Analysis

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Getting the mail on solar installations

The Australian Energy Council has analysed the nation's top suburbs for solar installations for the first quarter of 2021. And with 20 years of data collected by the Clean Energy Regulator, we also take a look at how the data compares to historical uptake.

BY AEC May 13 2021

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Will network operator batteries hurt competition?

Australia is grappling with the rapid change in how and when electricity is generated and consumed. In Western Australia, recent changes to the Electricity Networks Access Code allow expansion of the role of the network operator. Oakley Greenwood has considered what the amendments mean for competition in the Wholesale Electricity Market.

BY Graham Pearson May 13 2021

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FMG chases green dream

Disruption is one of the cornerstones of the success of Fortescue Metals Group. FMG’s ability to get things done in the face of seemingly insurmountable barriers can be illustrated no more vividly than when BHP and Rio Tinto sought to prevent the then start up iron ore miner from accessing its rail lines in the Pilbara. FMG built its own and outdid its rivals by extending those lines to Perth. Now FMG wants to apply the same zeal to energy and green steel.

BY Hamish Fitzsimmons Mar 04 2021

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Dropping demand and plunging prices: Can you have too much of a good thing?

The fourth quarter of 2020 saw the NEM reach lowest average demand since Q4 2001 – with SA and Victoria’s spot prices hitting record lows. Are customers benefiting from the price suppression effects of renewable energy generation? Or is the market telling us a different story?

BY Ben Skinner Feb 18 2021

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Smoke on the solar: The impact on generation

The extreme weather conditions that led to massive bushfires occurring on both Australia’s south east coast last summer and across California more recently has had a dramatic and far reaching impact on people and communities.

BY Carl Kitchen Oct 15 2020

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Renewables in the NEM: Are they leading to price extremes?

With the ongoing growth of renewables in Australia there has been speculation of the overall impact this will have on an energy-only market like the NEM and in particular, its potential influence on spot prices.

BY Carl Kitchen Aug 20 2020

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REZs: Can they overcome the prisoner’s dilemma?

Last week the NSW Government announced its intention to expedite plans for the state’s second REZ in New England.

BY Ben Skinner & Carl Kitchen Jul 16 2020

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Going 'off-grid': An energy nirvana?

Rooftop solar PV may be widely popular, but it is only a partial solution. The sun doesn’t always shine when you need electricity. Storing some of the household’s surplus solar electricity to be used later during the evening peaks is a logical answer to this problem.

BY Matthew Warren Apr 11 2019

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Lights out for solar thermal?

Late last week the South Australian Government announced that SolarReserve, the proponent of a solar thermal power plant at Port Augusta, had failed to win funding for the $650 million project.

BY Carl Kitchen Apr 11 2019

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No solar eclipse: IEA’s World Energy Outlook

In the International Energy Agency’s most recent World Energy Outlook the electricity sector is experiencing the largest transformation since its creation. It predicts that solar PV’s installed capacity will surpass wind before 2025, pass hydropower around 2030, and coal before 2040.

BY Justine Lovell Mar 04 2019