How big batteries are a boon for regional Australia
Recent announcements that two big batteries will be built at coal-fired power stations in NSW are great news for the energy system and regional communities across Australia.
Read moreForrest reveals plan to replace coal with 40,000 green steel jobs
Fortescue Metals Group chairman Andrew Forrest says the time is right for Australia to develop its own big steel-making industry using the nation’s vast iron ore resources and emerging green technologies.
Read moreCoal mining: Hunter, Newcastle, Illawarra could face employment crisis from demand decline
Coal mining communities across NSW could be brought to their knees as governments across the globe prepare for a transition from coal-fuelled energy to renewables. A NSW Parliamentary Research report handed down this week has raised concerns over the impact decreased domestic and international demand on the $25.5 billion local coal industry would have on “highly dependent” cities and towns.
AGL announces suppliers for grid-scale battery plans
AGL has signed agreements with Finland's Wartsila and US storage provider Fluence for the supply up to 1000 megawatts of grid-scale battery storage.
Read moreWhat's a 'just transition' and can you switch to green energy without sacking coal workers?
Science says the switch to renewables needs to be fast but workers on the ground say it should also be fair. In the first of our explainer series Future Power, we ask, how did Germany do it? And could Australia really have a 'just transition' too?
Read moreAustralian coal shipments to China at standstill amid unresolved trade tensions
No ships left the big ports in Queensland and NSW in December ahead of Beijing resetting coal import quotas for the new year
Parliamentary inquiry into why banks are abandoning coal will reveal nothing
ANZ was the last of Australia's big four banks to announce it will stop financing thermal coal projects in Australia. The Australian coal industry will now need to head overseas if it wants to borrow funds for new projects, and many government MPs aren't happy.
Read moreCoalition should commit to halving emissions this decade, says conservative thinktank
A report by Blueprint Institute says coal-fired power generation is in ’permanent decline’ and its end is ‘inevitable’
Read moreCoal export earnings tipped to sink by $5b in FY21
The federal government has revised its thermal coal export estimates for this financial year down by 9 million tonnes off the back of restrictions on coal trade with China and is tipping export earnings to sink by $5 billion
Read moreFossil fuels could be wound back without massive layoffs: report
Australia could transition away from the production and consumption of fossil fuels without a single forced redundancy, a new report suggests. As Chinese state media appeared to confirm a ban on Australian coal, the Australia Institute's Centre for Future Work has found Australia could phase out coal, oil and gas industries without mass layoffs.
If China stops taking Australia's coal, will other countries fill the gap?
Chinese state-owned media appeared to confirm a ban on imports of Australian coal this week. Australian officials are now trying to figure out how serious the threat is, and its implications. If China stops taking Australia's coal, will other countries fill the gap? Could Japan, India and South Korea?
Read moreGlencore commits to Hunter region despite closing mines
Glencore has confirmed two of its Hunter Valley mines will close in 2023. The announcement comes during a challenging time for the industry, which is taking a hit from China’s import freeze.
Read moreNew Foundation launches to help locals with the creation of jobs and economic growth amid mine and power station closures
A new foundation has launched to assist with the creation of jobs and economic growth in response to scheduled power station and thermal mine closures over the coming decades.
Read moreChina's unofficial ban on Australian coal sees exports halt as trade war rages
Thermal coal exports to China from Australia's busiest coal terminal have completely stopped amid escalating trade tensions and an unofficial Chinese ban on Australian coal.
Read moreGlencore takes axe to coal targets but says Australia will be spared
Glencore, one of the world's biggest coal miners, has forecast its global output will fall by more than 25 per cent but its Australian mines will be among the last to close.
Read moreReplacing Liddell with renewables cheaper, cleaner and reliable
Fresh research from energy consultancy Reputex shows investment aligned with the NSW renewables road map will provide a cheaper and lower emissions option to replace AGL's ageing Liddell coal fired power plant compared to the business as usual case and the federal government's preferred gas-peaker option.
Read moreAs more countries pledge zero emissions, coal finance evaporates
TOKYO (Reuters) - Financing for coal projects is drying up at ever increasing rates as more countries target zero carbon emissions amid an energy transition sweeping the world, participants at Asia's biggest gathering of the coal industry said on Tuesday.
