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​Today's news: ⚒️ Behind the plan to reinvent Mt Isa; 🔋 turning e-waste into wealth; 🧹 clearing the decks before the election; 🐵 and it’s animals 1, humans 0 in the fight against blackouts.

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1. Mt Isa on the frontier of transition, again

Mount Isa Mayor Peta MacRae, who moved to the rugged outback town as a young teacher in 1997 and stayed, is championing a plan to diversify beyond copper stacks and end the regional economy’s dependence on gas.

Inaction or a delayed response to industry disruption could carry immense and lasting costs for the region, Queensland and Australia’s broader economy, the Future Ready Economy Roadmap warns.

Energy constraints including network reach and reliability and energy pricing are called out as a handbrake on development and liveability.

To cope after the closure of the Glencore copper mine later in 2025, the area requires a reliable energy system capable of supporting the remaining industrial base and more remote spurs of activity in the region.

The “timely completion” of the $9 billion CopperString 2032 transmission line will be vital for long-term survival, the Roadmap’s authors say, but the immediate future remains unplugged.

The ask: $2 billion from the feds on top of a state-funded $50 million transition fund.

The loser: APA Group must relinquish a near-monopoly if CopperString 2032 gets up.

Why it matters

• AEMO has identified the Mount Isa to Townsville corridor as eastern Australia’s best co-located wind and solar resources, with a potential generation capacity of more than 26GW.
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• With an existing value chain worth $16 billion in annual exports from Townsville, Mount Isa is described as the gateway to an estimated $680 billion in critical minerals and rare earths in the North West Minerals Province.
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• Remote mine sites in the region represent over 300MW of additional demand that are currently met by off-grid supply.
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• Mount Isa’s current energy supply includes costs that were found to be double the average cost of users connected to the NEM and other countries engaged in the mining of copper.

2. Productivity Commission wants to turn e-waste into wealth

Progress towards a more circular economy has been slow but solar panel and battery waste could provide a way forward, according to a Productivity Commission inquiry.

The interim report comes as the economic policy agency considers ways for governments to support connections between researchers, industry and businesses to build a circular economy – and save on costs.

The volume of e-waste generated from lithium-ion batteries and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems is expected to increase significantly, the report found, driving opportunities to improve recovery and recycling of materials in these product lines.

Australia’s very small domestic vehicle manufacturing industry and minimal influence on global manufacturers make components such as tyres and batteries - not whole vehicles - more likely success stories.

“Materials found in solar panels and electric car batteries can be valuable when recovered correctly,” Commissioner Alison Roberts said.

“Innovative sustainable practices, like prefabrication in construction, using organic waste to create energy, and repurposing old mine sites, are sometimes being stymied by out-of-date or overly complex regulation.”

The Australian Government released a national circular economy framework in December 2024 to support a leap beyond recycling and waste management.

Why it matters

• Australians are generating e-waste at almost three times the global average.
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• Photovoltaic waste alone is predicted to reach 100,000 tonnes annually by 2030.
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• Producers and consumers have not typically fully paid for these environmental costs in the past under more linear supply chains and models of materials use.
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• The management and disposal of solar panels and batteries varies between each state and territory, with little capacity for recycling of both.

What’s next

• Provide feedback on the interim report by Friday April 11.​
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• Keep an eye out for the final report to the government - due by the end of August.
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• Track the report’s likely recommendations, including updating regulations to level the playing field for newer or less widespread technologies; harmonising inconsistent regulations between jurisdictions; leveraging sustainable procurement practices and adopting innovation funding models that are based on meeting challenges.
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Expert view

News wrap

Projects

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek approved three new renewable energy projects in NSW including Ark Energy’s 1,332 MW Liverpool Range Wind Farm, Squadron Energy’s 700 MW Spicers Creek Wind Farm Project and Engie’s 372 MW Hills of Gold Wind Farm.

Meanwhile, a lack of coordination between the federal and NSW government renewable energy zone schemes is frustrating developers, the AFR reported, with Squadron Energy's Junction River project failing to secure access to the transmission grid in a renewable energy zone in NSW even after winning federal underwriting support.

