Australia could create more than 4300 quality direct jobs by making its own wind towers instead of importing them, according to new research by the Centre for Future Work. At present, all wind towers installed in Australia are imported from overseas with most coming from China.

While Australia generates a lot of renewable energy, a significant amount of that energy is wasted. In the middle of the day, when solar panels are at their most productive, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) often instructs solar farms to disconnect from the grid.

Even though Australia needs to transition to a net zero emissions economy as a matter of urgency, the tax system continues to encourage fossil fuel investment.

Public road and rail projects worth $7 billion have been sidelined due to Australia’s ‘clogged’ infrastructure pipeline. Meanwhile, the coal and gas industries have committed to $41 billion worth of new fossil fuel projects with similar construction and engineering inputs. Fossil fuel expansion will crowd out both road and rail projects and drive up the cost of the approximately $58 billion in renewable energy infrastructure projects also planned by the Federal Government.

In Denmark, renewable wind power generates 54% of all electricity. The rapid expansion of wind power has been driven by policies that ensure citizens have a financial stake in its development. 

The NT LNG facility aims to produce up 20 million tonnes of LNG per year for export using gas fracked from the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin.

Climate policy can incentivise genuine emissions reduction, or it can delay decarbonisation by expanding the use of offsets.

Shifting from private passenger vehicle use to zero emissions public transport will help curb Australia’s rising transport emissions. When considering other factors, such as population growth – particularly in urban areas – and the significant non-CO2 pollutant emissions associated with traditional diesel buses, it is clear that electrification of buses should be a central pillar

The Morrison Government has released a ‘whole of economy plan’ to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. While they are yet to reveal the underlying economic modelling on which the plan was based, it is still possible to consider the plausibility of the results of the modelling even when the assumptions behind the modelling remain

All the net reduction in national emissions between 2005 and 2020 were contributed by the land sector. Emissions from energy combustion, which in 2020 accounted for 72% of total emissions, were 2.0% higher than in 2005. Total energy emissions to the end of August 2021, as estimated by NEEA, again increased, as growing consumption of

Welcome to the August 2021 issue of the NEEA Report, and apologies for the long delay since the last issue. Because it is nearly five months since our last issue, this new issue starts with an update in the NEEA estimate of changes in Australia’s total energy combustion emissions up to the end of June

All G7 members have sharpened their climate and trade policies to consider the use of carbon border adjustments. Australia should lean in rather than push back on the development of such a proposal while taking advantage of the opportunities in existing and new export industries.

Welcome to the January 2021 issue of the NEEA Report, with data relating to electricity in the National Electricity Market updated to the end of November 2020. This includes a short summary of the very important investment initiatives in New South Wales, announced by Minister Matt Kean at the end of November. This issue also

Rental properties are less likely to have solar PV installations than owner-occupied properties, resulting in higher electricity bills and greenhouse gas emissions. Government programs that coordinate and change the incentives faced by landlords, renters, property managers and solar installers can help address this imbalance.

Submission made to the Energy Security Board’s proposed framework for the planning of renewable energy zones (REZ) within state jurisdictions in the National Electricity Market (NEM). This form part an ongoing research project titled Rural Communities and Renewable Energy: A Socio-economic Study in NSW, conducted by thte University of Sydney Environment Institute, Australian National University and the

The Australian Energy Market Commission is considering a rule change that would allow distribution networks to charge households with solar PV for the energy they export. Our submission argues that it would be unfair to bring in a new system of charges to cover the supposed costs of DER before DER can also earn fair

Between May – July 2020 Helen Haines MP, the member for Indi, Victoria, ran a national co-design process to formulate a Community Energy Plan for Regional Australia. The Australia Institute has made a submission that references our prior research including two publications by Dan Cass on community renewable energy and regional renewable energy development. Our key recommendations

This submission presents preliminary findings from a research project titled Rural Communities and Renewable Energy: A Socio-economic Study in NSW, conducted by The Australia Institute and University of Sydney Environment Institute. The key preliminary finding is that the lack of a national process for local engagement and planning of energy infrastructure reduces the benefits of

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

A submission to the ‘Delayed implementation of five minute and global settlement’ rule change, which seeks to delay the implementation of five minute settlement (5MS) and global settlement (GS) by12 months, from July 2021 to July 2022.

Coal generators are pushing to delay important reforms that would make the National ElectricityMarket more reliable and efficient and help lower emissions. Speeding up NEM reform will help drive economic recovery, not delay it.

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

The Commonwealth Government has made technology central to reducing emissions to 2030, but the Australian Renewable Energy Agency has only $200 million to allocate to new projects. With multi-party support for the Agency, legislation to extend its funding should be urgently passed.

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

At the UN General Assembly the Prime Minister claimed Australia has the highest renewable energy investment in the world in per capita terms. This claim is contradicted by multiple data sources including those the government cites, and is misleading. The recent boom followed a collapse caused by the government cutting the Renewable Energy Target. Investment

The ACT will soon become the first Australian jurisdiction to achieve a transition from a fossil fuel based supply to 100% renewable electricity. Just seven other jurisdictions have achieved this, in Germany, Austria and Spain.