This Month
Energy CEOs urge industry not to quit hydrogen dream
Australian businesses need to be smarter and work harder to overcome the cost hurdles in hydrogen, which has a strong future in some industries, CEOs insist.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Green hydrogen too ‘expensive and inefficient’: Finkel
Former chief scientist Alan Finkel – who devised Australia’s first clean hydrogen strategy – now says we are “unlikely to use hydrogen for storage of electricity”.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith, Peter Ker and Jessica Sier
Albanese sticks to hydrogen despite Fortescue retreat
Andrew Forrest ditching plans to produce 15 million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030 has sparked questions over the government’s climate policies.
- Andrew Tillett and Brad Thompson
Blackstone pays $300m for minority stake in Symphony Infra Partners
The private capital giant is understood to have squared off against HMC Capital’s Julia Gillard-chaired Energy Transition Fund in the auction’s final round.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
LNG export purse crunched 25pc as prices drop
Australia’s LNG revenue fell in 2023-24 despite flat export volumes, with Santos’ sales broadly reflecting the wider picture as prices softened.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Fortescue’s pivot shakes faith in Labor’s Hydrogen Headstart strategy
Power prices would need to drop steeply and electrolyser costs more than halve to produce hydrogen at anywhere near a competitive level, the industry has warned.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Nuclear awakening ‘a decade or two late’, says AER
Clare Savage said it would take 25 years to put the political and regulatory frameworks in place for nuclear power – much longer than the Coalition says.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Genex to depart ASX after investors back J-Power takeover
Shareholder approval of the deal, worth more than $1 billion including debt, was in little doubt after 19.9 per cent investor Skip Capital revealed it would back it.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
AGL, Squadron CEOs warn of pitfalls in flagship clean energy policy
The Capacity Investment Scheme could end up supporting poor projects that only won contracts because they bid at a cheap price and which will never be built, a clean energy summit heard.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
AEMO chief warns no chance of nuclear replacing ageing coal plants
Daniel Westerman, who runs the energy market operator, said gas generation would remain the “ultimate backstop” as fossil fuels exit the electricity grid.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
ICA Partners shops stake in EnergyAustralia’s Wooreen battery project
EnergyAustralia has put a 50 per cent equity stake in its “shovel-ready” Wooreen battery energy storage system project on the table and tapped ICA Partners to drum up interest.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
- Exclusive
- Mergers & acquisitions
Farquhar’s Skip Capital will back J-Power’s takeover of Genex
The Atlassian billionaire’s fund owns 19.9 per cent of the ASX-listed renewable energy group. Its support removes a major roadblock for the Japanese utility.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Labor’s green hydrogen rules for $6.7b subsidy splits producers
Criteria being proposed for renewable hydrogen could mean emissions rise instead of fall as projects “cannibalise” the grid, green advocates warn.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Akaysha signs $650m debt deal for giant NSW battery
The system to be built near Wellington will be one of the largest in the world. The BlackRock-owned group has also struck a supply deal with EnergyAustralia.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Snowy Hydro pushes gas power ambitions with major storage deal
The 25-year contract will underpin the expansion of the Iona project, and underscores expectations the fuel will remain part of the energy mix past 2050.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Gas bill rises hit households despite east coast price caps
Increases of up to 11 per cent from the biggest retailers will saddle families with steeper energy costs despite a mandated pause in electricity tariff rises.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
- Exclusive
- Mergers & acquisitions
Brookfield to sell Neoen assets in Vic to seal ACCC tick
The Canadian giant is in early talks to sell the 2.8-gigawatt portfolio of proposed wind and storage projects even ahead of the result of the ACCC inquiry.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Greek giant Metlen shops Aussie renewables portfolio; taps MacCap
In Australia, it has eight solar assets in operation or development and 2.9 gigawatts of “near-medium-term” opportunities, according to marketing documents.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Dutton’s nuclear dream exposed as a short-term political play
Readers’ letters on nuclear politics; those left behind by selective schools; and Australia’s sectarian divide.
Woodside signs up Taiwan as long-term LNG customer
Taiwan’s state-owned CPC is already a big customer for Australian liquefied natural gas via Ichthys and Prelude, but the new deal will potentially run into the 2040s.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
