News

July 23, 2021

Fresh doubts have been raised about the viability of the federal government's proposed Kurri Kurri gas peaking plant following the release of new data showing demand for gas is declining.

July 22, 2021

Hunter and Latrobe valleys considered particularly suitable sites as union says industry could offer oil and gas workers a career transition

July 22, 2021

Australia’s gas and coal producers are facing greater uncertainty in their top market as Japan drafts new targets to slash demand for the two fossil fuels by 2030.

July 02, 2021

Output of wind and solar power is at record levels as renewables continue to squeeze fossil fuels from the energy market, new figures reveal, setting up a test for the federal government as re-elected Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce continues to push to prolong coal...

June 29, 2021

Australia’s 40-year economic outlook is forecasting dwindling demand for some of the nation’s most valuable exports including coal and natural gas after China, Japan and South Korea unveiled targets to achieve net-zero emissions.

June 27, 2021

The potential economic and environmental rewards presented by emerging domestic and international hydrogen industries are enormous. But the state and regions such as the Hunter need to move fast to seize those opportunities or they could be lost elsewhere.

June 24, 2021

The operator of the nation’s electricity grid said it is powerless to delay the closure of coal-fired power plants in Australia and warned renewable developers not to cut corners as a wave of new clean generation connects to the system.

June 24, 2021

A new report has endorsed the need to establish a 'Hunter Valley Authority' to support workers and create new jobs as the region heads into a period of unprecedented economic change.

June 24, 2021

Former Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull is calling for a New South Wales Parliamentary investigation into "inadequate" coal mine rehabilitation bonds.

June 21, 2021

The outrage that led to Mark Vaile today declaring he will not accept the role of Chancellor at the University of Newcastle demonstrates that the company he chairs - Whitehaven Coal - is too toxic to be associated with public leadership, according to Lock...

June 18, 2021

The Hunter region has committed to collaboratively tackling the shared challenges of changing global energy markets and climate change impacts by joining Australia’s largest local government climate network the Cities Power Partnership.

June 17, 2021

The Berejiklian government will spend an extra $380 million to help expedite investment into the state’s five renewable energy zones and smooth the way for an increase in solar, wind and storage projects.

June 15, 2021

The Berejiklian government will spend almost $108 million to remediate the state’s disused mine sites in a move welcomed by both environmentalists and the mining industry.

June 09, 2021

Coal production in NSW could end within 20 years as the shift towards clean energy picks up pace, the state's Treasury has warned.  The latest NSW intergenerational report also forecasts that coal mining royalties in NSW are expected to more than halve by 2061.

June 08, 2021

Coal jobs would disappear entirely in NSW within 20 years if international demand shrinks, according to one of three scenarios about the future of the industry prepared for the government by the state’s Treasury Department.

June 08, 2021

AGL Energy will construct a small-scale solar thermal storage project at its Liddell coal site in NSW as it seeks to develop a string of new generation sources to replace capacity once the plant shuts in early 2023.

June 08, 2021

Australia’s biggest power supplier, AGL, is proposing to build a solar-and-hydro energy facility at the site of its Liddell coal-fired power station in NSW once the plant closes down in 2023.

May 27, 2021

Ross Garnaut has slammed the federal government’s $600 million backing of a new gas-fired plant as a “waste of money” and likened it to the exercise of burying money and asking the unemployed to dig it up as a way of keeping them productive....

May 20, 2021

Community organisations in the Hunter Valley will be part of an expert panel to decide where money goes through the NSW Government's Royalties for Rejuvenation Fund.

May 17, 2021

If I was to describe in one word, what the upper Hunter Valley needs to be in the future, the word would be innovative.

May 17, 2021

A consortium of major domestic and international energy players has devised a $2bn plan to fast-track Australia’s first hydrogen valley in the heart of the nation’s biggest coal province, using renewable energy to build an export industry and secure jobs in NSW.

May 06, 2021

Coal mining companies in the Hunter Valley have failed to set aside enough money to fill in their massive voids or maintain the vegetation required to restore the landscape once their mines come to the end of their lives.

May 05, 2021

National Australia Bank has agreed to help finance the world's largest coal export terminal and has linked loans to a new set of social and environmental goals.

April 28, 2021

Mushrooming rooftop solar and mild summer weather have driven demand for power from the grid to the lowest for 19 years for the peak summer quarter, cutting wholesale prices by up to 68 per cent and pushing major coal and gas power generators such as AGL...

April 27, 2021

Australia's coal trade with China has plummeted from more than $1 billion a month to just $30 million in the first months of the year, as shocking new figure reveal the depth of Beijing's economic wrath.

