Analysis

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

Australia's Solar Waste: A Growing Problem

Australia has long been a global leader in the adoption of solar energy, with one of the highest per capita rates of rooftop solar installations worldwide. Solar power has become a cornerstone in the nation's commitment to sustainability, contributing significantly to reducing its carbon footprint and reliance on fossil fuels. However, as solar panels reach the end of their lifespan, the issue of solar panel waste is rapidly emerging as a significant environmental challenge that could escalate in the coming decades. We take a closer look.

BY Tom Monaghan Mar 06 2025

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

The demographics behind the Top 5 solar postcodes

More than a third of Australian households now have solar installed, making it the largest generation source, ahead of coal plants. While all parts of Australia has seen growth in solar installations, in our latest Solar Report we highlighted the leading postcodes in terms of installations this year to date. Here we take a look at the demographics behind the suburbs in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland based on the most recent census.

BY Carl Kitchen Nov 14 2024

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

Consumer Energy Resources: The next big thing?

The Consumer Energy Resources Roadmap has just been endorsed by Energy and Climate Change Ministers. It is considered by government to be the next big reform for the energy system and important to achieving the AEMO’s Integrated System Plan (ISP). Energy Minister, Chris Bowen, recognises the key will be “making sure that those consumers who have solar panels or a battery or an electric vehicle are able to get maximum benefit out of it for themselves and also for the grid”. There’s no doubt that will be important; equally there is no doubt that it is not simple to achieve, nor a certainty. With the grid intended to serve customers, not the other way around, customer interests will need to be front and centre as the roadmap is rolled out. We take a look.

BY David Markham and Carl Kitchen Jul 25 2024

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

Made in Australia: The Solar Challenge

While Australia is seeking to support a domestic solar industry through policy measures one constant question is how Australia can hope to compete with China? Australia currently manufactures around one per cent of the solar panels installed across the country. Recent reports and analysis highlight the scale of the challenge in trying to develop homegrown solar manufacturing, as does the example of the US, which has been looking to support its own capabilities while introducing measures to also restrict Chinese imports. We take a look.

BY Carl Kitchen Jul 18 2024

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

A peek at community attitudes and awareness towards the energy transition

Recent surveys from KPMG, SEC Newgate and the CSIRO have all provided good insights into the community’s attitude to the changes underway in the grid and the way we generate electricity. They also highlight the level of knowledge of what this involves as well as how overall views on the speed of the transition are being influenced by factors like cost-of-living pressures. We take a look at what they found.

BY Tom Monaghan May 16 2024

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

Queensland’s pumped hydro plans

In September 2022, then Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced plans to construct two new pumped hydro projects: Borumba Dam – a 2GW facility located in Imbil, 50km west of Noosa, and the Pioneer/Burdekin facility which plans to offer 5GW of storage, located 75km west of McKay. We take a look at pumped hydro and how it can support the energy transition.

BY Tom Monaghan Apr 11 2024

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

CER and a changing energy landscape

Australia’s energy landscape is being transformed by the proliferation of consumer energy resources (CER). Already, around one in three Australian homes have solar panels, with one in two expected by 2040, while more than 50,000 small-scale battery systems have been installed in the past seven years. Australia is also predicted to have 22 million electric vehicles (EVs) by 2050. A big part of Australia’s energy future is CER, and if well integrated, there will be positive outcomes for all market participants and flow-on benefits for consumers. We take a look at what is being proposed.

BY David Markham Mar 14 2024

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

High Profile: Calculating consumption for DMO

A draft decision on the next Default Market Offer (DMO) – the regulated price set by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) – is expected soon, and there has already been speculation on what it might be. There is interest in particular around the AER seeking stakeholder views on whether the way it calculates the load profile for energy users should change, to take into account smart meter data. We take a look at what is proposed and why.

BY Carl Kitchen Mar 14 2024

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

Expanded National CIS: What are the pros and cons?

The expanded Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) announced last week aims to bring forward 32GW of generation investment - 9GW dispatchable capacity and 23GW variable renewable capacity - with the costs of the scheme funded by the Federal Government. It can be expected to encourage new capacity which will represent a significant injection of renewables into a grid with ongoing system constraints so does not come without some risks. We take a look at some of the pros and cons.

BY David Feeney Nov 30 2023

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

Some highs and lows: Investor sentiment

Some of the challenges being thrown up by the energy transition, in particular around approvals, capacity and supply chain constraints, skilled labour shortages and government interventions are being reflected in the latest assessment of investor sentiment towards the sector. We take a look.

