Adani says it still needs a loan for rail line if coalmine is to go ahead.

Adani says its Carmichael coalmine remains contingent on a loan to build a rail line to the Galilee Basin – comments that analysts believe will ramp up pressure on the Australian government to further subsidise the project.

Adani needs to build a $2bn, 300km rail line
 if the Carmichael coalmine is to go ahead. 

Karan Adani, the son of company boss Gautam Adani, and the head of the conglomerate’s ports business, told India’s Economic Times the company had “completed financing on the mine” and that it had received all necessary approvals.

He said Adani was “just closing” a loan to pay for a rail line connecting the Galilee Basin to the Abbot Point port. “Once that is done, we will start,” he said.

Read the story by Ben Smee from The Guardian - “Adani says it still needs a loan for rail line if coalmine is to go ahead.”

Wind and solar will reach 50% of global generation by 2050

Analysts are now predicting that wind and solar power will reach 50 percent of all electricity generation by 2050.

Steep cost reductions coupled with cheap batteries will make the drive towards renewable energy unstoppable.

65 researchers from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) pooled together data on the evolving cost of clean energy technologies across the world.

Their analysis shines a light on the vital role that falling costs in battery storage will have in the future. Lithium-ion batteries have already dropped in price by 80 percent since 2010, and this is anticipated to continue with the attending growth in electric vehicles.

Read the ClimateAction story -  “Wind and solar will reach 50% of global generation by 2050.”

New analysis shows that NEG is worse than doing nothing

New modelling by energy market analysts RepuTex has added to the deepening concern about the proposed National Energy Guarantee, suggesting it is calibrated to achieve an outcome that is worse than doing nothing.

The RepuTex analysis builds on concerns that the modelling used to underpin support for the NEG made a complete hash of estimating what would happen if no policy was in place.

It finds that the “do nothing” scenario still results in a 29 per cent cut in emissions by 2030 – more than the 19 per cent assumed by the Energy Security Board and more than the 26 per cent targeted under the NEG.

That means that the NEG would provide no incentive for any new investment in renewable energy.

Read the story by Giles Parkinson from RenewEconomy - “New analysis shows that NEG is worse than doing nothing.”

It’s time to think seriously about cutting off the supply of fossil fuels

There is a bias in climate policy shared by analysts, politicians, and pundits across the political spectrum so common it is rarely remarked upon. To put it bluntly: Nobody, at least nobody in power, wants to restrict the supply of fossil fuels.

Time to shut down the supply of fossil fuels.

Policies that choke off fossil fuels at their origin — shutting down mines and wells; banning new ones; opting against new pipelines, refineries, and export terminals — have been embraced by climate activists, picking up steam with the Keystone pipeline protests and the recent direct action of the Valve Turners.

But they are looked upon with some disdain by the climate intelligentsia, who are united in their belief that such strategies are economically suboptimal and politically counterproductive.

Read the story by David Robert from VOX - “It’s time to think seriously about cutting off the supply of fossil fuels.”

New retailers pushing power prices down more than government

Competition from a new major energy company is driving down power prices faster than regulatory bodies according to analysts, but governments are unlikely to abandon plans to reform the gas and electricity market.

More consumer choice in the market is having a greater impact on power prices.

Perth-based energy company Alinta expanded into the east coast energy market with the billion dollar acquisition of Victorian coal-fired power station Loy Yang B late last year, and its aggressive growth strategy is being seen in the market as one of the major drivers of lower power bills.

“Alinta is doing more for lowering electricity costs on the east coast than anything the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will do,” Wood Mackenzie principal lead for oil and gas, Saul Kavonic, told Fairfax Media.

Read Cole Latimer’s story in The Age - “New retailers pushing power prices down more than government.”