Read moreIndia's love affair with coal cools as pressure grows on sector
Funding for coal projects in India has plunged for the second straight year, new figures showed Tuesday, as the world's second biggest coal importer weans itself off the dirty fuel.
Read moreState government's 'pumped hydro' plan endorsed by virtually all MPs but concerns about land and environmental impacts emerge during debate
THE Hunter-Central Coast and the Illawarra are set to become formal Renewable Energy Zones after an amended Electricity Infrastructure Investment Bill was passed in the NSW Parliament lower house, Labor MPs said last night.
Read moreAGL to press pause as NSW powers on
AGL Energy has paused its Newcastle gas plant decision and is reviewing a giant battery investment at Liddell, amid uncertainty around the NSW government’s controversial energy blueprint, in a move that may also nix Scott Morrison’s hopes for 1000 megawatts of new power capacity to be committed in the state by April.
Read moreCoal, energy policy and climate change bring Canberra heavyweights to the Hunter Region
THE Hunter is the centre of national and international political attention over coal, renewables and climate change after Joel Fitzgibbon's explosive exit a week ago from the federal Labor opposition front bench.
Read moreNSW to transform Hunter coal region into state’s next renewable energy zone
The New South Wales government has quietly made a new commitment to transform the now coal-dependent Hunter Region as a hub of new renewable energy and storage projects as part of its broad and ground-breaking plans to transition the state’s grid from coal to renewables.
Read moreHunter ready to be a power player in state's renewable power vision
If you didn't know it already, there's no better place to be than the Hunter after Energy Minister Matt Kean announced plans to turn NSW into a renewable energy superpower.
Read moreGlencore to lay off contractors at Australia's Hunter Valley on market downturn
Glencore, the world's biggest thermal coal trader, said on Monday it plans to lay off contractors at its coal operations in Australia's New South Wales state due to a prolonged market downturn.
Read moreAmendments will ensure the Hunter is classified as a Renewable Energy Zone
The Hunter is set to become the state's newest renewable energy zone with three of the region's MPs lining up to ensure the necessary legislation is passed next week.
Newcastle thermal coal spot prices steady but well down on last year, latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show
AMERICAN coal company Peabody Energy is again in financial trouble, putting a question mark over its important Australian operations, including the Hunter's Wambo mine and its complex at Wilpinjong, near Mudgee, which exports out of Newcastle.
Read morePumped hydro and new market mechanisms at heart of state government plan to encourage $32 billion in private spending on renewables
THE Hunter Region has been left off the NSW government's ambitious $32-billion renewable energy infrastructure "roadmap". The policy unveiled yesterday plans to use pumped hydro to store and deliver enough solar and wind generated power to replace the Hunter's four coal-fired power stations if they close as expected by 2035.
New environmental lobby 'Hunter Jobs Alliance' seeks seat at the table before impacts of climate policy shift coal
ALTHOUGH the timing was unintentional, the launch of a new Hunter organisation wanting a seat at the post-coal decision-making table comes at the same time as another indicator of the industry's declining fortunes; new tonnage figures showing a 5 per cent fall in shipments for the year so far through Newcastle's main coal export terminal.
Read moreAMWU, ETU and other unions push 'just transition' policies by forming new post-coal jobs alliance
EIGHT unions and five environmental groups have formed a new "jobs alliance" to counter the "failed 'jobs versus the environment' dynamic" they say is holding back the Hunter Region when it comes to energy policy and the "inevitable" transition to renewables.
Read morePeabody told to repay Australian mine rehab bonds
Funds set aside for reclamation of coal mines in New South Wales and Queensland are caught up in a $US202 million ($288 million) claim lobbed against struggling miner Peabody Energy.
Read moreNet-zero goals cloud $76b of exports
Australia's fossil fuel exporters have been put on notice of waning appetite for their product from some of their biggest customers in Asia as South Korea's adoption of a net-zero emissions target increased the share of markets committed to decarbonisation to over 70 per cent.
Read moreCentre-right thinktank warns Morrison government of 'grave future for coal exports'
Pandemic should be ‘catalyst for change’, warns Blueprint Institute, which has close ties with former Liberals including Christopher Pyne
Read moreJapan's net zero by 2050 pledge another warning to Australia on fossil fuels, analysts say
The Morrison government is urged to prepare for a shift in the global economy as major trading partners move to cut emissions. A pledge by Japan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 underscores the risk facing Australia if it fails to prepare for the inevitable shift in the global economy and falling demand for fossil fuels, analysts say.
