Will the National Energy Guarantee hit pause on renewables?
The federal government’s new National Energy Guarantee (NEG) proposal looks likely to put the brakes on renewable energy investment in Australia. And based on the sparse detail so far available, there are serious questions about whether the plan really can deliver on its aims of reliability, emissions reductions and lower prices. The broad mechanism design […]
Subsidies for renewables will go under Malcolm Turnbull’s power plan
The government is set to unveil its long-awaited energy plan that would scrap subsidies for renewables and impose obligations on power companies to source a certain proportion of “reliable” supply. While the plan emphasises reliability and reducing power prices, the government is also confident it would allow Australia to meet its commitments under the Paris […]
Power bills can fall – but the main attention must be on affordability: ACCC
The chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Rod Sims, holds out the prospect of an absolute fall in electricity bills over coming years – but says this will require focusing centrally on affordability, not just reliability and sustainability. In its Retail Electricity Pricing Inquiry preliminary report into the electricity market, released on […]
French and Australian experts on solving the world’s sustainability challenge
The Conversation and the Australian French Embassy presented a panel between French and Australian experts at the University of New South Wales in March, opened by the French Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Development Jean-Marc Ayrault. In his opening remarks, Ayrault celebrated the signing and coming into force of the 2015 Paris Agreement, under […]
‘No one is steering the ship’: five lessons learned (or not) since the SA blackout
A year ago, the power system went down in South Australia. Homes and businesses across the state were without electricity for hours, some for days. While its specific causes have already been worked through, the nation’s most widespread blackout in decades quickly became a symbol of “Australia’s energy crisis”. One year on, it is time […]
