Westpac abandons funding for thermal coal mining

Westpac says it will stop funding mining projects for coal to be used for power generation by 2030, as part of a broader commitment to reach a net-zero emissions business model by 2050.

It will also ensure that the emissions produced by the energy production projects it does finance are dramatically reduced by 2030.

In a statement, Westpac said it recognised that climate change was one of the most significant issues facing the “global economy and our way of life” and said it believed economic growth and emissions reductions were complementary goals.

According to Tim Buckley, a coal analyst with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, which supports a shift to a decarbonised economy, Westpac is the 30th major international financial institution this year to declare it was abandoning coal.

Read the story from The Age by Nick O’Malley - “Westpac abandons funding for thermal coal mining.”

Power plant that turns green waste into energy could solve power reliability in regions

In a farm shed in the West Australian Wheatbelt, a grain farmer and an engineer have invented a waste-fuelled power plant, which they say could be the solution to power generation and reliability problems in regional Australia.

The Wheatbelt pilot plant burns biomass waste and creates energy.

After 11 years of research, the Rainbow Bee Eater (RBE) group has designed and built a power plant that uses biomass to create clean-burning fuel gas or electricity in a single step, and its developers say it does not need government subsidies or grants to be cost-effective.

Read the ABC News story by Joanna Prendergast - “Power plant that turns green waste into energy could solve power reliability in regions.”

Banks urged not to fund coal power as government moves to underwrite projects

Environmental and progressive activist groups are urging Australia’s major banks and financial institutions not to fund new coal projects now that the Morrison government has flagged taxpayer assistance for power generation.

 Government conservatives are focused on the Liddell
power station and want to use new ‘big stick’ powers
to extract the ageing plant from its owner AGL.

The Australian Conservation Foundation, GetUp, Greenpeace, Environment Victoria, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, the Australian Centre for Corporate Responsibility and the Australia Institute wrote on Thursday to chief executives of the major lenders, warning the provision of finance for new coal, or retrofits of old coal-fired power stations, would be inconsistent with their public commitments to the Paris agreement.

The pressure on financial institutions follows the energy minister, Angus Taylor, calling for expressions of interest in new power generation projects to be underwritten by taxpayers, including, potentially, new coal builds or retrofits.

Read the story from The Guardian by Katharine Murphy - “Banks urged not to fund coal power as government moves to underwrite projects.”

Which generates more greenhouse gases, transportation or buildings?

It all comes back to buildings.

A few months ago I wrote that transportation is now the biggest source of US CO2 emissions, noting that the switch from coal to natural gas for power generation had caused emissions from power generation to decrease while cars kept turning into trucks and emitting more. More recently, the Rhodium Group released final US emissions numbers for 2017, including other sectors, like industry and buildings.

Architect Gregory Duncan saw this graph and suggested that architects and others in the industry should not get complacent just because the yellow line was so low, way lower than power or transportation.

Read the Treehugger story by Lloyd Alter - “Which generates more greenhouse gases, transportation or buildings?”

Powering Past Coal Alliance: 20 countries sign up to phase out coal power by 2030

Twenty countries including Britain, Canada and New Zealand have joined an international alliance to phase out coal from power generation before 2030.

The Hazelwood power station in Victoria's La Trobe Valley.

The Powering Past Coal Alliance was unveiled at the COP23 climate talks in Bonn, Germany, which were working out the technical details of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

"I think we can safely say that the response has been overwhelming," Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said.

The alliance, which isn't legally binding, was launched days after a pro-coal presentation by the Trump administration jarred with many ministers who wanted the talks to focus on cleaner energy sources.

Read the ABC News story - “Powering Past Coal Alliance: 20 countries sign up to phase out coal power by 2030.”

Australia needs a clean energy target, not Coalition paralysis

"If you're cold, put on a jumper. If you're too hot, play under the hose.”

These have long been stock phrases for cost-conscious parents confronted with a complaining child wanting the heater turned up or the air-conditioning switched on (at least, in the latter case, until water restrictions started to bite). But now, it seems, they have become the de facto national energy policies of a government too paralysed by ideology and infighting to give the country what it needs: a secure road from the power generation of the past to the power generation of the future.

Australians were recently confronted with the startling news that nationwide, our power is among the most expensive in the world, despite our abundance of fossil fuels, long hours of sunshine and windy coastlines. The situation is worst in South Australia, which, while struggling to keep the lights on during summer, has the world's costliest electricity. Given the other states' increasing reliance on creaking relics such as NSW's Liddell power station, however, the rest of us should not be too smug.

Read the Editorial from today’s Melbourne Age - “Australia needs a clean energy target, not Coalition paralysis.”

Carbon capture a 'unicorn' for power generation: Simon Holmes a Court

Renewable energy entrepreneur Simon Holmes a Court is sceptical that carbon capture and storage will be implemented for power generation in Australia. 

Simon Holmes a Court - he is sceptical
about carbon capture and storage.

Speaking with AM's Sabra Lane, he says that, while CCS has a role to play in industrial production such as concrete and steel, the cost and inefficiency of CCS in power generation make it unviable. 

