The Australia Institute made a submission on the Federal Government’s Technology Investment Roadmap Discussion Paper.

The Australia Institute made a submission to the Australian National Audit Office endorsing proposed audits of the Underwriting New Generation Investment program (UNGI) and Snowy 2.0, and recommending close audit of the National COVID19 Coordination Commission (NCCC).

The Federal Government is expected to move in 2020 to pass legislation to start an offshore renewable energy sector. Wind is currently the sole commercially viable offshore renewable energy generation technology and it has considerable potential to contribute to the Australian and global energy mix. If the Federal Government draws on lessons learned in Europe’s

Victorian brown coal-fired power plants are some of the worst performing stations in the National Electricity Market. With hot and dry conditions forecast for the rest of this summer, Victoria is at risk of further breakdowns of aging coal generators, insufficient supply and blackouts.

The rush to develop Australia’s hydrogen industry is based on export opportunities, especially to Japan and Korea, which have been vastly overstated by comparison with Japanese and Korean targets. Developing hydrogen with coal and gas risks locking in increased emissions, given the track record of carbon capture and storage. Australia should focus on hydrogen produced

The Australia Institute made a submission to the Senate Economics References Committee’s inquiry into Australia’s oil and gas reserves. The submission highlights our existing research on Australia’s oil and gas and how they relate to the inquiry’s terms of reference. Update Read our second submission to the Senate Economics References Committee’s inquiry into Australia’s oil and

The Australia Institute made a submission to the National Environment Protection Council (NEPC) regarding national ambient air quality standards for ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide. The economic assessment of the proposed standards is not fit for purpose. The benefit-cost analysis underestimates the benefits of improved air quality while overstating the costs of improvements. In

The Australia Institute made a submission to the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee’s inquiry into the Coal-Fired Power Funding Prohibition Bill 2017. The submission highlights our existing research on Australia’s energy market and coal-fired power generation. A coal phase out by 2030 is needed to meet our Paris Agreement commitments. Coal communities are better served

Victoria’s brown coal fired power stations suffer from frequent breakdowns and Loy Yang A is the responsible for largest number of breakdowns on the National Energy Market, since monitoring began in December 2017, and Loy Yang A’s Unit 2 is the most unreliable unit on the grid.

The development of hydrogen energy has been promoted as a lower-emissions alternative to Australian coal and gas exports. However, there is a significant risk that the promise of hydrogen as a low-carbon alternative, for domestic use and export, could backfire. The development of Australia’s hydrogen industry could be used as a proverbial Trojan horse, to

The Australia Institute has reviewed economic modelling of climate policies released today by Brian Fisher of BAEconomics. The Institute’s review shows that BAEconomics’ modelling is based on flawed assumptions and its conclusions are not valid.

So far in 2018, there have been 27 major breakdowns at gas and coal power stations in NSW. Every coal power station experienced at least one breakdown. The Tallawarra gas power station experienced three breakdowns. Aging plants Liddell and Vales Point experienced the most breakdowns.

In 2018 there were 135 major breakdowns at gas and coal power stations in the National Energy Market. While the oldest coal plants were responsible for a large proportion of the breakdowns, newer supercritical plants were also unreliable. There were three breakdowns at one of the newest gas plants. Victoria’s brown coal plants were the

A number of federal and state politicians and mining industry groups have called for new supercritical or ultra-supercritical coal-fired power stations to be built in the National Electricity Market (NEM). Data from The Australia Institute’s Gas & Coal Watch shows that coal plants are unreliable and prone to break downs – as they have dozens of times

Western Australia’s economy is heavily impacted by the resource sector. 22% of gross state production comes from resources, making it heavily exposed to the booms and busts of global resource markets. The established gas industry in Western Australia comprises large-scale offshore gas fields focussed on export markets and a number of smaller onshore gas producers

Industry, government and international organisations have given CCS credibility by making predictions about its success and setting targets that give it a clear place in emissions reductions plans. The only institutional target that CCS has met concerns the number of CCS projects launched. All targets for number of projects actually built and operating or for

How over 5 gigawatts of New South Wales gas and coal plants being simultaneously offline pushed the state’s power supply to the brink and drove high electricity prices.

As of 2 September 2018, there have been 100 major breakdowns at gas and coal plants in the National Energy Market – including every coal-fired power station bar one (Mt Piper). While old subcritical coal plants performed poorly, the newer supercritical plants (so-called “HELE” plants) were even more unreliable. There were also breakdowns at some

The Turnbull Government has argued that the passage of its National Energy Guarantee (NEG) will deliver significant price reductions to consumers, with much of the claimed price benefit coming from the ‘greater certainty’ it claims investors will have were the NEG to be agreed upon by state governments and the federal parliament. However, at the

Liddell is the oldest power station in Australia. It is particularly vulnerable to breaking down in hot weather when demand is high, and electricity is most needed. It has suffered four major breakdowns so far this year. Two of these were within two hours of peak demand on very hot summer days. The continued reliance

NEM Fossil generation failure in the 2017 heatwaves During the February 2017 heatwave across south eastern Australia, 14% of fossil generating capacity (3,600 MW) failed during critical peak demand periods in South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland as a result of faults, largely related to the heat. Comparative energy technology costs Electricity from new