‘Tsunami' of new wind and solar projects drives renewables output to a record

Renewable energy supplied more than a quarter of the National Electricity Market last month amid windy weather and a "tsunami of new wind and solar projects" reaching completion, The Australia Institute said.

Large-scale solar's contribution to the grid is just beginning to soar.

The progressive think tank's latest energy and emission audit found renewables including hydro and rooftop solar generated a record 25.6 per cent of electricity supplied to the market that serves about four in five Australians.

Read the by Peter Hannam from The Age - “‘Tsunami' of new wind and solar projects drives renewables output to a record.”

Powering Past Coal Alliance Membership Blows Out Past 50

The Powering Past Coal Alliance, launched only last month by the UK and Canada at COP23, has seen its membership blow out past 50 countries, regions, and businesses, according to news revealed at the One Planet Summit held in France on Tuesday.

The Powering Past Coal Alliance membership has blown out past 50.

Among a raft of announcements from the One Planet Summit held in France on Tuesday, the UK and Canada announced that membership to their Powering Past Coal Alliance — which was only launched last month at COP23 in Bonn, Germany — has now blown past 50 countries, regions, and businesses, including the State of California, Sweden, New Zealand, Italy, and France, as well as high-profile corporations such as Unilever, Virgin Group, and EDF.

The Powering Past Coal Alliance wants to accelerate the transition away from coal and toward “low-carbon, climate-resilient economies” and is bringing together “a diverse range of governments, businesses and organisations that are united in taking action to accelerate clean growth and climate protection through the rapid phase-out of traditional coal power.”

Read the Joshua S. Hill story from CleanTechnica - “Powering Past Coal Alliance Membership Blows Out Past 50.”

Driest September on record through Murray-Darling Basin

The severity of drought in NSW has been backed up by Bureau of Meteorology data that shows that last month was the driest September in the Murray Darling Basin on record.

 Drought impacted crops are a common sight
 through the Murray-Darling Basin this year.

Many centres in the region recorded no rainfall for September at a time when falls are critical for crop development.

The data is compiled using an aggregation of rainfall data across the BOM’s network of weather stations and can be averaged out to a regional basis.

Worryingly, the record dry comes without a major climate driver pushing the weather towards drier conditions.

Read the farmonline story by Gregor Heard -  “Driest September on record through Murray-Darling Basin.”

Warmest July across the nation

Last month was the warmest July across the Nation on record with many temperatures breaking previous records set decades ago.

Last month was the warmest
July across the Nation on record.

It was certainly not the warmest July in our regions by a long shot although Moree on 30th July had it's warmest July day since 1958 with a reading of 28.9.

In the Northern Territory July was easily the warmest on record . At Darwin and Tennant Creek the mean maximum and mean minimum temperatures were both well above the normal.

Previous July's at Darwin when both the Maximum temperatures and Minimum temperatures were significantly warmer than normal were in 1903, 1906, 1916, 1920, 1975 and 2010 and all these episodes led to well above rainfall for the next 6 months from August in our regions.

At Tennant Creek previous July's with both maximums and Minimums also well above normal were in 1920, 1947, 1958, 1973, 1975, 1990 and 2013.

Read the Country News story by Peter Nelson - “Warmest July across the nation.”