Listen to the interview by Sabra Lane with Simon Holmes a Court on Radio National - “Carbon capture a 'unicorn' for power generation: Simon Holmes a Court.”

Westpac’s new climate change policy is bad news for Adani's Carmichael mine in Queensland

Westpac has effectively ruled out financing Adani Group's controversial, giant coal mine in Queensland's Galilee Basin under a new climate change policy.

Westpac's decision effectively blocks it
from funding the Carmichael mine.

The bank's "new climate change position statement and action plan" restricts lending to projects which use "the highest quality coal in advanced power generation technologies”.

"Our lending to customers in the thermal coal sector is limited to those that have a calorific value which ranks in the top quartile globally," the new position statement said.

That effectively would prohibit lending to ventures using coal from Australia's last untapped resource in Queensland's Galilee Basin.

Westpac is restricting finance for new mines to those using resources in the top 15 per cent of coal quality globally.

Read the ABC News story -“Westpac’s new climate change policy is bad news for Adani's Carmichael mine in Queensland.”

Hazelwood: After 50 years, power shut down will take just three days

Hazelwood power station which will
 be closed later this month. 

After more than 50 years as a mainstay of Victoria's power generation industry, it will take just three days for Hazelwood to shut down.

Three of the Morwell power station's generating units will stop operating on March 27, a further three on March 28, and the final two a day later.

Read Darren Gray’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Hazelwood: After 50 years, power shut down will take just three days.”

Richard Campbell ponders power generation

Letter in today’s Melbourne Age.

Power of the state

One good, if dodgy, reason for NSW to sell 50.4 per cent of its Ausgrid network to a Chinese company is that in 10-15 years' time the network will have lost value as a new generation of energy storage erodes profitability and power generation becomes decentralised. If Germany can produce 90 per cent of its power from wind and solar for a few hours as it did on May 11, what can a far sunnier NSW do for much of the year?

But if Ausgrid were kept in state hands, then NSW would be able to manage the transition to decentralised power generation more effectively and ensure a balance between zero carbon renewables, storage and "always-on" base load power. Furthermore, the deal ensures a return of 6 per cent. As we move to a possibly long period of ultra-low interest rates, retirees and superannuation funds would jump at the chance to invest under these conditions, especially if the deal were underwritten by the state government.

One of the two shortlisted entities is the State Grid of China, one of the largest state-owned and controlled organisations. While Premier Mike Baird is making the decision now, he won't be in power when the telephone call is made saying, in effect: "May I remind you, sir, not to forget who controls your power distribution."

Richard Campbell, Toorak.

Conventional energy production and transport soon obsolete

Cars such as this BMWi8 will be
commonplace with a decade or so.

Within just 15 years conventional energy production and transport will have been rendered obsolete by the revolution taking place in batteries, solar power and electric cars.

The startling thesis by energy disruption guru and Stanford University lecturer Tony Seba has been around for a couple of years but after originally being dismissed as crazy, is now catching serious attention from investors.

There is "no excuse" for any board of a utility in Australia not to know what's coming, he says, outlining a world with little centralised power generation, 100 per cent electric vehicles and minimal private car ownership.

Read the Melbourne Age story - “'It's the end of energy and transportation as we know it': Tony Seba.”

Climate goals at risk if coal-fired power plants remain open

Long-term climate change goals will be missed, and clean energy investment will stagnate, if Australia does not start forcing its dirty coal-fired power plants to close, new analysis has found.

Economic modelling commissioned by the Climate Institute also suggests that putting off closure until after 2030 would force the country into more-extreme measures to meet the longer-term goals of the Paris climate agreement.

That could include a hurried closure of more than 80 per cent of existing coal power generation in the five years following 2030, causing significant economic and social disruption, particularly in communities dominated by the industry such as the Latrobe Valley.

Read Tom Arup’s story in today’s Melbourne Age -“Shut coal plants or risk missing climate goals and hurting clean power, says Climate Institute.”

Global demand for coal to peak in 2025 - ExxonMobil

United States oil giant ExxonMobil has predicted that global demand for coal will peak in about 2025 and then fall into terminal decline as natural gas gains the ascendancy amid increased efforts to clamp down on greenhouse gas emissions.

The decline of coal, currently the world's second-largest fuel, will be driven by moves by the industrial and power generation sectors to improve energy efficiency and switch to lower-emitting fuels, the energy major said in its 2016 outlook for energy, released overnight Australian time.

Read Angela Macdonald-Smith’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Coal demand to peak in 2025, ExxonMobil says.”

CSIRO takes its solar skills to Cyprus

A

 team from the CSIRO recently designed and installed a solar thermal field of 50 heliostats (mirrors that reflect the sun’s heat to a central tower) on Cyprus which could generate enough heat to boil a kettle in less than five seconds.

Being the southern-most member of the EU, the country is blessed with abundant sunshine. However most of the island nation’s electricity is generated – expensively – using oil, making solar an attractive option for power generation.

This is good news for Cyprus which, under European legislation, is required to derive 13% of its total energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020.

The CSIR reports of the Cyprus installation in the story: “Putting Cyprus Hill on the map: how we’re bringing our solar technology to the world.”

http://www.csiro.au/