Capital
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Iron ore baron Andrew Forrest slammed US President Donald Trump’s moves against the energy transition and recommitted to phasing out diesel, urging Fortescue (ASX: FMG) shareholders to stay on board with green energy trials and repowering the Pilbara. “We’re not making some oligarch richer and fatter. This is our power system. This is your power system. You’re going to own a very big power company, ladies and gentlemen, it’ll be yours,” he told shareholders. (AAP) (The West)
Research by Baringa Partners, commissioned by the Clean Energy Investor Group (CEIG), identified how to grow the electricity grid to support production of green iron and other green export products at scale elsewhere. Baringa’s Australia Country Lead Peter Sherry says Australia can meet the increase in clean electricity demand associated with green exports without compromising ambitious domestic decarbonisation. “Enhanced interconnection across the NEM will be key to powering South Australia’s green iron industry, as it will enable an unlocking of our exceptional renewable resources across the east coast.”
 Projects
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Victorian “fast-tracked” the approval of two renewable energy projects. After a two-year assessment, Meadow Creek Solar Farm has state and federal planning and environmental approvals for a hybrid 332MW solar power and 1GWh battery energy storage system (BESS) on agricultural land near Wangaratta. In Hazelwood, Eku Energy’s 300MW BESS will have the capacity to power 104,000 homes during times of high demand. “Our fast-tracked pathway (the Development Facilitation Program) has unlocked nearly $8 billion worth of investment into renewable energy projects,” Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny said. RMIT Emeritus Professor of Environment and Planning Michael Buxton told The Australian it was “really shocking” the federal assessment was effectively being handed over to the state and its “fundamentally flawed” process.
Policy
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The Nationals dumped net zero by 2050 as a policy position, saying Australia should “do our fair share” to reduce global emissions but not more than the rest of the world, citing research that estimated the cost of net zero at up to $9 trillion or $250,000 per Australian. “Our approach will increase investment in cheaper electricity by broadening the Capacity Investment Scheme to include all energy technologies and remove the moratorium on nuclear energy,” National Leader David Littleproud told reporters in Canberra, proposing to peg emissions reduction efforts to the OECD average.
An update to Western Australia’s energy transition plan has been pushed out by two years to September 2027, putting at risk the 2030 closure of the state’s coal-fired power plants. As Boiling Cold said: “If the state government that runs energy policy, and owns the grid as well as the major generator and near-monopoly retailer, cannot say what it plans, investors are rightly nervous.”
Technology
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The first of 50 EVs with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology have been plugged in as part of a federally funded project with electricity retailer Amber Electric. Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) CEO Darren Miller said standards and regulations are almost there, car manufacturers such as BYD are seeing the opportunity and getting on board, along with hardware provider StarCharge. “My guess is that in the next year or two this will be available to every household across the country who chooses to buy an EV,” he said.
Climate
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Australia’s stand-off with Türkiye over hosting rights to COP31 continues. Both belong to the 28-nation Western European and Others Group, whose turn comes next year to host the United Nations' climate talks. Australia reportedly has the support of everyone except Türkiye, but the final decision by UN members must be unanimous. (AFR)
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday he has written to President Tayyip Erdogan to resolve the deadlock and conceded “there's no real process for finalising the matter”. (Reuters)
The Clean Energy Regulator has granted 614,133 Australian Carbon Credit Units to Santos for carbon capture and storage at Moomba, a major milestone that the oil and gas company said proves the untapped potential of the abatement technology. (The Aus)
People
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Former Australian Ambassador for the Environment and Paris Agreement negotiator Patrick Suckling has joined the board of the Centre for Policy Development (CPD).
Ex-Clean Energy Council CEO Kane Thornton joined the board at VicGrid.
Research
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Research by Original Power and the First Nations Clean Energy Network, funded by Energy Consumers Australia, found 65,000 Indigenous households across Australia access electricity through prepayment supply arrangements and have disconnection rates as high as an average of 59 disconnections per year amid extreme heat and poverty. “A majority of communities surveyed understood that rooftop solar can help reduce costs, but government housing department policies are still a major barrier to customer choice,” said Lead Research Partner Dr Tom Longden, Western Sydney University.
Lithium oxidation at the anode is the leading cause of thermal runaway and fires in high-energy lithium batteries, not organic-electrolyte combustion. For better safety, batteries should be designed with electrolyte materials that are able to scavenge oxygen through low-heat reactions or stop oxygen crossover from cathode to anode. (Nature Energy)
Random
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“The idea that you would hand over climate and energy policy to the likes of Matthew Canavan and the ghost of Barnaby Joyce is like handing Dracula the keys to the blood bank,” Environment Minister Murray Watt told ABC’s Insiders.
