NSW South West Renewable Energy Zone

Street lights at night

Last Friday, the NSW government released their draft declaration for the South West Renewable Energy Zone (SW REZ) access scheme to the public. This is one of five REZs which have been identified within NSW as part of the NSW governments Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap. The schemes are overseeing the volume of projects which will be granted to the transmission within these zones and co-ordinate the network and generation investments into the areas.

The SW zone is based towards the Victorian border and the proposed connection point would be in the Dinawan Substation. The access standards are very similar to those already proposed in April for the states Central-West Orana (CWO) region.

With the CWO attracting more than $35billion worth of proposed projects the SW REZ is hoping to attract significant investment for its 2.5GW transfer capacity, noting the location will not allow for offshore wind and as much Hydrogen investment as that seen in the CWO.

The NSW government has stated that the aim of the declaration is that “An access scheme provides an opportunity to control the connection of projects to the REZ. In the case of the South West, the proposed access scheme triggers the application of modifications to the National Electricity Rules (NER) open access arrangements as they apply to the access right network.”

The access granted projects will benefit from significant network upgrades including potential upgrades to the Project Energy Connect (PEC) interconnector which is being developed at the moment and is to run between SA (Robertstown) and NSW (Wagga Wagga), upgrades to the HumeLink which would connect that Wagga Wagga substation with Snowy Hydro and its increasing capacity and further strengthen the investment case for the proposed Victoria-NSW interconnector (VNI West). The latter is currently within the RIT-T (Regulatory Investment Test for Transmission) process.

These proposals will surely give investors’ confidence in providing the required project certification to be granted the access to that zone. They must not only show feasibility and prepare to sign onto the standards set out in this proposition, but must ensure they can manage voltage, frequency especially which there are potential disruptions within the system. However, the rewards of participating in a well-funded, transmission rich environment which has certainty of curtailment risk for the access rights holders, are surely going to outweigh the paper-work process of being accepted and given the over subscription of the CWO, you can imagine a similar uptake in this round.

The consultation for the South West Renewable Energy Zone (SW REZ) access scheme is closing on the 15th May 2023.

Storage, the future for AGL

During the record high energy prices experienced last winter combined with a rapid transition to renewable energy saw AGL Energy return a half year loss of $1B due to outages at Loy Yang A and their Hunter Valley power plant.

Despite this, AGL’s new chief executive Damien Nicks has an optimistic outlook for the second half, after a “challenged” first half. As a result of this drop in underlying profits, investors are worried about how AGL will fund its decarbonisation and whether the transition to renewable energy will occur fast enough, reinforcing the huge challenge faced by Australia’s energy-intensive industries.

AGL announced last year to committing to a $20B plan to develop 12GW of renewable energy by 2036 following pressures from shareholders and activists. A major component of the 12GW of renewables is 5GW to 7GW of firming capacity assets such as batteries and pump hydro. AGL are expecting the firming capacity assets to generate higher returns (7% to 11%) compared to wind and solar (6% and 8.5%).

Despite the decline in underlying profits, “Having a clearly endorsed strategy now, and now we have a board and management team in place means that the banks look at our transition plan and strongly support that,” Mr Nicks said. “That is a key part of us getting access to that capital.” The projects will be funded through cash flow, corporate equity, debt, and project debt.

While this may be a good strategy for AGL to improve shareholder value, it will be interesting to see how the strategy goes meeting Australia’s ambitious climate goals.

Davos – No snow, no consensus, no relevance?

Swiss alps

Now as a keen skier and a lover of the European Alps – Davos will always hold a place in my heart.

But at the end of last month it transformed, as it does annually, into the equivalent of the old debutant season, and the sheer act of walking around in this otherwise normal ski resort means you are part of the global elite.

The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) is certainly an exclusive club, the 1% attend and have the right to come and lobby those in power and hope to not only affect change within their spheres but globally. That was its aim back in 1971 when it was first formed – the idea that power brokers from public and private sectors could come together to meet a mission statement “…improve the state of the world.”

Therefore, it is unsurprising that once again climate change was a hot topic.

Never one to miss an opportunity Greenpeace have released data which shows that to reach this exclusive club, 1 out of every 10 attendees came by private jet, doubling the local airports flights and increasing CO2 emissions by the equivalent of 350,000 cars. But moving past the glaring irony of that statistic this year was particularly poignant.

