Renewable Energy

We can replace coal power with renewables and storage, electrify everything, create a renewable export industry and grow clean energy supply chains

“Together we can end the climate wars, we can be a renewable energy superpower,” said Australia’s 31st prime minister, Anthony Albanese, in his victory speech on election night. Words are powerful, and by uttering them, our nation’s new leader signalled a new way for our policy and politics aimed at uniting and strengthening our communities and economy.

But what sits behind the words of politicians is often more important, so let’s get into what it means for Australia to become a renewable superpower and how that will cast the climate wars into the history books where they belong.

Government limit on contracts for new renewable energy generation is ‘outdated thinking’, says Greenpeace UK

Consumers will face higher energy bills than necessary next winter because of a decision by the government to limit new renewable energy generation, described as a “missed opportunity” by the renewables industry, and “outdated thinking” by a green campaign group.

Ministers have decided to authorise contracts for about 12GW of new renewable energy generation, to start construction this year, with much of it likely to come on stream before next autumn. However, the renewable energy industry estimates that about 17.4GW of projects have cleared planning permission and are “shovel-ready”.

Covid disruptions in China and rising costs are affecting supplies of solar panels and wind turbine parts, while domestic energy prices climb

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Supply chain delays from China and the soaring cost of steel and other materials are combining to slow the advance of renewable energy in Australia and elsewhere, a leading insurer and industry groups say.

The cost of steel for wind turbine blades had risen by 50% or more since the Covid pandemic’s start, even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted a scramble to accelerate the switch away from coal, oil and gas to clean energy alternatives, according to GCube, a global insurer of renewables that has recently opened its first Australian office in Sydney.

Australia needs a far more ambitious agenda than the one Anthony Albanese took to the election

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This election marks a new start for climate policy in Australia. The Albanese government has the chance to do more than to make a start on selected policy measures: it can redefine the national conversation about climate change.

The central issue for Anthony Albanese and his government is social justice, not climate change. Cost-of-living pressures loom large, and the sharper focus on international security saps attention.

Analysis: As Labor focused on opportunities for working people in the transition to renewables, the Greens mounted a formidable on-the-ground campaign

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Given the complex dynamics of the 2022 election campaign, many postmortems, from many points of view, will ultimately be undertaken.

But one of the more intriguing questions to emerge after Saturday night is whether Labor fully understood the gathering momentum of the Greens voter recruitment exercise in metropolitan Brisbane once it was clear the Liberal vote in the inner city had collapsed.

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