Tesla big battery delivered a $22 million profit in 2018.

The Tesla big battery in South Australia has delivered a handsome profit in its first full year of operation in South Australia for owners Neoen Australia, as well as playing a key role in lowering market costs and keeping the lights on.

The profitable Tesla 'big battery' in South Australia.

The 100MW/129MWh battery – still the biggest lithium-ion battery in the world, but officially known as the Hornsdale Power Reserve – cost around $96 million to build but pulled in revenue of €18 million ($A29 million) in 2018 (as we reported in February).

It now emerges that the profit from the operation (earnings before interest, depreciation, and tax) was €14.2 million for 2018 ($A22.8 million at current exchange rates), adding on to to €0.4 million of earnings from the single month of operation in 2017.

Read the story from RenewEconomy by Giles Parkinson - “Tesla big battery delivered a $22 million profit in 2018.”

Malcolm Turnbull's former chief of staff to be new energy 'tsar' under alternative to Clean Energy Target

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's trusted adviser and former chief of staff Drew Clarke will take a key role stopping electricity rip-offs of Australians, the ABC can reveal.

The PM has picked one of his key advisers on energy for the new role.

Mr Clarke, a former secretary of the Resources Department and a key adviser to the PM on energy in recent months, will become chairman of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).

The ABC understands he is expected to use the role to drive for rule changes to the electricity market, including targeting pipeline owners who have been found by the competition watchdog using "monopoly prices" to transport gas.

Last year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) found that a large number of pipeline operators had been setting higher prices for domestic access because they were largely unconstrained by regulation.

Read the ABC News story - “Malcolm Turnbull's former chief of staff to be new energy 'tsar' under alternative to Clean Energy Target.”