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    Energy transition

    Today

    Powdered lithium: Australia is losing out to other green metal exporters.

    We need overriding public interest test to break approval logjam

    Australia has to look at the global impacts of green projects, not just local ones. The alternative might be stagnation, or worse.

    • 10 mins ago
    • Alan Finkel
    A coal seam gas drill near Dalby in Queensland. Arrow Energy, a joint venture with Shell and PetroChina, is working in the area.

    Shell, PetroChina to expand massive Surat coal seam gas project

    The investment, expected to cost billions of dollars, will supply export customers and the domestic market, where regulators have warned of looming shortages.

    • Angela Macdonald-Smith
    Climate Ltd cannot overlook emissions reduction.

    Cheap, fast and low-risk climate action opportunities

    The core principles that drive good investment are also at play in climate change. Climate Ltd should think about diversifying its emission reduction bets.

    • Kate Howitt and Gates Moss
    BHP chief executive Mike Henry   has called for a “comprehensive competitive agenda”.

    Union iron ore claim poses risks for green superpower hopes

    Let’s hope for the sake of Australia’s energy transition that we don’t return to the bad old days of industrial disruption in the Pilbara.

    • The AFR View

    This Month

    Woodside boss Meg O’Neill acknowledges the market has been surprised by the deal.

    Woodside punished as investors query ‘marginal’ green projects

    The oil and gas producer had almost $2.6 billion wiped off its market value as investors struggled to accept projected returns on a large US acquisition.

    • Updated
    • Angela Macdonald-Smith
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    Mount Piper power station in Lithgow.

    EnergyAustralia returns to profit as prices jump

    After two June halves of heavy losses, EnergyAustralia has surged back into the black, buoyed by sharply higher wholesale prices when renewables fell short.

    • Angela Macdonald-Smith
    Prysmian’s most advanced cable-laying vessel, the Leonardo Da Vinci, will install the cable across the Bass Strait.

    Marinus Link makes billion-dollar cable commitment

    The order should ensure the $3 billion-plus project to build a second power link to Tasmania starts up in 2030 when the energy market operator says it’s needed.

    • Angela Macdonald-Smith

    July

    Nuclear talk finally goes ahead after Holmes à Court criticism

    The engineer whose nuclear speech was cancelled the day renewable energy advocate Simon Holmes à Court objected to it has finally delivered the talk.

    • John Kehoe
    Jarden head of commodities Nigel Brunel is set to head up Marex Group’s new office in Auckland.

    Marex raids Jarden’s carbon trading business, opens NZ office

    The Nasdaq-listed firm has snared Jarden rainmaker Nigel Brunel and a swathe of the Kiwi investment bank’s carbon trading team.

    • Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
    Macquarie’s re-thinking what its bankers can do in the coal sector.

    Macquarie has partly reversed its ban on banking coal deals

    Sentiment against part of the coal industry has softened, and Macquarie has read the tea leaves.

    • Anthony Macdonald
    A molten salt tower solar thermal power station in Jiuquan, China. Molten salt is used as thermal storage to continue producing electricity even when the sun is not shining.

    No wind or sun? Try using compressed air and molten salts

    “You want as many cards up your sleeve as you can,” says Hydro Tasmania chief executive Ian Brooksbank of emerging renewable generation technologies.

    • Angela Macdonald-Smith
    The South Korean-built Barakah nuclear power plant in the UAE during construction in 2017.

    Australia could buy South Korean nuclear reactors

    The East Asian nation is gradually increasing its exports of energy technology to diversify its economic base and strengthen its geopolitical influence.

    • Michael Read and Elouise Fowler
    CO2 put into the atmosphere this year will continue to warm the earth for 25 years.

    The common sense path to net zero

    Looking at the environmental crisis through the lens of financial frameworks, the core principles that drive good investment are also at play in climate change.

    • Kate Howitt and Gates Moss
    Commercial real estate faces higher costs making buildings more energy efficient, creating risks for banks.

    The new risk lurking in banks’ commercial real estate lending

    While working from home is a known risk for office towers, Citi highlights a new pressure point for lenders – the growing cost of the energy transition.

    • James Eyers
    Part of the $2.3 billion EnergyConnect transmission line being built between South Australia and NSW.

    EnergyConnect exit leaves just months to turn around crucial grid link

    Elecnor, the Spanish contractor building part of the key link needed for the transition away from coal power, is expected to cease its involvement by the end of September.

    • Angela Macdonald-Smith and Jenny Wiggins
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    Future-minded asset owners have not given up on Paris.

    Delivering the world’s most important corporate rescue

    What’s true for commodities is true for the greatest eleventh-hour turnaround in human history. In climate terms, that means “the cure for high emissions is high prices”.

    • Kate Howitt and Gates Moss
    An LNG tanker waiting to be loaded in Louisiana. Woodside is hoping its purchase of Tellurian will give it exposure to the booming market.

    Woodside splashes $1.35b in the US to become ‘global LNG powerhouse’

    The acquisition of Tellurian will give the ASX-listed oil and gas company a foothold to develop exports in the booming US market for shipping natural gas.

    • Updated
    • Angela Macdonald-Smith
    David Rowe editorial cartoon 25 September 2019. Greta Thunberg, Donald Trump, Scott Morrison, Wall Street, climate change, coal.

    Climate balance sheet reveals a dire bottom line

    Letters from readers on the climate debate; ANZ’s bonds scandal; energy wars; Fortescue job losses; remembering MH17 victims; and a post-election exodus from the US.

    We are on our way to breaching our carbon covenant.

    If Earth’s ecosystem was a company, Climate Ltd would have a problem

    The core principles that drive good investment are also at play in climate change.

    • Kate Howitt and Gates Moss

    Origin-backed Octopus extends reach with Ergon Energy deal

    Australia’s fourth-largest retailer has taken on Octopus’ Kraken technology platform – the first major local customer besides Origin itself.

    • Hans van Leeuwen