21 January 2022

CLIMATE POLITICS

Victoria backs hydrogen fuelled cremations, fuel cell buses, with $7m in grants (Renew Economy):  Hydrogen fuelled vehicles, refuelling infrastructure and hydrogen energy storage technologies will be trialled in Victoria after being boosted by more than $7 million in state government funding awarded to a range of renewable hydrogen ventures. The Victorian government has awarded $6.6 million in funding under its Renewable Hydrogen Commercialisation Pathways Fund, to support both the increased use and production of renewable hydrogen within Victoria. The grant funding awarded includes $1.8 million in funding awarded to bus manufacturer Volgren Australia to develop two hydrogen fuelled buses for trials to be operated in Dandenong as part of the public bus network. Volgren expects that for each diesel bus that can be replaced by a hydrogen fuelled alternative, around 30 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions can be avoided each year. The Victorian government will provide additional funding support of more than $600,000 across eight recipients, funded through the Renewable Hydrogen Business Ready Fund. Funding under the program may be used towards the completion of business cases and feasibility studies for projects that would involve the use of renewable hydrogen.

 Climate club plan could punish Australia (The West Australian):   Australia could get the economic cold shoulder from some of the world's richest nations unless it does more to curb its emissions, observers say. Climate diplomacy experts have seized on a speech by Germany's new chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who has called for the Group of Seven (G7) industrial nations to become the founding members of a "climate club". He promised Germany would use its G7 presidency to push for new standards by member nations, warning there would be no more waiting for stragglers. "We will use our presidency of the G7 to turn that group into the nucleus of an international climate club," he said on Wednesday at an event held by the World Economic Forum. "What we want to achieve is a paradigm shift in international climate policy: We will no longer wait for the slowest and least ambitious. "Instead, we will lead by example, and we will turn climate action from a cost factor into competitive advantage by agreeing on joint minimum standards." Scholz suggested the G7 climate club should commit to limiting global warming to 1.5C and achieving climate neutrality by 2050, and could seek to achieve those goals "by pricing carbon and preventing carbon leakage".

 CARBON MARKETS

 There aren’t enough offsets for business-as-usual (The Australian Financial Review): Private vehicles users and heavy industries, as well as farmers, will need to contribute to Australia’s 2030 and 2050 emissions ambitions, according to the government’s independent climate change advisory body, which warns renewable energy cannot do all the work. In a rare interview as prices for carbon credits hit records, Climate Change Authority chairman Grant King and chief executive Brad Archer also predicted there would not be enough offsets to allow heavy emitters to continue business-as-usual in coming years.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

‘Carbon bomb’: Westpac, National Australia Bank under fire for bankrolling Woodside, BHP’s Scarborough LNG (The West Australian):  Bankers have been accused of “industrial-scale greenwashing” by financing a huge new gas field. But National Australia Bank and Westpac insist they’re on board with the global push for net-zero emissions. Woodside and BHP signed a $16.5 billion offshore LNG joint venture in November, which will cement another 30 years of gas exports from Australia. Woodside has now completed the sale of a 49 per cent stake in the infrastructure that will process the new gas onshore at a $5.6 billion expansion of the existing Pluto facility near Karratha in the Pilbara. The developers say the eight million tonne per annum Scarborough project will be among the lowest carbon intensity sources of LNG for North Asian customers, with its 11.1 trillion cubic feet of gas. The first LNG cargo from Pluto Train 2 is targeted for 2026. Investor activist organisation Market Forces says some of Australia’s biggest banks are funding a “carbon bomb” on the scale of 15 heavy emitting coal power stations spewing out pollution for three decades.

Western Australian gas producers pay paltry royalties to government (Renew Economy): The bulk of Western Australian LNG production is subject to little or even zero tax, undermining fossil fuel industry claims that its revenues are critical to the funding of government services. Analysis produced by The Australia Institute estimates that $27 billion worth of LNG was exported from Western Australia in 2021, but just $430 million was paid to the WA state government in royalties. This sees LNG royalties making up just 1 per cent of state government revenues and contributing a smaller amount to the government’s income than vehicle registration fees. Chevron’s Gorgon gas project – host to Australia’s only operational and troubled carbon capture and storage project – paid just $7 million in tax in the 2019-20 financial year, while producing estimated revenues of as much as $32 million a day.

 GREEN PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES

 World's first hdydrogen ship docks in Australia, raising hope for a new industry (WA Today): The world’s first carrier of liquefied hydrogen has arrived at Victoria’s Port of Hastings to pick up its inaugural cargo and transport it to Japan, marking a major milestone for the emerging industry. The Suiso Frontier’s upcoming voyage carrying super-cooled liquid hydrogen from a Japanese-Australian consortium’s $500 million pilot project in the Latrobe Valley to Kobe in Japan will be the first worldwide to transport liquid hydrogen by sea to an international market. Hydrogen – which emits only water when it burns – is seen as a promising future tool for decarbonisation as long as the process of manufacturing it is also emissions-free. Governments are increasingly looking to hydrogen for its ability to store and transport energy generated from renewables and clean up difficult-to-decarbonise parts of the economy. Japan, the top buyer of Australian liquefied natural gas (LNG), has set a target of “net-zero” emissions by 2050 and is betting on hydrogen to diminish the role of fossil fuels in its energy mix. The Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) pilot project, led by a consortium including Japan’s J-Power, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Shell and AGL, is demonstrating the conversion of Latrobe Valley brown coal into hydrogen gas

