10 hot trends shaping Australian clean energy

Last year was a remarkable one for the clean energy industry by any standard, and confidence is high as we enter 2019.

Last year was remarkable in Australia for the clean energy industry.

Between record levels of clean energy and businesses recognising the value of low-cost renewables to cut their operating costs, we are starting to see a whole-of-economy energy transformation taking place.

It’s amazing and inspiring to watch the changes in real time, and below we’ve captured some of the biggest trends and milestones we saw in the year that was.

Read the RenewEconomy story by Kane Thorton - “10 hot trends shaping Australian clean energy.”

Melbourne weather: Heatwave continues as wild winds cause flight delays

If you woke up warm and wondering what season we're in, you weren't alone.

A dust storm covered the city this morning.
In some parts it was 30 degrees at 5am.

Thursday morning brought a confusing array of wild weather to the city including wild winds, a dust storm causing flight delays and temperatures as high as 30 degrees at 5am.

The dust storm was reported across Deer Park, Manor Lakes and Laverton and was moving into Footscray on Thursday morning. The State Emergency Service said a dust storm hit Ballarat and Ararat overnight.

Melbourne Airport is reporting 30-minute delays on flights - mainly arrivals - due to the dust storm and strong winds.

Read the story by Anna Prytz from The Age - “Melbourne weather: Heatwave continues as wild winds cause flight delays.”

The heat really will be on in Shepparton

Victoria is bracing for a second bout of extreme heat this month, with temperatures across Greater Shepparton expected to be high and humid.

From Thursday onwards, a heatwave will develop across the entire state, persisting through to the following week across northern Victoria.

Temperatures are predicted to not fall below 30°C for more than a week, and are expected to peak in Shepparton on Friday with a forecast 42°C.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Rod Dickson said although a slight cool change would offer respite to the south of the state, daytime temperatures across the north would not fall.

With the weather, he said a significant fire danger period would no doubt be imminent.

‘‘North-westerly winds will once again freshen up on Friday and become quite gusty over the central and western parts of the state,’’ Mr Dickson said.

‘‘That’ll produce probably severe fire danger across a lot of central and western Victoria on Friday.’’

Mr Dickson said the predicted high temperatures would be the first time since 2015 when the state had received two consecutive days above 38°C.

‘‘The other thing to note, in northern Victoria we will see minimum temperatures not falling below 20°C throughout that period, and that’s where we’re going to see heatwave conditions with little relief in the overnight hours as well,’’ he said.

Story by Rhiannon Tuffield in the Shepparton News - “The heat really will be on.”

How heat affects roads, trains and planes

Roads can soften, train tracks do expand and, when temperatures are high enough, the book on how to fly some planes literally hasn't been written.

Cars backed up on the Hume Freeway near Seymour.

This is how heat can affect the three modes of transport we depend on most.

They could "melt" or soften and become sticky.

Roads are made up of a gravel base, bitumen and then aggregate (crushed rock).

Professor Frank Bullen specialises in road pavement engineering and says: "The role of the bitumen is to hold the aggregate in place for the traffic to go over."

Read the ABC News story - “How heat affects roads, trains and planes.”

Expert views make way for political expediency in climate debate

The patient's vital signs are not good. Power prices are high, and emissions haemorrhaging. Reliability and security of supply are in doubt. We need a treatment plan, and fast.

A Clean Energy Target would help make sure that
as ageing coal-fired power plants are retired,
 there is enough investment in renewables to replace them.

Such was the diagnosis of the national electricity market on Monday by Australia's chief scientist Alan Finkel, the man whose blueprint to improve the system was supposed to take the politics out of energy policy. So, how's that working out?

The answer is, pretty poorly. In his speech to the National Energy Summit on Monday, Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg gave the strongest hint yet that the prospect of any clean energy target was dead and buried, claiming the falling cost of renewable energy meant the subsidies were no longer necessary.

Cue the cycle of politicking and tail-chasing that has wasted more than a decade of Australian climate policy, frustrating the business community and leaving the public wondering: is any leader capable of stopping the bleeding?

Read Nicole Hasham’s comment in today’s Melbourne Age - “Expert views make way for political expediency in climate debate.”