Capital
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Losses from a trouble-plagued refinery that IGO (ASX: IGO) says has “no pathway” to making money and woeful lithium prices left the battery minerals firm in the red and investors without a dividend. Its primary asset is a stake in the world’s largest hard rock lithium mine Greenbushes, located 250km south of Perth. The miner plunged from a narrow $3 million profit in FY2024 to a $955 million net loss in FY25. (The West)
“The global lithium market was weak throughout FY25. Nevertheless, Greenbushes demonstrated it is a world class asset with an EBITDA margin of 66% and strong cash conversion. We believe market fundamentals for lithium are positive and Greenbushes is well placed to capitalise.”
Ivan Vella
IGO CEO
Lynas Rare Earths (ASX: LYC) launched an $825 million capital raising to develop its Mount Weld carbonatite facility to produce higher-grade neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) used in the manufacture of high-performance magnets found in EVs and wind turbines. (AFR)
 Projects
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Potentia Energy’s $400 million battery project at Emeroo is the first Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) to be granted environmental approval under South Australia’s new legislation, the Hydrogen and Renewable Energy Act, which took effect last year. Co-located with the existing Bungala Solar Farm, the 225MW BESS required a Statement of Environmental Objectives (SEO).
“Securing this significant milestone under South Australia’s HRE Act is a significant achievement for both Potentia Energy and the state. This new legislation is just one aspect of South Australia’s forward thinking, which is why other states are looking to it as a model for pioneering work in the transition to cleaner energy.”
Werther Esposito
Potentia Energy CEO
Policy
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“We all know a carbon price is first best policy but that statement gets us nowhere,” Professor Rod Sims said in a speech to the NSW Treasury and Economic Society of NSW. Sims called for an easy to communicate carbon pricing approach such as a Carbon Solutions Levy (CSL) that would replace “an array of current defective policies” and compensate all but the largest users of electricity. A CSL levied only on 108 sites of fossil fuel production could also smooth the way for the removal of tax breaks for diesel use. If levied at the same rate as the European carbon price, he said it would raise around $20 billion per annum for budget repair or supporting low-carbon industries of the future.
“The following arguments are why a carbon price is necessary and urgent: First, our current policies will not allow us to meet our climate targets and obligations unless further piecemeal, contentious and hideously costly steps are taken along these same paths. Second, current and likely future similar policies will damage our productivity. Third, policies without a carbon price provide no funds to compensate households for the cost of these policies. Fourth, current and likely future policies damage rather than contribute to necessary budget repair.”
Professor Rod Sims
Chair of the Superpower Institute
On gas, Shell’s Australia business head Cecile Wake said the “false choice” between domestic supply and exports undermines investment, deters exploration, and threatens supply, calling for policies that “encourage new development, not penalise success”. (AFR)
Gas and electricity prices will rise by 2% for millions of British households under the latest cap announced by energy regulator Ofgem. The increase means a household using a typical amount of energy will pay £1,755 a year, up £35 a year on the current cap. Ofgem sets the quarterly price cap by using a formula that reflects wholesale energy prices, suppliers' network costs and environmental and social levies. Wholesale energy prices fell around 2% over the latest assessment period. (BBC) (Reuters)
A new series from UK-based website Carbon Brief fact checks 16 myths about solar power. The group said misinformation campaigns were impacting policy around the world, with governments restricting and sometimes banning the installation of solar panels across swathes of land. (Carbon Brief)
High US tariffs on Indian solar panel exports are expected to exacerbate a supply glut in India next year, forcing it to find new markets. (Reuters)
Regulation
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A transparency review by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) of the Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) Inputs, Assumptions and Scenarios Report (IASR), used to develop the 2026 Integrated System Plan (ISP) found AEMO did not adequately explain how data centre energy consumption forecasts were derived. Nor did AEMO explain how policies identified as affecting consumer demand such as battery subsidies were used. AER also wants to know how AEMO derived the proportion of hydrogen production that is based in a Renewable Energy Zone (REZ), its assumption that all non-REZ hydrogen production is off-grid, what this means for the proportion of hydrogen production that is assumed to be grid-connected, and assumptions about the cost of hydrogen infrastructure.
Technology
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The Delft University of Technology's Brunel team from the Netherlands took out the 2025 World Solar Challenge after dozens of teams from around the world raced 3,000km from Darwin to Adelaide in solar-powered vehicles. Brunel's victory comes after the team placed third in 2023, and a car fire forced it out of the 2019 race. (ABC)
US-based Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) announced its latest fundraising, with super fund Hostplus among backers in the oversubscribed round. The almost US$3 billion CFS has raised to date is about one-third of the total capital invested in private fusion companies worldwide. CFS plans to have a “commercially relevant” fusion machine ready in 2027 at its campus in Massachusetts. It also plans to build the world’s first grid-scale fusion power plant and put power on the grid in the early 2030s, with tech giant Google locked in as an offtake partner for half the power from the proposed plant in Virginia.
Climate
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The environment’s adaptation to climate change is dependent on water but projecting how water resources will be impacted in the future is difficult. To support climate change adaptation, Charles Darwin University (CDU) researchers have developed a guide, published in the journal Earth’s Future, to making hydrological projections working alongside with experts from CSIRO, New Zealand’s GNS Science (now Earth Science NZ) and climate services company Acclimatised.
“Getting the right modelling outputs from the scientists that will allow water resource managers to inform and adapt their policies and water allocation limits is essential. This guide can help them understand the process, technical jargon and the basis of the climate and hydrological modelling science to better drive the outputs that scientists will prepare for them.”
Frédérique Mourot
CDU PhD candidate
People
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Climateworks Centre’s Chair and co-founder Professor John Thwaites announced his retirement from a formal leadership role. He will remain a professor at Monash University and continue to support sustainability and climate change initiatives.
“John leaves a legacy of resolute focus on impact and achieving Climateworks’ mission to drive emissions reduction at scale and with urgency.”
Anna Skarbek
Climateworks CEO
Research
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The Melbourne Energy Institute - in partnership with the University of Melbourne, the University of Queensland and Princeton University - announced the next phase of the Net Zero Australia Project that will undertake deeper analysis of the decarbonisation challenge and make practical recommendations. Quarterly reports will tackle key questions, including:
- How can we improve the planning and implementation of large-scale decarbonisation initiatives?
- How can land use support natural ecosystems, agriculture and carbon management whilst enabling the rapid roll out of clean energy infrastructure?
- What measures are needed to benefit local communities, mobilise the required workforce and engage households in the clean energy transition?
UNSW Energy Institute CEO Dani Alexander and Industry Professor of Practice Mark Twidell explain why “digital twinning” is essential in the step change to renewables. (Renew Economy)
