Latest
Older, ‘cheaper’ houses hide costs that bite owners
More than 80 per cent of Australia’s houses have half the energy efficiency of the latest standards – and that’s going to make them less valuable.
- Michael Bleby
Rio Tinto says carbon price pain justifies action on emissions
Carbon pricing schemes in Australia and Quebec mean almost half of Rio’s emissions are subject to penalty and would soon cost $940 million per year if not tackled.
- Peter Ker
Revamped Potentia Energy scours market for big battery investments
The company once known as Enel Green Power Australia has plenty of cash to splash on renewable assets.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
CSIRO doubles down on nuclear power as too costly, slow
The science agency’s latest report on future energy needs comes just ahead of the long-awaited costings for Peter Dutton’s nuclear energy policy.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Pilbara plots its path from diesel to clean, green mining
Port Hedland is bang in the middle of the country’s industrial engine. There are ambitious plans to decarbonise with miles of transmission and new generation.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
This Month
- Updated
- Mergers & acquisitions
Di Pilla finds big super backers as he clinches $950m clean energy buy
The veteran dealmaker’s HMC Capital is acquiring a portfolio of renewable generation assets from Neoen and becoming a major player in the energy transition.
- Updated
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Emergency market operator moves to plug gaps ahead of hot, wet summer
The energy market operator has placed emergency energy reserves on standby ahead of the hottest months of the year and warned about managing gas supplies.
- James Hall
APA plots path from gas to become a Pilbara solar and batteries giant
The company, which opened its latest electricity project in Port Hedland on Tuesday, expects to tick off on more investments in the region within a year.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Household hardship mounts as energy prices increase
More households are entering hardship programs to try to keep with their energy bills, even as government rebates take the edge off sharp price rises in the past year.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
November
- Exclusive
- Energy transition
‘Nothing’s off the table’: Expert panel to overhaul electricity market
Energy Minister Chris Bowen has tapped former AGL Energy executive Tim Nelson and three other industry specialists to review the National Energy Market.
- Updated
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Generators scramble after NSW’s near miss on blackouts
More than 2000 megawatts of coal power capacity is due back online within 10 days, as generators scramble to avoid a repeat of Wednesday’s close shave on the NSW power grid.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
- Exclusive
- Energy prices
Electrification and renewables could slice 20pc off energy bills: AEMC
The agency that writes the rules governing the electricity and gas markets estimates big savings for families if they move away from petrol cars and gas.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Blackout risk lingers in NSW as coal outages hit
The tight electricity supply in the state follows an unusually large number of unexpected outages at coal power units.
- Updated
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Where have the cowboy solar panel spruikers gone? Home battery storage
The roll-out of renewables to households has been a success. But it has come with a dark side, with dodgy operators taking advantage of ill-informed customers.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
- Updated
- Climate policy
Australia left in limbo after fight to host global COP talks falters
Australia is vying with Turkey to host the annual climate summit, but a discordant meeting in Baku deferred the decision until June – after the federal election.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Exclusive
- Gas
Labor failing gas industry on lawfare, approvals: O’Neill
Meg O’Neill said the Albanese government’s lack of progress on streamlining gas approval processes and reining in “lawfare” risks imperilling energy security.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
- Exclusive
- Energy transition
The country’s biggest aluminium smelter says green target unreachable
Rio Tinto-backed Tomago, which uses more power than any other industrial operation in Australia, says renewable energy is too expensive and in short supply.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Dollars over barrels: Santos’ pledge to investors
A new dividend policy – which is underpinned by softer guidance for output – comes amid pressure on the oil and gas producer to lift investor returns.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
The energy transition will be much cheaper than you think
Analysts have for decades severely overestimated energy demand and underestimated the speed of technological advances.
- Opinion
- Energy transition
Why the world’s biggest climate conference is a cynical scam
The COP process is now worse than superfluous: it has become a cynical exercise in moral blackmail against the West.
- Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
- Opinion
- Electric vehicles
America got the world driving. Now it’s going home
The US car industry is turning inwards again for the first time in a century. Detroit got the world on the road. BYD will inherit the earth.
- David Fickling
- Analysis
- Energy transition
No-shows and early exits make climate talks a sideshow
The world leaders who skipped Baku last week are all in Brazil now. While COPs are always fraught and fractious, this one feels at risk of sliding into irrelevance.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
QIC bets on Aussie climate tech companies, backs $200m VC
Queensland’s sovereign fund has joined Westpac and Clean Energy Finance Corporation in backing Virescent Ventures’ second climate-focused fund.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
NSW idle in pragmatic shift on coal: Glencore CEO
Gary Nagle says the state, where Glencore is struggling to extend the life of a coal mine, has fallen behind the rest of the world in failing to adopt a more “neutral” position on the fossil fuel.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Coal miners halt climate fund donations citing lack of projects
Australia’s cashed-up coal miners have put the brakes on contributions to an industry decarbonisation fund and the decision will be reviewed “periodically”.
- Peter Ker
