Energy Formula

06/10/2023

What an exciting future for high rise buildings to embrace solar system in the design.

14/10/2022

Solar powers up at Australia’s biggest hybrid renewables park

The solar component of Australia’s largest wind and solar hybrid plant – to date – has started generating small amounts power, after achieving registration to the National Electricity Market from the Australian Energy Market Operator.

AEMO confirmed this week that the 77MW solar part of the 317MW Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park, or PAREP, was one of three new renewables project to be signed up for connection to the NEM since mid-July this year.

30/09/2022

The Queensland Labor government has announced a new 70 per cent renewable energy target for 2032, an 80 per cent target for 2035 and plans to attract $62 billion in public and private investment in green energy over the next 13 years.

The new targets, which will be legislated, were unveiled as part of a new 10-year energy and jobs plan on Wednesday by Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

It includes plans for 22GW of new wind and solar, 11.5GW of rooftop solar, 9GW of battery storage (mostly household and business) and two massive new pumped hydro projects totalling 7GW and 24 hours storage.

26/06/2022

Sun Cable clears new hurdle for world’s biggest solar and battery project

If the project goes ahead, it will be the world’s biggest solar and battery storage project, with an ambitious plan to send most of its output 5,000km from its home on a Northern Territory cattle station to Darwin and then Singapore.

The project is likely to cost more than $30 billion, and Sun Cable and its advisor PwC said earlier this year it is likely to deliver investment of more than $8 billion to Australia, export revenue of at least $2 billion a year from 2028, when it hopes to be begin operations.

17/06/2022

More than 1GW of battery storage to replace coal in world’s biggest isolated grid

The Western Australian government is about to embark on an ambitious investment to replace its last two publicly-owned coal generators with wind, solar and battery storage – enough to take the state’s main grid – the biggest isolated grid in the world – to 70 per cent renewables.

Earlier this week, Western Australian energy minister Bill Johnston unveiled a plan to invest $3.8 billion in new projects before the end of the decade, to build the capacity needed to replace the soon to be closed Muja and Collie coal fired power station.

The investment – which will be managed by government-owned utility Synergy – is expected to deliver upwards of 800MW of new wind generation capacity and more than 1,100MW of new energy storage capacity – the latter to consist mostly of big battery projects.

09/06/2022

This week, energy ministers from the Commonwealth, states and territories have met to try to grapple with the energy crisis that has seemingly emerged overnight, but has been 20 years in the making. While many vectors that have led to the spike in wholesale energy prices are global in nature, the path forwards will rely heavily on domestic energy security.

Those arguing that fossil fuels are part of the transition are missing the point. While no one serious is calling for gas and coal to be shut off this afternoon, the reality is we are moving away from reliance on carbon energy. It really isn’t part of the solution.

One missing piece to this puzzle is energy storage. To successfully accelerate towards a renewables infrastructure – while keeping the lights on – energy planners in government and industry need to shift how they think about batteries. At the moment, they are widely seen as a buffer for existing energy infrastructure, rather than the pathway to a new paradigm with widespread renewables and domestic energy security.

13/05/2022

Origin gets approval for 2,800MWh battery to replace Australia’s biggest coal plant

Origin Energy says it has received planning approval from the NSW government for the 2,800MWh big battery that will at least partially replace the Eraring power station it plans to close in 2025.

The Eraring big battery has planning approval for 700MW or capacity and four hours of storage, or 2,800MWh, and would be the biggest in the country if built to full capacity, although it will face a few contenders for that title.

It is one of at least two batteries – along with the state government’s planned Waratah “Super-battery” – that will replace the capacity of the Eraring coal plant, which at 2.8GW is also the biggest in the country.

28/04/2022

Origin snaps up 1GW of solar projects as it plans for future without coal

Origin Energy, one of Australia’s big three energy gentailers, has snapped up nearly 1 gigawatt of large scale solar projects as it plans for a life without coal after the planned closure of Eraring in 2025.

The purchases include a NSW project that has planning approval for up to 900MW of capacity, and it represents the company’s biggest investment in large scale solar to date, although it is not its first.

10/04/2022

Opinion: Australia needs a government that actually wants wind, solar and electric cars

We are poised, finally, to enter the formal part of the campaign to elect a new federal government for Australia, with prime minister Scott Morrison expected to announce a poll date in May this weekend.

Every election is billed as more critical than the ones that preceded it. But it does seem very true now. Scientists could not have made their point any clearer this week when they said it was “now or never” for action on climate if we wanted to protect a “liveable planet.”

As the scientists and nearly every energy expert have also made clear, we already have the tools at our disposal for a quick and dramatic cut in emissions – wind and solar and with associated technologies such as storage, green hydrogen and electric vehicles.

What we desperately need is a will to do so, and a federal government that openly embraces these opportunities, and is prepared to employ them.

24/03/2022

We may not be able to help you at the pump, but take a look at our interactive tool to see just how much price changes make a difference to your total bill.

https://energyformula.com.au/fuel-calculator/

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24/03/2022

Rising oil prices means solar and wind power are cheapest option

The treacherous war in Ukraine has seen commodity prices skyrocket – and there’s one economic consequence that could see Aussies make a big switch.

One side effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that we are all feeling has been the jump in oil and gas prices as Western nations apply trade sanctions.

One way to look at this spike in prices is basically as a global ‘carbon tax’ because fossil fuel prices are rising so fast they can’t compete with alternative forms of energy – albeit with the proceeds going to Russia and OPEC rather than to national governments or consumers (as was the case in Australia’s carbon price).

If we add to this that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war has created a lot of instability of commodity supply chains, then it has injected a dramatic price and risk incentive to transition away from coal, gas and oil.

14/03/2022

Cannon-Brookes, Forrest pour more money into world’s biggest solar and battery project

Billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest have led another major capital raising for Sun Cable, which is planning to build the world’s biggest solar and battery storage facility, and is now eyeing other projects of a similar scale.

Sun Cable – which is proposing a solar farm of up to 20GW, backed by a battery of between 36GWh and 42GWh – announced late on Sunday that it had raised $A210 million in a Series B capital raising from existing shareholders.

The fund raising was led by Grok Ventures, the investment firm of tech billionaire Cannon-Brookes and his wife, and Squadron Energy, privately owned by iron ore billionaire Forrest.