Read moreCoal regions advised to look to renewables for jobs growth as IEA report highlights falling demand
Demand for Australian thermal coal has peaked, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), and renewables will deliver 80 per cent of the world's energy needs in the next few years.
Read moreCoal miners dive as China cuts imports
Australian coal miners could be forced to sell “distressed” cargoes at a discount as China looks to restrict imports of both thermal and coking coal, according to consulting major Wood Mackenzie, as shares in Australian miners tumbled on the prospect of fresh import bans.
Read moreEnergy Renaissance to build new $28 million battery manufacturing facility at Tomago
Energy Renaissance, Australia's first lithium-ion battery manufacturer, has chosen the NSW Hunter as the location for its new $28 million battery manufacturing facility.
Read moreAustralia's coal miners face $17b export collapse
Australia's coal miners are headed for a $17 billion collapse in export earnings this year as the shock of the coronavirus crisis persists and more Asian power utilities switch from coal to gas.
Read moreMines face stricter conditions under a series of proposed rehabilitation reforms
Mining companies would be required to improve the standard of mine site rehabilitation under a series of proposed reforms.
Under the proposals by the NSW Resource Regulator mining leases would have new conditions added requiring companies to regularly report on rehabilitation progress and provide updated rehabilitation management plans.
BHP ends domestic thermal coal sales
Thermal coal mined by BHP will no longer be burned to make electricity in Australia, after the miner quietly ended the decades long connection between its NSW mine and the nearby power stations of AGL Energy.
Read morePower giant EnergyAustralia urges battery focus in federal plan
One of the nation's largest power suppliers, EnergyAustralia, says subsidising battery installations would be the best way for the federal government to invest in the future of the power market while lifting the economy out of COVID-19.
Read moreCoal’s last refuge crumbles with China’s renewables plan
China's plan to derive 20 per cent of its primary energy from non-fossil fuels may be brought forward by five years from 2030. Coal-fired power has been dying everywhere except where it poses the greatest threat.
Read morePandemic pushes Yancoal into red
Yancoal has slashed its capital spend to ride out a fall in coal prices triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic that helped push it into the red.Read the full article in the AFR 22nd Sept 2020
Read more'Managed decline': Market Forces appeals for Whitehaven coal exit
A green group will next month ask Whitehaven Coal investors to force the company to plan to wind up their coal business. Market Forces Campaigner Will van de Pol said the coal company had a business model "reliant on the failure of the Paris Agreement". Read the full article published in the Daily Leader 22nd Sept 2020Something which Whitehaven said was "a misrepresentation".
Union boss and environmentalist bury the hatchet in the Hunter
In the bruised days after Labor’s shock national election defeat last May, union boss Steve Murphy, a Maitland boy, thought long and hard about what went wrong – and came to a very different conclusion than the Hunter Valley’s most prominent ALP figure, Joel Fitzgibbon.
Read moreLast hopes for demand growth set to disappoint thermal coal exporters
Asian thermal coal exporters are fighting an uphill battle even in new markets. The world’s largest thermal coal exporter is eyeing new markets as its largest export destinations threaten to cut imports.
Mike Cannon-Brookes says he might bid to replace Liddell plant if PM 'declared the rules of the game'
Atlassian co-founder says it is ‘bullshit’ that giant fossil fuel companies need subsidies to extract gas and export it
Read moreCycle surfing miners lose their religion
If there is a religion in the mining industry, it is the unshakeable faith in the cyclical nature of commodity prices. But recent evidence suggests very few resources companies are willing to make the bold, countercyclical investments that the industry prides itself on.
Read moreRenewables could power coal-fired stations
Coal-fired power stations could be converted to entirely fossil-fuel-free generators thanks to a solution developed by Australian engineers. The University of Newcastle has patented new thermal storage material housed in stackable blocks like Lego.
Dawn of 'green steel' and the revival of Australian manufacturing
NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean has declared hydrogen the "breakthrough that changes the world", comparing its impact on climate change to what a vaccine will do to COVID-19.
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