INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS
NATIONAL AND STATE ROUND-UP
A truly audacious bid to accelerate decarbonisation: Eclipsing all Big News Items on the reshaping of the energy market – and there have been many – is the fundamentally game changing $8 BILLION BID
FOR ENERGY GIANT AGL BY RENEWABLES TRAILBLAZER MIKE CANNONBROOKES in concert with Canadian asset manager Brookfield.
The tech billionaire with an aptitude for pre-empting market futures, together with former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, calculate an outlay of $20 billion on 8GW of renewables and storage to replace AGL’s 7GW of coal-fired generators (Including Loy Yang A brown coal) would steer AGL to zero emissions by 2035. If successful the actions would reduce Australian emissions by 8 per cent; AGL is responsible for more than double the carbon emissions of Energy Australia and more than BHP, Rio Tinto, Glencore and Qantas combined. At the time of going to print the bid had been rejected by AGL but given Mike Cannon-Brookes lacks neither tenacity nor vision we can only say Watch This Space. Top 5 polluting companies in Australia Company name
Total Scope 1 Emissions
AGL Energy
42,227,180 tonnes
Energy Australia
17,935,957 tonnes
Stanwell Corporation
17,126,943 tonnes
Origin Energy
15,997,984 tonnes
C S Energy
13,199,922 tonnes
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4 AUTUMN 2022
GROWTH SPURT Australia boasts a near trillion dollar portfolio of largescale renewable projects spanning onshore and offshore wind, solar PV, hydrogen electrolysers and storage. Rystad Energy identifies nearly 1,300 projects involving 600 different companies that amount to 400GW NEW CAPACITY AND ARE WORTH AROUND $830 BILLION. That’s well beyond the amount of energy needed to supply the nation and paves the way for Australia’s evolution as a GLOBAL ENERGY SUPERPOWER and exporter of renewable hydrogen and ammonia. Among the bigger developments taking shape is NEOEN’S 400MW WESTERN DOWNS solar farm west of Brisbane. On completion within 12 months, it can claim the title of largest solar farm in Australia. More recently Neoen began work on the first stage of the
412MW WIND FARM AT GOYDER SOUTH in South Australia, which on completion will be the country’s biggest grid-connected wind, solar and battery hybrid project.
Work on PROJECT ENERGYCONNECT $2.4 BILLION 900KM TRANSMISSION LINK between South Australia and NSW has commenced with the first transmission poles cemented into place. The interconnector’s anticipated completion in 2025 is a vital step in shoring up infrastructure to support the transition to a grid-powered 100 per cent by renewables. The VICTORIAN BIG BATTERY which is Australia’s biggest came online late last year: Neoen’s 300MW/450MWh lithium-ion battery in Geelong unlocks an additional 250MW of interconnection capacity and will supply grid services such as frequency response in the NEM. IMAGE COURTESY VICTORIAN BIG BATTERY
In other market shake-ups Origin intends to bring forward by seven years to 2025 THE CLOSURE OF ITS STRUGGLING ERARING COAL PLANT, which currently generates 20 per cent of NSW energy capacity. The announcement displeased the fossil-fanatic federal energy minister who appears unable to grasp the monumental scale of changes in the energy landscape. More than 80 projects worth $100 billion and a combined generation capacity of 40GW have been proposed for the RENEWABLE ENERGY ZONE IN THE HUNTER AND CENTRAL COAST ALONE. NSW energy minister Matt Kean (pictured) welcomes the avalanche of interest in NSW REZs, which is poised to unlock up to 135GW IN RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATION. In all 24 solar projects, 13 onshore and seven offshore wind projects along with eight pumped hydro energy storage projects and 35 big batteries would generate energy equivalent to 10 coal plants.
Meantime the QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT HAS ATTRACTED 60GW worth of proposed project capacity in its Renewable Energy Zone.
Over in the west Twiggy Forrest’s Fortescue Future Industries has announced plans for 5.4GW RENEWABLES PROJECT to power its Pilbara mining operations. The grand plan for the Uaroo Renewable Energy Hub includes 340 wind turbines, >2GW and 3,333MW solar farm with a battery energy storage system of 9,100 MWh.
