal government has invited public comment on a proposal for the Supernode North battery energy storage system (BESS) and substation, a 41ha project southwest of Townsville, Queensland that will incorporate a BESS of up to 780MW and supporting substation on a former CSIRO cropping and grazing research station. Comment is open until March 4.
The proposed 450MW Wooderson Solar Farm and BESS – located at Mount Alma, around 40km south-west of Gladstone, Queensland – has been waved through after authorities determined the project is not a controlled action under federal environmental planning laws.
Policy
|
The surge in installations of consumer home batteries is “a rural and regional story”, Energy Minister Chris Bowen has said during a press conference in the regional city of Bendigo, Victoria. Six times more people in Bendigo have tapped the government’s Cheaper Home Batteries Program than in Melbourne, he said, with 44% of Victoria’s applications relating to properties in rural and regional areas. The program is expected to support 2 million solar installations.
The United States has succeeded in removing climate change from the main priorities of the International Energy Agency, following a tense ministerial meeting in Paris that reflected a dramatic shift in political mood around the clean energy transition. The development, which comes after the US threatened to leave the agency if it continued to focus on climate change, is a remarkable turnaround from the last ministerial two years ago, when addressing the climate crisis and phasing out fossil fuels was named as the IEA’s top priority. At the IEA meeting, the State of Energy Innovation 2026 report was also released. (Politico) (NYT)
Adoption of consumer energy resources (CER) is severing the link between consumption and the demands a household places on the network, Rewiring Australia has argued in its submission to the AEMC pricing review. Noting that the “volumetric assumption is breaking down,” the group offered a mix modelling tool and pointed out that lower volumetric rates and progressive fixed charges can resolve customers’ tension between home comfort and household economics. Yet flat fixed charges are a blunt instrument, the submission notes, warning that mooted charges to tariff structure address cross-subsidy issues but do so "regressively.”
Technology
|
A team of New Zealand researchers has successfully reached a key milestone in the push to develop viable nuclear fusion, with the OpenStar Technologies team successfully floating a half-tonne superconducting magnet in a 5-metre vacuum chamber filled with plasma at over 1 million°C. CEO and founder Ratu Mataira says the prototype, which cost less than $10 million, confirms that the technique – which uses the intense magnetic force to fuse the elements of the ionised plasma gas – can be scaled to commercial size. Fusion reactors remain a stretch goal for the world’s scientific community, with dozens of companies racing to be the first to refine the technique. (MSN)
Global demand for data centre infrastructure is set to “materially exceed supply over the foreseeable future,” Goodman Group (ASX: GMG) chief executive Greg Goodman said as he revealed that 73% of the company’s 51 current projects – worth $14.4 billion all up – are data centres commissioned as the company’s clients ride the AI wave. Powering the sites is a major issue for the projects, with the company’s power bank up to 6GW globally. (AFR)
Climate
|
An estimated 29.35 million coral colonies would be killed due to the burning of gas from Woodside’s proposed Browse offshore gas field, the Australian Conservation Foundation has warned in citing new research that it says justifies a reconsideration request it lodged with federal environment minister Murray Watt. Woodside calls Browse, which spans three sites stretching from Broome to Karratha in WA’s north-west, “Australia’s largest untapped conventional gas resource”.
Research
|
A team of researchers at the RMIT University School of Science and School of Engineering has developed a new “incredibly resilient” nylon-film material that generates piezoelectricity when it is compressed – paving the way for durable, self-powered road sensors for traffic management. Previous energy-harvesting plastics have been too fragile for real-world use, but the team’s use of nylon-11 industrial plastic allows it to be used to create durable sensors. (Nature Communications).
People
|
BP has appointed Paul Augé as country president for Australia, adding the responsibility to his current role as senior vice president for Asia Pacific mobility, convenience and midstream.
The Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) has announced its new board of directors, with representatives from the automotive, energy, finance, charging infrastructure, technology and community sectors. Women hold the majority of board position for the first time, with CEO Julie Delvecchio supported by a board including Origin’s Chau Le, Commonwealth Bank’s Tim Burdon, AGL’s Jane Butler, JOLT’s Vicki Slavina, NRMA Energy’s Mary Ellen Payne, JET Charge’s Claire Painter, Endeavour Energy’s Vida Cheeseman, Polestar ANZ’s Scott Maynard, Tesla ANZ’s Thom Drew, and Energy Futures Foundation Director Sam McLean.