BY Carl Kitchen Nov 23 2023

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

Energy Dynamics Report - A Tale of Minimum Operational Demand and Wholesale Price declines

The third quarter saw significant price declines compared with the corresponding quarter in 2022 right across the NEM. At the same time with increased output from solar and wind generation inin Queensland’s case, minimum operational demand records were set or equaled in every region. The quarter also saw the highest-ever level of negative price intervals with all regions showing an increase. We dive in to the pricing and operational demand detail of AEMO’s Q3 Quarterly Energy Dynamics Report.

BY Australian Energy Council Nov 09 2023

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

GenCost verdict: Onshore wind and solar remain lowest cost generation

The latest GenCost report has again highlighted that solar and onshore wind remain the lowest cost new build generation available. This remains the case even when integration costs are factored in. The report also quantifies the cost of global supply chain constraints which have impacted the raw material costs for manufacturing, as well as the transport costs involved in getting new generation installed. Those constraints have led to an estimated average 20 per cent increase in technology costs compared to a year ago. Read more to see the forecast costs of different generation technologies.

BY Carl Kitchen Jul 27 2023

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

Reports highlight ongoing challenge of transition

Amidst all the discussion of the energy transition two new reports looking at energy use and options for the energy transition have highlighted the continued major challenge to reduce overall carbon emissions. We take a look at the '2023 statistical review of world energy' and the ‘How to make net zero happen’ reports side by side to provide a picture of where energy consumption has been, and where it may be going in the future and the implications for the energy sector.

BY Australian Energy Council Jul 20 2023

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

Critical minerals, clean energy and a US compact

Last weekend the US and Australia entered a Climate, Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Transformation Compact. Prior to that the Federal Government announced funding to help progress development of local processing capabilities for critical minerals and more is expected to emerge when the Federal Government’s critical minerals strategy is released in coming weeks. It all highlights the growing importance of critical minerals in the clean energy transition and how best to develop Australia’s reserves. We consider the key drivers and recent developments.

BY Carl Kitchen May 25 2023

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

Why it’s important to have good standards

There is so much going on in the Consumer Energy Resources (CER) space it’s difficult to keep track. There’s record uptake of rooftop solar, VPP trials, advanced trials for a CER marketplace. Market bodies and regulators are making efforts to enable consumer uptake of CER with reforms and technical standards. Those standards will strongly influence how CER operate, interact with the grid and what benefit owners ultimately derive. Here we take a closer look at how they work and consider why it’s important for stakeholders to get involved.

BY David Markham May 25 2023

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

Energy Outlook points to exponential electricity growth

Increasing levels of electrification and rising living standards globally will see an exponential growth in the demand for electricity, according to projections in BP’s latest energy assessment. BP’s Energy Outlook is updated annually to provide useful insights in the energy transition globally. It considers three scenarios which are designed to consider the full range of potential outcomes into the future and resulting carbon impacts. We take a look at what this latest review finds.

BY Mitchell Cutting Apr 27 2023

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

Victoria to NSW Interconnector, a functionally impaired asset?

In recent times daytime northern flow limits on the Victoria to NSW Interconnector (VNI) have dramatically reduced. It is particularly noticeable when compared with the flows from previous years. As a result VNI’s daily constraint profile looks more like the daily generation profile of a solar farm. Constraints on VNI northward flows are resulting in significant dispatch inefficiencies and with it costs. We take a closer look.

BY Peter Brook Mar 23 2023

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

Deep Dive: 2022 Victorian Election Commitments

Recent data shows that energy is an issue that more and more voters are conscious of as they consider which politicians are best to lead us. The latest True Issues Survey conducted by JWS Research and published in the Australian Financial Review shows that 39% of people believe that energy is one of the most important issue the government should focus on, compared with 20% in March. This movement comes against a background of an energy crisis in June precipitating higher wholesale energy prices and the effects beginning to filter through to consumer bills.

BY Australian Energy Council Nov 24 2022

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

Rooftop solar PV with a battery: does it stack up?

As the price reduces and technology improves, rooftop solar PV with battery storage is increasingly likely to be part of Australia’s transition to renewable energy. A key for many households will be the payback period. But, does the cost-benefit analysis stack up currently and how is it likely to change in future? We take a look at the types of batteries available, their costs and the incentives that are likely to encourage more households to take-up batteries with solar installations.

BY Mitchell Cutting Nov 10 2022

ANALYSIS Continue Reading

Solar's China Syndrome?

A recent report by the International Energy Agency has highlighted the dominant role of China in the world’s solar supply chain. The transition underway in the global energy market will not be immune from this dominance. The IEA estimates one out of every seven panels produced internationally now comes from a single manufacturing site in China. As we have seen recently with Russia’s gas supplies, a supply chain dependency can be extremely disruptive. So, are there options to avoid this?

BY Australian Energy Council Aug 11 2022

1 2