With a significant warm winter in Europe the usually picturesque snow capped mountains were bare and the temperature was over 2 degrees warmer than usual. Therefore, when participants were told their focus would be on addressing and curbing climate change, maybe their stark surroundings helped focus the mind a little.

CEOs were quick to point to initiatives which are helping them and their companies reach net zero, with more than 11,000 businesses signed up to the pledge to reach the milestone by 2050 (September 2022 UN Figures), you would think this is a good news story. Yet with the war in the Ukraine still looming large and the ensuing inflationary pressures, privately bankers were discussing how to curb the environmental pressures without adversely affecting investment decision making. This made even more poignant by the sentencing of the “Barclays 7” at the end of January, who lifted the lid on the banks $19billion investment in fossil fuels, in direct contradiction of the IEAs decree there could be no new investment.

The UN Secretary General (Antonio Guterres) has certainly increased his rhetoric since the IPCC has declared that even with an increase in pledges, the world will miss its 1.5-degree goal, and without significant intervention will reach 2.8%.

He has implored businesses to “put forward credible and transparent transition plans on how to achieve net zero … which must be grounded in real emissions cuts” before the end of 2023. He also stated with no uncertainty that “The transition to net zero must be grounded in real emissions cuts – and not rely on carbon credits and shadow markets.” Which is the strongest rhetoric on this we have seen.

A WEF report (along with the Boston Consulting Group) which was shared stated that those prepared to take the risk and be an early mover will have the opportunity to make “fortunes”. Touting Orsted (previously Dong), Tesla and Beyond Meat as examples.

But with Germany touting their “clean credentials” due to their absolute requirement to decouple from its reliance on Russian Coal and Gas and increasing its renewable capacity to a likely 80% of its grid, the power of the oil and gas giants at the elite table may be waning.

Previous years has seen them be accused of hijacking the debate and maybe they are realising their influence is less at the table with CEOs with stakeholders to answer to and more on the policy stage.

Their agenda is well protected by the appointment of HE Dr Sultan Al Jaber as the lead to the COP28 summit in the UAE this year. I may be incorrect, I mean it’s not like he is motivated by ensuring returns from his oil business – the 12th largest globally, or from making sure those in that line of business aren’t hampered too much, maybe he will provide a balanced and fair approach to his presidency of the COP28 conference – NOT!

Overall do I think Davos moved the needle – no – did it achieve its ambition for “bold collective action” on “ongoing crises” absolutely not, did it create “cooperation in a fragmented world” I do not believe so.

Therefore, the question must be asked if the relevancy of the not-for-profit is really anything more than a status symbol that you meet the criteria and are rich or powerful enough to come in. Surely we can and should do better, or we should move away from the antiquated “boys club” and leave the alps to those on skis.

 

 

AEMO Services shortlisted 4.3GW of renewables in NSW

AEMO Services recently ran a tender process for Long-Term Energy Service Agreements (LTESA’s) and Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) Access Rights to support investment, construction and operation of renewable energy generation and long duration storage infrastructure in NSW.

AEMO Services shortlisted 16 projects totalling 4.3 GW of generation and storage in its first auction. AEMO Services is expected to go to tender for more supply and storage in the future as NSW undergoes the transition from coal fired generation to renewables.

To enable the transition from coal to renewables, investment in NSW is likely to be over $32B to allow renewables to fill the gap as the last 5 coal fired generators in the state retire over the next 10 years.

With 16 projects being selected from the first round, AEMO Services will continue to run 2 auctions per year until the end of 2030 to source 12GW of renewables and 2GW of storage to fill the shortfall.

While the generation and storage mix has not been released, it is likely it will be a mix of solar, wind for the generation and batteries and pump hydro will be selected to meet the eight hour storage solution.

Under the auction scheme the successful projects will essentially be underpinned by a long term energy service agreement to ensure the projects receive a minimum return on investment to allow them to get project finance.

The 16 projects have until the 10th February to submit the financial part of the bids to AEMO Services when they will be assessing each project against a set of criteria including technical capability, delivery timeline, cost and social licence. Unsuccessful projects can update their submissions and submit offers in future rounds. The next auction is likely to be in July 2023.

