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Ana Maria Jaller-Makarewicz
Stability of renewables an antidote to the volatility of gas and coal
While volatile energy commodity prices have been sharply increasing globally, renewable technologies have been steadily decreasing. Over the last decade, the cost of electricity from utility-scale solar PV has fallen by 85 percent, concentrating solar power (CSP) by 68 percent, onshore wind by 56 percent and 48 percent for offshore wind, according to the International […]
Johanna Bowyer and Guest Contributor: Tristan Edis
There are many options to manage the energy transition that don’t involve capacity payments
Uncertainty in the national electricity market is driving investment risk, due to high levels of uncertainty around coal exits, short term market contracting, early mover disadvantage in power technologies subject to deflation, and unpredictable government intervention, among other things. The Energy Security Board’s capacity mechanism has been proposed as a solution to these challenges. It […]
Tom Sanzillo
Harvard divestment raises issue of climate, ethics and investments by higher ed and philanthropies
The recent decision by Harvard to divest from fossil fuels is part of a trend and also a precedent-setting event. Earlier this year, BlackRock informed the New York City pension funds that the divestment movement is no longer limited to small investment funds. Its report found that an increasing number of large institutional investors are […]
Tim Buckley
Already the world’s leading investor in zero emissions industries of the future, now China pledges it will end international funding of coal
President Xi Jinping of China has made a profoundly important announcement overnight at the United Nations General Assembly in a speech titled: ‘Building confidence and jointly overcoming difficulties to build a better world’. “China will step up support for other developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy, and will not build new coal-fired power […]
Seth Feaster
Overseas demand, high prices and climate issues give Teck cover for met coal exit
Teck Resources, the Canada-based copper, zinc and coal mining company that is one of the biggest exporters of steelmaking coal in the world, is considering selling or spinning off its metallurgical coal operations, according to a Sept. 14 Bloomberg report. Any divestment of its big coal mines in British Columbia could be a signal that […]
Guest Contributor: Gabrielle Kuiper
It's time to think big about small-scale DER
The Energy Security Board’s (ESB’s) final post-2025 market design advice to Energy Ministers has been very controversial. First there was the unnecessary proposal for a capacity payment paid by electricity consumers to power stations not just for the electricity they generate, but also for the size of capacity installed in the plant, irrespective of how […]
Thu Vu
Investors and regulators in search of common ground
The stars appeared to have aligned spectacularly for a rush to create demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Vietnam’s growing energy market. The government’s determined pivot away from polluting coal, a pressing need to find cleaner baseload-like alternatives, and the perception that gas-fired power systems are the perfect complement to the expanding yet intermittent […]
Guest Contributor: Saloni Sachdeva Michael
Three golden pillars of technology, policy and finance need to be strengthened
India has set an ambitious target of achieving 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2022, which includes 100GW of solar. To date, we have installed 44GW. Closing the gap between the target and installed capacity will mean higher demand for solar panels and modules in the next two to three years. Technological advancement […]
Bruce Robertson
Gas price risk is rising for developing markets disrupting expansion plans
An IEEFA paper published earlier this year has proved to be eerily correct with forecasts of doubling or even tripling of the U.S. Henry Hub price and higher and extremely volatile global gas prices. In January 2021, IEEFA warned that over US$50 billion in gas power projects and LNG import facilities were at risk of […]
Guest Contributor: Adrian Blundell-Wignall
Counting carbon-based exports burned and smelted by others makes Australia the world’s third largest emitter. We can’t disown them as easily as all that.
The Glasgow summit on climate change is looming, and we continue to see Australia pretending to be a small emitter of carbon dioxide on the global stage. It is not by any means. It’s all about Scope III emissions. A subject that Australian governments don’t want to hear about. Both sides of politics are no better […]
IEEFA: As fossil fuel prices skyrocket globally, renewables grow steadily cheaper
Stability of renewables an antidote to the volatility of gas and coal
While volatile energy commodity prices have been sharply increasing globally, renewable technologies have been steadily decreasing. Over the last decade, the cost of electricity from utility-scale solar PV has fallen by 85 percent, concentrating solar power (CSP) by 68 percent, onshore wind by 56 percent and 48 percent for offshore wind, according to the International […]