April 26, 2021

When it comes to coal, politicians seem stuck in a short-term election cycle while the corporate sector is getting on with the business of transitioning to renewables.

April 23, 2021

SEOUL, April 23 (Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced on Thursday his country would end all new financing for overseas coal projects and would soon set a more ambitious schedule for slashing carbon emissions.

April 23, 2021

China will start phasing down coal use from 2026 as part of its efforts to slash greenhouse gas emissions, President Xi Jinping said at a summit of global leaders, a move that disappointed campaigners hoping for more ambitious pledges.

April 22, 2021

The breathtaking expediency of politicians and aspirants in the race for the seat of the Upper Hunter has been something to behold. We've seen politicians of different stripes declare convenient support for coal in recent weeks as they contend for the mine-heavy seat left...

April 20, 2021

A treasure chest of mining royalties will be set aside in a future fund exclusively for coal towns to drive job creation and community support as the power mix changes in coming decades.

April 19, 2021

Sixty wind turbines capable of producing 336 megawatts of power have been earmarked for land outside of Muswellbrook.  The $569 million project by renewable energy company Epuron is the latest in a torrent of green energy projects proposed for the Hunter.

April 19, 2021

Coal mining in the Hunter Valley is set to decline, possibly rapidly, in coming decades, according to the NSW Treasury, market analysis and one of the region’s biggest miners.

March 25, 2021

As coal mines close, Newcastle environmentalist and founding member of the Hunter Jobs Alliance Georgina Woods is on the frontlines of the fight for sustainable employment.

March 22, 2021

There are about 700 unique job types in the Hunter's economy that each require 280 different skill and knowledge sets, a new study of the region's economy shows. There are also 82 different jobs in the mining sector, which employs 9,300 workers. Eighty per...

March 18, 2021

CQ University researchers have found the coal mining industry’s lucrative pay packets will be overshadowed by negative long-term costs to regional communities.

March 16, 2021

The state government will use its purchasing power to drive demand for materials containing recycled coal ash, environment minister Matt Kean has told Parliament.

March 15, 2021

As many of us in Victoria's Latrobe Valley have been expecting, EnergyAustralia last week announced that it will be closing the Yallourn coal-fired power plant in 2028, four years earlier than scheduled.

March 14, 2021

Last week’s announcement that the Yallourn power plant will close earlier than previously expected raises some big questions: will it be replaced in time, and are more such announcements around the corner? The answers have serious implications for not just Victorians but all Australians.

March 12, 2021

The future of NSW’s coal-fired power plants is under increasing threat from cheap renewable energy, which this week forced Victoria’s Yallourn coal plant to bring forward its closure date as analysts warn the end may come even sooner.

March 11, 2021

For more than 100 years, Collie has dug up coal. But Australia's demand for the black river of gold is drying up. The lights, the bells, and the boom gate coming down.

March 11, 2021

The Energy Security Board has warned that Australia’s remaining coal fleet could be forced to close earlier than expected.

March 11, 2021

AS he stood outside the Austar coal mine near the village of Paxton, Allan Stapleford gazed through the trees to his past. For 18 years until 1993, Allan Stapleford worked in this mine as a fitter, heading underground, as part of a team digging...

March 11, 2021

The likely early closure of coal-fired power stations should trigger accelerated diversification investment in the Hunter economy, the Hunter Joint Organisation has argued.

March 04, 2021

China is today the world’s largest emitter of planet-heating gases, responsible for about 28 per cent of total global emissions.

March 04, 2021

The Hunter's economic transformation is being hindered by a 'culture war' over coal and energy policy, a new discussion paper about structural adjustment in the region argues.

February 23, 2021

Local jobs and manufacturing opportunities in the renewable energy industry are set to boom following the launch of the State’s first Renewable Energy Sector Board, unveiled by the NSW Government today. 

February 16, 2021

Joel Fitzgibbon has been creating political mayhem by selling a false impression of the Hunter region. His high-profile focus on coal would lead you to believe the Hunter is populated by black-faced, hard hat-wearing underground miners straight out of the 19th century.

February 12, 2021

How the power of music is being used in one mining town in the Hunter Valley to create the workforce of the future.

February 10, 2021

Coal is under threat, regardless of what domestic climate change policies Australia adopts, and coal miners and their communities are owed honesty by their political leaders, shadow climate minister Chris Bowen says.

February 10, 2021

The Upper Hunter could be home to a manufacturing plant producing hydrogen-based energy modules that can be retrofitted to large industries, including coal-fired power stations.