Election 2016 — renewables roundup week #5

wind turbines in a field

Why does Nick Xenophon hate wind so much?

A bit of housekeeping before we launch into the Election 2016 renewables roundup for week #5. Last week we touched on the growing interest in the independents and — in particular — the rise and rise of the Nick Xenophon Party, especially in the senator’s home state of South Australia. [Read more…]

Election 2016 — Renewables roundup Week #4

As Election 2016 reaches the halfway point, it’s time to consider a few possibilities in our weekly election renewables roundup. With the polls tightening even further, what chance is there of another hung parliament? More importantly, what does that mean for renewables such as solar energy development in Australia over the next three years?

pylons

The spectre of a hung parliament raised its head in Week#4.

[Read more…]

Election renewables roundup Week #3

pollution from coal power station

As the polling gap closes, climate and renewables are conspicuously absent from the mainstream debate.

Our election renewables roundup for week 3 sees the polling gap between the two major parties to be the width of a cigarette paper with Bouncing Billy Shorten closing the preferred prime minister margin.

The closeness of the campaign shows a single issue cuts across party and demographic lines, is popular amongst the majority of voters and may be the difference between winning, losing or a hung parliament. [Read more…]

Election renewables news roundup Week #2

turnbull

Whilst pollies spent the week campaigning, Aussie researchers made the biggest breakthrough in solar efficiency in years.

Used to being marginalised during election campaigns, the renewables sector hasn’t exactly sprung to the centre of attention during the latest most important election since the last one. However there are signs that the two major parties are taking notice of the Australian electorate’s overwhelming support for a strong renewable energy policy as we dip into the election renewables news roundup for the second week. [Read more…]

Election renewables news roundup Week #1

election-week-1

And it’s on for young and old! It was a race to the wardrobe to find the hi-visibility vests and hard hats as soon as our PM got the nod for an early election last week. Breathless, the two have traversed the land in the first week, trying to appear with as many workers and small business people as possible to squeeze in one camera shot. [Read more…]

Solar Panel Rebate To Be Phased Out From 1st of January 2017

solar rebate ending

The projected solar rebate for a 5kW system in Zone 3 with a $37 STC price.

The solar rebate which currently reduces the cost of rooftop solar in Australia will be phased out with the first reduction starting in less than 8 months on the 1st of January 2017. The rebate will reduce by one fifteenth of its current amount on the first day of each new year until 2030 and will end on the 31st of December that year. At the start of 2017, the rebate of $3,990 that most Australians would receive at the moment for a 5 kilowatt rooftop solar system will fall by around $266 down to $3,724. The phase out encourages Australians to install rooftop solar sooner rather than later. [Read more…]

5 Reasons Why Supply Charges On Electricity Bills Must Go!

pylons

Supply charges have no place in a 21st Century electricity network.

Do you know what I hate? What I truly despise? What causes black bile to bubble up from the deepest, darkest depths of my soul? Supply charges on electricity bills. [Read more…]

Clean Energy Council report throws down the gauntlet to lawmakers

power shift CEC report

The Clean Energy Council have released a good report outlining the policy steps needed to transition to clean energy. But will anybody read it?

A Clean Energy Council report released last week makes for intriguing reading folks.

Building on the recent Paris agreements, where countries agreed to limit carbon emissions to limit global warming to 2 degrees or below, the study challenges our leaders to think seriously about how to carry out such a plan. [Read more…]

Think tank predicts end of fossil fuel in a decade

renewables-in-10

No fossil fuels from 2026?

Most supporters of the clean energy revolution have never wavered in their belief that renewables will be the dominant energy source of the future. The only question is how long before we wean ourselves off fossil fuels.

Now a think tank based in the United Kingdom has had a stab at answering this $64 question by predicting that fossil fuels could be phased out almost completely over the next decade.

The Sussex Energy Group, based at the University of Sussex, has said that a co-ordinated effort could see the switch to clean energy brought in much earlier than previously thought. [Read more…]

What’s Turnbull and Hunt up to on renewable energy financing?

hunt and turnbull

Malcom & Greg rip millions from renewables research whilst claiming the opposite. Sigh.

The government’s re-shaping of renewable energy financing during the week has drawn quite a few responses in the media. Some applaud the allocation of $1 billion for renewables, however most of them have accused the PM and the Minister of the Environment Greg Hunt of duplicity and blatant vote-buying in an election year. [Read more…]

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