Capital
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BHP (ASX: BHP) has unlocked capital from inland power infrastructure in a US$2 billion deal with Blackrock’s Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). The mining giant will pay the new entity a tariff linked to BHP’s share of Western Australia Iron Ore’s (WAIO) inland power network over a 25-year period and retain full operational control. BHP said there were no impacts to operations, workforce or electricity services across the Pilbara as a result of the binding agreement, likewise Traditional Owner, joint venture partnerships and WA state agreements were unaffected. The deal covers Yarnima Power Station, more than 400km of transmission and distribution lines, and integrated substations and control systems supplying electricity to WAIO’s mining operations and the Newman township.
 Projects
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ACCIONA Energía completed the commissioning and start of commercial operations of the Aldoga Solar Farm (480MWp), located 20km north-west of Gladstone on the central Queensland coast, ahead of schedule. The asset’s entire renewable energy output will be supplied to state-owned Stanwell Corporation under a 15-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and sold into the spot market or retailed to commercial and industrial customers.
Essential Energy said a Plug and Play kerbside charging program would fast-track the expansion of EV charging in towns, which are lagging urban areas. Third-party charge point operators (CPOs) will connect 1,000 new public EV chargers within existing power poles across its NSW network, alongside the installation of 300 composite pole streetlight chargers in partnership with Australian company Wagners Composite Fibre Technologies which feature fully integrated 7kW white-labelled chargers ready for operators to lease.
A proposed LNG project in Papua New Guinea, led by TotalEnergies with ExxonMobil, Santos (ASX: STO) and ENEOS, will test a risk framework known as the Equator Principles as six organisations submitted the first formal complaint under the benchmark. “MUFG’s role as financial advisor to a project rejected by many banks highlights serious failures in its risk management and a clear contradiction with its commitment to achieving net zero emissions. MUFG must take this complaint seriously, conduct a thorough investigation, and withdraw from the Papua LNG project to uphold its environmental and human rights promises,” said Eri Watanabe, Japan Energy Finance Campaigner, Market Forces. Japan’s MUFG was contacted for comment.
Policy
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The Victorian government released petroleum exploration permits in the Otway and Gippsland basins - the first acreage release since 2018. More than two million of the state’s households are still connected to gas and around one-third of the state’s manufacturing energy needs are met by gas. “Victoria is forecast to experience gas shortfalls as soon as 2027,” Australian Energy Producers Victoria Director Peter Kos said, calling for the government to commit to annual acreage releases to rebuild investment confidence and secure ongoing gas supply.
The Australian Sustainable Finance Institute (ASFI) welcomed reports of an overhaul of public investment vehicles but warned mandates were only one part of the story for a stronger green finance system. “Shifting risk appetite on paper won’t, on its own, unlock the scale of private capital Australia needs. If we want our public finance to accelerate private investment rather than crowd it out, the review must take a whole of system view and ensure capability is front and centre,” ASFI CEO Kristy Graham said.
Australia’s specialist investment vehicles have more than $30 billion yet to be deployed and, as a new report from the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC) points out, the system governing these vehicles was designed for a slower, more stable era -not for the pace, scale and global competition defining today’s clean-industry transition. “With the right reforms, that $30 billion could unlock more than $100 billion in private investment to build clean-industry jobs and resilient infrastructure,” IGCC CEO Rebecca Mikula-Wright said.
Regulation
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Energy Consumers Australia (ECA) said the beneficiary-pays approach in a rule change made by the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) would help consumers assess the true costs of using gas when weighing whether to electrify. The decision amends the National Gas Rules (NGRs) and means gas network distributors will charge new customers the full upfront cost of new connections, rather than socialising the costs across existing gas customers. “Australian household and small business gas use is expected to decline 72% by 2043 and be largely non-existent by 2050,” ECA CEO Brendan French said.
The European Commission said it would fast track transmission projects by accelerating permitting procedures and ensure a fairer division of costs on cross-border projects as part of a proposed European Grids Package. It wants to see increasingly integrated cross-border energy infrastructure deliver benefits beyond the territories where it’s built with “fair and transparent cost-sharing essential to avoid disproportionate burdens on local consumers”. (PV Magazine)
Technology
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Energy Minister Chris Bowen officially launched the Vehicle-Grid Network (VGN) project, funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), the RACE for 2030 CRC, and industry partners. The project, aiming to solve technical, regulatory and market challenges to widespread V2G uptake, will be led by Climate-KIC Australia and the University of Technology Sydney’s Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF).
Climate
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Research from Charles Sturt University shows climate change and extreme weather events are influencing people’s decisions about where to move in the year ahead. The survey shows Tasmania is strongly preferred by two in five Australians (41 per cent) as the safest state or territory to live in as the climate changes. “Contrary to images of off-grid, self‑sufficient farms, most Australians believe living in existing towns and cities will be safest as the planet warms,” Professor of Public Ethics Clive Hamilton said.
A Climate Resource analysis of coal demand in Australia’s key markets indicates that by 2035, thermal coal exports could fall by 64% or more, and metallurgical coal exports could drop by 28% or more. Australia’s own 2035 thermal coal use is projected to be 86-93% lower. Australia is urged to cease approval of new coal projects, better support exposed regions with transition plans and new industries, and develop a coal phase-out roadmap aligned with Paris targets with thermal and metallurgical coal requiring distinct phase-out strategies based on their market dynamics and regional export profiles.
People
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Plico appointed Alan Reid as Chief Operating Officer to drive a national expansion.
Research
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Springer Nature has launched a new journal, Watt, for research “bridging academia, industry, economics, and policy with the aim of accelerating the energy transition”. The journal’s Executive Editor-in-Chief will be Rose Zhu, 21C Innovation Laboratory-Hong Kong Research Institute, China.
Random
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US startup Overview Energy said it had successfully demonstrated a key technology for its plans to transmit power from space to the Earth using lasers. (Space News)
