INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS GET REAL The Smart Energy Council has written to all State and Territory Energy Ministers urging them to reject the Morrison Government’s pro-coal, anti-solar agenda. The agenda incudes an annual $7 billion CoalKeeper subsidy to prop up unprofitable, ageing, polluting coal-fired stations and a new SolarStopper tax on solar farms (Congestion Management Model). Acknowledging the UN’s IPCC climate report provides the starkest warning yet to stop funding coal projects and instead boost renewable power, John Grimes said “These are the worst possible policies at the worst possible time… the world is literally burning and the Morrison Government is fuelling the fire.” He suggests prior to the critical COP26 climate change meeting in November, the federal energy minister develops an energy and climate change policy for the 21st Century.
ARENA is providing $2 million to ClimateWorks to assist with the next stage of the Australian Industry Energy Transitions Initiative which brings together most of the nation’s’ largest industrial energy users to reduce emissions across their supply chains. The initiative is focused on iron and steel, alumina and aluminium, lithium, copper and nickel, LNG, and chemicals including plastics, fertilisers and explosives. Companies that have signed on including BHP, BlueScope, and BP Australia account for about a fifth of Australia’s industrial emissions. IMAGE COURTESY ARENA
The WESTERN GREEN ENERGY HUB is destined to become the world’s biggest renewable energy hub. Costing $100bn and with 50GW* wind and solar capacity it will generate 3.5m tonnes of green hydrogen or 20m tonnes of green ammonia each year. See page 35 for more on the proposal by InterContinental Energy, CWP Global and Mirning Green Energy Limited. *Current generation capacity of coal, gas and renewables plants in the NEM sits at 54GW.
BEYOND ZERO EMISSIONS’ independent review has found the Renewable Energy Industrial Precincts in Gladstone and the Hunter Valley will add a windfall $13 billion to the economy and 45,000 ongoing jobs by 2032, delivering an exciting future for the regions. Energy Ministers from Queensland and NSW addressed the future energy markets of their States at Smart Energy Council’s State Energy Summits, see page 18 and visit www.smartenergy.org.au for recordings.
PROGRAM AZ FOREST
Smart Energy is printed by Camten on 100 per cent recycled paper which is certified Carbon Neutral by the Department of Environment under the National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS). Made in Australia by an ISO 14001 certified mill. No chlorine bleaching occurs in the recycling process. Camten uses sustainable printing practices – Sustainable Green Print – Lean and Green, and is fully FSC certified SGS COC 004746.
4 SPRING 2021
IMAGE BY TERRI SHARP FROM PIXABAY
POLLUTING OIL AND GAS GIANT CHEVRON has failed to capture the greenhouse gas emissions it vowed at its Gorgon oil and gas project which is the world’s largest CCS project and the leading test case for carbon capture technology. Gorgon was attempting to capture four million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, or 80 per cent of the carbon extracted from its reservoir gas, yet recorded capture of just 30 per cent. Environmental group Sustainable Energy Now says it’s a shocking failure of one of the world’s largest engineering projects, already $60 million of taxpayer’s money has been spent on the $3.1 billion CCS project. Clearly time the oil and gas industry recalculates its net zero forecasts.
Global pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca which has pledged net zero carbon emissions by 2025 and carbon negative by 2030 has committed to planting 50 million trees around the world. Around half of all these trees will be planted in Australia on account of the Black Summer fires. The global project will result in around 20,000 hectares planted and 4.25 million tonnes of carbon dioxide sequestered over the next 25 years.