With companies striving to meet future sustainability targets the supply of projects has been tight. Hopefully following the close of the first auction and another round in 6 months we will start to see projects reaching financial close, construction and finally delivering renewable energy to the grid.

At Edge 2020 keeping our customers informed on the energy market is a top priority for us. As the world shifts towards a more sustainable future, we are committed to playing our part by procuring from renewable energy sources, whilst continuing to secure cost-effective energy solutions for our customers. If your business is interested in wholesale or retail renewable PPAs we’d love to help you. Contact us on: 1800 334 336 or email: info@edge2020.com.au

Renewables, battle of the billionaires

Singapore lit up at night

Previously, Edge has discussed the electricity markets’ move away from coal and gas to renewable energy and firming technologies. Last week it was announced that the Australia-Asia PowerLink Project (AAPP) better known as Sun Cable had gone into voluntary administration. AAPP was planned to be the world’s biggest solar and battery storage project.

Sun Cable was backed by some of the largest renewable energy developers in Australia, namely Mike Cannon-Brookes from Grok Ventures and Squadron Energy’s Andrew Forrest.

It appears from the outside the decision to wind up the company was due to a lack of alignment of the companies’ objectives by the shareholders but is there more to the story.

Sun Cable was to provide renewable energy generated in Australia and transport it via a 4,200km underseas cable to Singapore. Powering the project would be a huge solar farm near Elliott in the Northern Territory. The 20GW Elliott solar farm would be firmed with a 42GWh battery.

The first part of the Sun Cable project was planned to start construction next year, resulting in 800MW of renewable energy flowing into Darwin by 2027. Currently Darwin has a maximum demand of around 250MW so either the generation project will need to be resized or the solar farm will need to be constrained until it is able to export. With several solar projects already built in the Northern Territory but not approved for connection, the NT market may become very constrained as a result of the single line transmission between Katherine and Darwin.

Late in 2022, Sun Cable announced it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indonesian government to unlock more than $150B in “green industry” growth in the region. The MoU has a broad plan to build key industries to improve Indonesia’s GDP. These industries include mining, energy, transport, food, agriculture and IT infrastructure, all an interest to mining and IT entrepreneurs.

With Indonesia already approving a sub sea survey permit it is likely the sub sea power cable could reach Indonesian shores and provide cheap renewable electricity to the region to assist in its growth.

Following the announcement of Sun Cable going into administration the federal government remains positive on the future prospect of Sun Cable. Are two billionaires too much for a business like this? Will one of them retain control of the company?

Feedback from Minister Bowen suggests following discussions with senior individuals at SunCable, there are no plans to stop moving forward with the project. Minister Bowen said

“It’s a change of approach and corporate structure, but of course in that regard that is entirely a matter for them”

Following a restructuring process, it looks like AAPP will still go ahead but most likely led by only on billionaire.

The Safeguard Mechanism – the big stick came out

Carbon emissions safeguard mechanism

The Safeguard Mechanism is the legislation which came in in 2016, it was designed to reduce the emissions of the industrial sectors within Australia with targets, or baselines, capping the amount of emissions each facility can emit. The flaw was that the large industries could continue to re-set these baselines to ensure that as production increased, so did the baseline, and as such the emissions would also be increased without penalty. In the Financial year 2020 – 2021, these 215 large emitters made up 28% of Australia’s Carbon Footprint.

During the election campaign the Albanese government stood on a pledge to tighten the legislation around these 215 facilities to ensure that they were contributing to the now legislated target of a 43% reduction in emissions by 2030 (v’s 2005) and net zero by 2050.

Well yesterday, 10th January 2023, the government after extensive round tables, consultation papers and responses released their “draft” position paper. I use the word draft in quotes as the timeframe for change to this draft is less than likely. Responses are due by the end of February and it going in front of ministers in April to be enshrined with a 1st July 2023 start date. I think we can safely say the government have set their cap on their desired outcome.