US-listed Energy Vault confirmed its Stoney Creek BESS, in partnership with Enervest, had been awarded a 14 year Long-Term Energy Service Agreement by AEMO. It said the project, which is expected to deliver 150 jobs at peak construction, would see pre-construction and procurement activities in the second half of 2025 following final procedural and DA approvals.

Capital

New analysis from Nexa Advisory called into question the NSW government’s commitment to extending the life of Origin Energy’s Eraring power station. The analysis found each of Eraring’s units have experienced about 6000 hours, equivalent to two months, of downtime annually in recent years. Nexa Advisory CEO Stephanie Bashir said: “The $450m burden on New South Wales taxpayers of extending Eraring's operation until 2027 is unnecessary and would have been better invested in accelerating the replacement renewable generation, storage and consumer solutions.”

Policy

The federal government committed $250 million from the Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund to support Australia’s low carbon liquid fuels industry. The funding comes after a Deloitte report commissioned by advocacy group Bionenergy Australia warned of increasing fuel security challenges given Australia imports almost 80 per cent of liquid fuels, and just 3 countries account for ~65 per cent of the country’s fuel imports.

The NSW government’s new Industry Policy detailed its plan to invest $3.5 billion to clean energy initiatives, including Renewable Energy Zones and green hydrogen development. The state government has targeted at least 12 GW of new renewable electricity generation with 2 GW and 16 GWh of long-duration storage by 2030.

US energy lobby group the Edison Electric Institute told Politico that reps from more than 40 electricity companies are on Capitol Hill to discuss “the long-term impacts that sweeping changes in existing tax policy would have on energy security”. The lobbying comes as the Trump administration considers winding back federal tax credits for renewable energy to pay for broader tax cuts promised during the election campaign.

The US will likely withdraw from all Just Energy Transition Partnerships, Reuters reported. The partnerships have seen higher-GDP countries deliver loans, financial guarantees, and grants to nations transitioning away from coal. Australia signed the Clean Energy Transition Partnership (CETP) at COP28 in Dubai in 2023.

Regulation

Ausgrid-owned PLUS ES received a trial waiver from the Australian Energy Regulator to install up to 1,000 kerbside, pole-mounted EV chargers across NSW and SA. The AER said the waiver does not change Ausgrid’s obligations to comply with ringfencing after competitors raised concerns about potential preferential access to infrastructure and resources.

Technology

Woodside (ASX: WDS) said it would join forces with US energy tech company Baker Hughes to develop a lower carbon power generation technology solution specifically designed for oil and gas (including LNG), heavy industries and other smaller scale applications.

A new report from the International Energy Agency detailed the extend to which China is dominating battery technology. It said global battery manufacturing capacity reached 3 TWh in 2024, and the next five years could see another tripling of production capacity if all announced projects were built. China produces over three-quarters of batteries sold globally, and in 2024 average prices dropped faster there than anywhere else in the world, by nearly 30%, which the IEA attributed to manufacturing know-how, supply chain integration, cheaper battery chemistry and fierce domestic competition.

Startup NOX Energy released its “Intelligent Power Socket” - a device and platform designed for body corporates who want to offer EV charging to apartment residents. The company says it can deliver 100 IPS units for the price of one rapid charging station.

People

The government signed off on appointments to the ARENA board as it gets ready for pre-election caretaker mode. Marianna O’Gorman was re-appointed to the board and will assume the newly created position of Deputy Chair. Stephen McIntosh was also re-appointed as a board member, while Angela Karl joined the board for her first term. Karl is the Managing Director and Head of Energy Transition at HMC Capital and has held key directorships at Tilt Renewables, Lochard Energy, Epic Energy, Pacific Energy, and PowerCo.

The Australian Energy Markets Commission appointed Andrew Lewis as acting CEO. Current chief Benn Barr finishes up at the regulator on March 17 after which he’ll be on two months gardening leave ahead of starting his new gig as executive GM at Energy Queensland.

Random

The experts at Currently Speaking reminded us of some fundamentals after going deep on the Sri Lankan blackout that was blamed on a monkey.

What we're listening to

James Henderson talks to the Oxford Energy Institute’s Michal Meidan and Anders Hove about their thoughts on China’s position in the energy transition and the role of innovation as part of its green industrial strategy.

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