 Neoen begins work on first stage of Australia's biggest wind, solar and battery project (Renew Economy): French renewable energy and storage developer Neoen has begun work on the first 412MW stage of what will likely be the country’s biggest wind, solar and battery storage project. The company announced on Monday that it had commenced “early works” on the Goyder South wind farm, the first stage of a massive project near Burra that could grow to 1200MW of wind, 600MW of solar, and 900MW and possibly 1,800MWh of battery storage. The 412MW first stage will – at least for a while – be the biggest wind farm in the state and another important element in propelling South Australia towards the state government’s target of reaching net 100 per cent renewables by 2030; a world leading landmark it is likely to reach well before then. Neoen, which already owns and operates the 315MW Hornsdale wind farm in South Australia (pictured above) and the neighbouring Hornsdale Power Reserve, aka the original Tesla big battery, has already contracted 100MW of the capacity of Goyder South to the ACT government, and is seeking other off-take deals.

 5B targets solar farm building robots in $33m push to ultra low cost PV (Renew Economy): Australian PV innovator 5B has announced a $33.4 million plan to fast-track the delivery of ultra-low cost solar power on a potentially massive scale, via dramatic improvements in the scalability and cost of its prefabricated, rapidly deployable Maverick technology. 5B said on Tuesday that the program, backed by a $14 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, would leverage advanced automation – including cutting edge solar farm building robots – to make it faster, lower cost, more efficient and safer to develop large-scale projects. Having delivered 32MW of capacity to clients since its first project in 2017, 5B is increasingly looking at “gigawatt” scale projects around the world, including at Sun Cable in Australia’s Northern Territory, where up to 20GW of solar will be built to export power to Singapore via a sub sea cable. The company’s Maverick solution can already be deployed up to 10 times faster than conventional ground-mounted PV panels, and its concertina-style design means it can generate up to twice the energy using the same amount of land as conventional solar.

Fortescue strikes green hydrogen deal with German polymer producer (Renew Economy):  Fortescue Future Industries has progressed its efforts to establish itself as a leading global supplier of green hydrogen after lining up a potential supply deal with German polymer producer Covestro. FFI announced on Monday that it had signed a memorandum of understanding for the supply Covestro – which produces a range of raw polyurethane and polycarbonate materials – with up to 100,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually to replace existing supplies of fossil hydrogen starting in 2024. FFI chairman Andrew Forrest said the MoU – which will see the two companies negotiate the terms of a supply deal – had the potential to deliver significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions at the polymer producer’s facilities across Asia, North America and Europe.

 Austalian biomass-to-hydrogen venture readies for US public listing (Renew Economy):  Australian biomass-to-hydrogen venture Verdant Earth has progressed plans to undertake a public listing in the United States, kick-starting a process to raise almost $100 million to fund the recommissioning of a New South Wales power station using biomass. Verdant Earth has been developing plans to use the now decommissioned Redbank power station, in Warkworth, with the ultimate goal of producing hydrogen, which it says could be certified as renewable through the use of biomass. In seeking a public listing, Verdant is looking to secure investor support to reactivate the 150MW Redbank power station, located in the NSW Hunter Region, and which has previously been fuelled with coal.

Plans approved for biggest battery storage system in Victoria (Renew Economy): Victoria is one step closer to adding a new “biggest battery” to its network, after a 240MW/480MWh project proposed by Maoneng for the Mornington Peninsula was cleared for development by the state government. Australian solar and now storage developer, Maoneng, said on Wednesday that the $190 million Mornington battery energy storage system (BESS) had received development approval and was on track for completion in mid-2023. The standalone BESS will be located next to AusNet’s existing Tyabb substation, about 67km east of Melbourne on the Mornington Peninsula, where Maoneng says is will cater to fluctuations in demand driven by seasonal tourism.

ICG buys stake in 40 small solar farms, option to dabble in hydrogen battery storage (Renew Economy): Australian green investment firm Infrastructure Capital Group (ICG) has made its first foray into solar energy, with the acquisition of a majority interest in more than 40 PV projects – both operational and in the development pipeline – from Providence Asset Group. ICG said on Wednesday that it had made an initial $100 million commitment to buy the projects, known as the Ginan Solar Portfolio, with the option to significantly scale the investment further to include co-located batteries and hydrogen. At this stage, the deal will see ICG’s Australian Renewables Income Fund (ARIF) take a majority interest in 16 operational solar sites in Victoria (total of 132MWDC/73MWAC), with exclusive rights to develop a further 25 solar projects across NSW, totaling a further 156MWDC/115MWAC. The projects are all roughly 5MW(AC) solar farms, which ICG said on Wednesday offered “numerous advantages” over larger scale projects, including speed of approval, construction, and connection; and flexibility to add storage.

Blue Grass solar sings after commitment from green finance bank (The Australian Financial Review): The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has committed $37 million towards X-Elio’s 200-megawatt Blue Grass solar farm in south-east Queensland, which will use advanced technology that can help further drive down the cost of solar to $15 a megawatt-hour. The investment, to be announced on Thursday, is further evidence that money is still following renewable energy in Australia as the federal government aims to reach net zero emissions by 2050 and traditional energy sources, such as coal, are squeezed out of the grid.