So, what has been decreed. Well in brief, bar the reduction in baselines, 4.9% annually until 2030 and a review following that, and a cap and trade scheme to allow under baseline emitters to benefit from a new (non-financial!) ACCU called a Safeguard Mechanism Credit (SMC), the big changes and costs, will come to those emitters who will be eventually pushed onto non-site specific variables and forced to use “industry benchmarks”. They can apply for exemptions until 2030 but even these will be under tightened scrutiny and cherry picking your years of production will no longer be allowed. This will be a blow to some who rely on their baselines to reduce costs in those high production and high emitting years. These emitters will also no longer be able to sit on high reported, calculated or fixed baselines and will loose their site-specific variables by the end of this decade in an already reducing baseline decline rate.

To cap this cost, the government are proposing a ceiling for the ACCU market. They propose this to be set at $75/tCO2-e initially and increasing by CPI +2% annually after the first financial year, FY24. With spot ACCUs currently trading around $34.50 (source https://accus.com.au/) this is quite a ceiling indeed.

The proposal is also tightening the benefits which can be gained by the Emission Reduction Fund Projects, with no new projects to be sanctioned and no renewal of current projects. Even those in existence will only have a two-year grandfathered period before the abatement cannot be utilised within the accounts.

Interestingly though the parts I found most intriguing were the future papers we can expect. The Chubb review was, I can now assume, purposely vague on international credits and I believe this is due to the implication from the safeguard paper that we can expect a further review, likely to come out this year, which will look at the usage of “high quality international offsets” within the ANREU. These could then be rolled into many types of legislation for Carbon Neutral claims as per Climate Active current accreditation, including Safeguard legislation.

The other interesting area is around carbon leakage with an investigation to be undertaken if Australia should follow the EU and implement a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). It would basically create a plug to stop carbon leakage between countries. i.e. if you moved production to a country which was less ambitious in its carbon policies you would still have to pay the “leakage” of that carbon, or to import that substance, if it was not manufactured within a country with similar carbon ambitions, you pay the carbon cost to use it in Australia.

Overall, there is a lot to un-pick in this paper but following extensive consultations I think (bar the ACCU ceiling price) little will shock industry. It is a “hybrid” approach to get the government on track without losing industry along the way. There will be some winners, especially those on industry set baselines, initially able to bank SMCs, but overall the government have balanced a carbon abatement requirement without hampering industry too much. There will always be nay sayers who want more, say this isn’t enough and want to move quicker, but we cannot forget the economic climate we are in at the moment and the turmoil yet to unfold. I say hear ye hear ye to the DCCEEW, this one balances the tightrope of industry and climate ambitions well.

Kate Turner is Edge2020’s senior manager markets, analytics and sustainability. Through a passion that renewable energy solutions are key to any climate change solution, Kate supports our clients to manage their portfolios and any associated risk within traditional markets as well as complex renewable energy portfolios. Kate is hands on in procurement development and implementation for our clients and leads our market regulatory and advisory sustainability services. If your business is interested in wholesale or retail renewable PPAs we’d love to help you. Contact us on: 1800 334 336 or email: info@edge2020.com.au

Chubb report

Chubb report carbon offset

The long-awaited Chubb report was published on Monday 9th January 2023. Its purpose to “ensure Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) and the carbon crediting framework maintain a strong and credible reputation supported by participants, purchasers and the broader community.1”

The government has agreed (in principle) to enact all the proposed recommendations.

But let’s start at the beginning. The Chubb review came about following claims that the scheme was not robust, being managed badly and not fit for standards, especially on the international stage.

Following the King report in 2020 this view was exacerbated by the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) taking on an even larger role in this opaque market, holding the keys to the design of ACCU methodologies, registration and regulation of those projects, a data source for the “independent” ERAC (the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee – the independent committee overseeing the ACCU market) and buying ACCUs on behalf of the Australian Government. Some may say it was a keys to the castle type deal.

Therefore, transparency and independence were unsurprisingly the key focus for the Chubb review. Both from the regulatory and data access standpoints, obviously maintaining privacy where required. With upcoming changes in the Safeguard Mechanism expected to come into force in the new financial year and increasing interest in ACCUs from the Hydrogen industry (to ensure certification meets international standards such as CertifHy) the robustness of the scheme must be unimpeachable.

