Results season continued this week with gas majors Santos and APA Group retreating to their core businesses.
Capital
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Gas major Santos (ASX: STO) reported a 35 per cent fall in net profit to US$818 million, largely due to weaker oil and gas prices. CEO Kevin Gallagher said the company would cut its workforce by 10% and undertake a strategic review, which may result in the spin-off of non-core extraction projects. Meanwhile, a Federal Court judge threw out a long-running greenwashing case against the company by the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility. The reasons for the decision will be published by the court on Monday.
Later in the week, Santos said it had signed an agreement with the South Australian government to supply gas from 2030 to help transform Whyalla Steelworks into a low-emissions green iron facility. The timing coincides with the expiry of Santos’ Horizon contract with the GLNG joint venture and comes as the government consults on the details of its domestic gas reservation scheme.
In other results news, pipeline owner APA Group (ASX: APA) reported a 7.6 per cent boost in underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to $1.09 billion for the first half of its 2025-26 financial year. The third phase of APA’s East Coast grid expansion program involves a fresh, and some say risky, $260 million investment to boost capacity on the north-south aspects of its pipeline network, with expected completion in 2028. Chief executive Adam Watson said sending gas southwards from Queensland is a lower cost option than supplying the market from LNG import terminals.
Investment manager Quinbrook’s ambitious plans for Queensland have morphed into a 2.75GW/19GWh slate of big batteries likely to cost $8-10 billion as it ponders who is the right “geostrategic” partner to produce polysilicon near Townsville. David Scaysbrook, co-founder and managing partner, is counting on Future Made in Australia funding for the most challenging of its proposed projects with the aim of delivering on the “green superpower” ideal.
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)
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.
Contact Energy, a major New Zealand energy gentailer, announced a $448 million (NZ$525 million) equity raise to support an aggressive roster of renewable projects including an expansion of its 100MW Glenbrook BESS with an additional 200MW/400MWh second phase. The company has also reached FID on the 150MW Glorit solar farm near Auckland, a 50/50 joint venture with Lightsource BP that will go live late in 2028. Recent rapid expansion has also seen the company grow its mix with 27 hydroelectric generation stations and 7 geothermal stations.
Policy
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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. 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)
A 2025 overhaul of planning laws by the Queensland government set numerous developers back by as much as two years, says Clean Energy Council CEO and former Queensland deputy premier Jackie Trad. In spite of the events in Queensland, Trad says developers have become more optimistic about planning approvals since the federal parliament passed a suite of environment law reforms last November that offer a streamlined path for environmental approvals.
Victoria’s Liberals and Nationals would implement “strict new independent audits and economic impact assessments” (EIAs) for renewable energy projects if elected in November. Shadow minister for regional development Danny O’Brien promised to “stand up to protect the prime agricultural land that underpins our food security and regional economies”.
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.
 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)
More than 150 renewable energy project applications are currently navigating the federal approvals maze, and with changes afoot, some are wondering whether to withdraw their applications and start afresh.
A proposed massive wind and solar farm in remote parts of far western NSW would allow faster development with fewer community complaints, according to a consortium of renewable companies that sees the so-called Inland Renewable Energy Region, led by Squadron Energy, as a way of rapidly ramping up overall energy supply. The group wants the market operator to declare a proposed transmission line to the region a priority project in the final Integrated System Plan. Other supporters include Australian companies Tilt Renewables, Ark Energy and Voyager Renewables, as well as Spanish renewables firms Iberdrola and Acciona. (AFR)
Queensland’s second “mega battery”, a two-hour 300MW facility at the Tarong power station near Nanango, has commenced commercial operations. It’s the second BESS to go live in the Sunshine State within a fortnight and operator Stanwell’s first wholly owned battery – and has boosted overall capacity of the site to 2.1GW. Stanwell’s overall battery firming portfolio includes 2.8GW of total capacity, with another BESS under construction under construction and a capacity purchase agreement with Quinbrook’s Supernode Stage 3 BESS at Brendale.
Two years after the concept was floated, EnergyAustralia’s Hallett, SA BESS has reached its Financial Investment Decision and is moving into the delivery phase, the company announced. EnergyAustralia, NHOA Energy, and Enerven are partnering to build the 50MW/250MWh BESS adjacent to the existing Hallett gas-fired power station. The site will begin construction in coming weeks and is expected to commence commercial operations in mid 2027, with planning approval already in place to later expand the site to 200MW.
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)
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.
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)
Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific regional electricity demand will increase by nearly 50% by 2035 as data centre power demand surges five-fold, Deloitte projected in a new report.
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. (MSN)
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.
Looking ahead to next week, energy investor group CLP will deliver its annual results and Australian Energy Market Commissioner Rainer Korte will speak at the Committee for Economic Development’s energy security NSW event alongside executives from Ausgrid, Transgrid and Neoen Australia.
