Carbon Economy

Via Ben Potter: The Turnbull government looks set to win approval in-principle from states and territories for the architecture of its National Energy Guarantee at Friday’s energy ministers meeting.

Via The Atlantic: Once upon a time, there was a city so dazzling and kaleidoscopic, so braided and water-rimmed, that it was often compared to a single living body.

The combination of an evil government and the reflexive support of Newscorp has doomed the Australian energy market.

The truth comes out: Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio says the state will not sign up to Malcolm Turnbull’s signature energy policy tomorrow, demanding more information before the Andrews government makes a final decision by August.

  Ahead of the May budget Gunnamatta spoke with Leith van Onselen and David Llewellyn-Smith about the economic outlook and the unfolding Australian economic narrative.

Via the AFR: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims has warned the Turnbull government’s National Energy Guarantee could stifle competition in the energy sector or push up prices for businesses and consumers if it was not properly designed.

Via MIT: Carnegie Institution, calculated that the world would need to add about a nuclear power plant’s worth of clean-energy capacity every day between 2000 and 2050 to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Via Reneweconomy: The South Australia state government is to provide a $10 million loan to help UK billionaire Sanjeev Gupta trump fellow US billionaire Elon Musk and build an even bigger battery at Port Whyalla.

Via The Guardian: The Greens have proposed introducing mandatory fuel efficiency standards, ending the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, and imposing a four-year 17% tax on luxury petrol and diesel cars as part of an electric vehicle policy announced on Tuesday.

By Leith van Onselen Following last month’s confirmation by the Turnbull Government that the Adani Carmichael mega coal mine would not receive Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) funding for the rail line, I thought the project would die a quiet death.

It’s here, via Domainfax: NSW and Victoria will share a $6 billion “bonanza” from the sale of the iconic Snowy Hydro project in a deal that will pour new money into road and rail projects.

Via the Fake Left: An alarming heatwave in the sunless winter Arctic is causing blizzards in Europe and forcing scientists to reconsider even their most pessimistic forecasts of climate change.

I had a few questions from investors about how the numbers from Reneweconomy earlier this week showing that batteries+solar are at grid parity in Adelaide stack up against our analysis.

Via WaPo: Barely two years ago, after weeks of intense bargaining in Paris, leaders from 195 countries announced a global agreement that once had seemed impossible.

Via Reneweconomy: In November 2016, our analysis shows that a Tesla Powerwall and a 5kW rooftop solar system could deliver electricity around the same price as grid power.

Absolute legend: South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill is lifting his state’s renewable energy target to 75 per cent by 2025, doubling down a controversial approach to energy policy that has angered the Turnbull government.

Via AFR: The Energy Security Board’s discussion paper on the National Energy Guarantee shows the ESB has begun to recognise “the complexity of the beast it has created” but made no progress in resolving it, says Bruce Mountain, director of Carbon + Energy Markets.

By Leith van Onselen Over the past month, the world’s media has reported that Cape Town in South Africa is about to become the first major city to run out of water.

By Leith van Onselen The likelihood of Adani’s Carmichael mega coal mine project going ahead has shrunk some more.

By Leith van Onselen The likelihood of Adani’s Carmichael mega coal mine project going ahead continues to shrink. Before its re-election last year, Queensland’s Palaszczuk Labor Government promised to veto Adani’s application for a loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) for a vital rail line.