I think the most interesting part of the review is the u-turn from the previous Morrison government’s stance, which mandated in 2021 that their own Climate Active standard would have required members to increase their “carbon neutrality” through a minimum of 20% or 30% ACCUs dependant on size. This reversal, to no such mandate, is showing the business community at least that an international certification is enough for this government. Not the strong climate stance that is being pitched from the floors of Canberra.

As with many of these papers I am finding little accountability and more future safeguarding. Especially around human-induced regen (noting that ends this year), carbon capture and storage and landfill waste gas, with no individual projects reviewed, the current standard of certification cannot be confirmed, yet it is likely to be significantly tightened if the advised transparency is enforced.

Overall, I can’t help feeling this was not more than a necessary boondoggle, yes some interest groups have had some wins, but it was necessary to achieve its end – it is going to undo a significant number of the controversial King review and Morrison Government changes.

Reversal however will come at a price, there will likely be a significant amount of funding put in place to reduce the both “real and perceived,” burden on both the CER and especially the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee (ERAC). The latter of whom will be dis-banded and renamed the Carbon Abatement Integrity Committee (CAIC), moved out from the CER with full data access restored and with a remit which, if enacted within 6 months, could see them as an Independent Statutory Authority, a level the ERAC currently hold but are handcuffed from enacting upon.

Personally, I think any changes which bring transparency to this market, its accreditations and oversight can only be positive. There is still the government tender for an ACCU exchange to be developed which would further assist this transparency, but I also fear it has stopped short of really making the Carbon Market in Australia un-penetrable.

With Climate Active still supporting accreditations from Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs), Verified Carbon Units (VCUs) amongst others and an increasing number of lesser regulated Carbon Neutral certificated (iRECs etc) being used for Carbon Neutral Claims, I think this review could have used its opportunity to ensure the Australian Carbon Neutrality Certification would be seen as a world leader. Instead, I fear it is trying not to shake an already leaking boat, with pressure for ACCUs likely to increase with Safeguard changes and the HIR methodology ending in 2023, as well as the new “REGO” scheme being touted as “voluntary surrender only” with no regard for the impact to the LGCs market. Another knee jerk could have put too much price pressure on a market which is not only opaque but likely to come under significant demand, and that is before the increased scrutiny once data is widely available.

No, the Chubb review has done its job, it has unwound a lot of the misgivings people had. It should increase transparency, a feat which has been loudly called for in this market since its inception 11 years ago and not ruffled too many feathers in the process. I guess I just hoped for more.

References: 1: https://www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-reduction/independent-review-accus

Kate Turner is Edge2020’s senior manager markets, analytics and sustainability. Through a passion that renewable energy solutions are key to any climate change solution, Kate supports our clients to manage their portfolios and any associated risk within traditional markets as well as complex renewable energy portfolios. Kate is hands on in procurement development and implementation for our clients and leads our market regulatory and advisory sustainability services. If your business is interested in wholesale or retail renewable PPAs we’d love to help you. Contact us on: 1800 334 336 or email: info@edge2020.com.au

Does another new environmental scheme create more uncertainty?

Australia's renewable energy schemes

In December the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water released two papers. One on Renewable Electricity certification and one on the Guarantee of Origin Scheme.

These are mainly aimed at the hydrogen industry but the first could have a significant impact on the electricity sector if the proposals are implemented as per the position paper.

The Renewable Electricity Certification paper asks for feedback on the need for a new mechanism for electricity to be certified, currently to be used only for voluntary surrender purposes. It proposes it will act alongside LGC creation (Large-scale generation certificates) with the developer able to decide if they produce an LGC or a REGO (Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin certificate) on any given period, in any given day.

The REGO can be used for all uses, bar RET liability i.e., voluntary surrender.

The main difference of the REGO to the LGC elements being proposed in the paper are:

  • It proposes to allow the use of below-baseline generation to create a REGO.
  • It will also allow STCs systems to create a REGO once the maximum deeming periods from date of installation has been met. If the minimum threshold isn’t met they can aggregate multiple small scale systems to create a certificate.
  • Further it suggests almost a double counting whereby a battery could purchase REGOs to “store” green electricity then re-sell as green electricity with a new REGO.
  • For exporting renewable energy i.e. Sun Cable whereby the REGO can be created even though the electricity is exported overseas, this is not allowed under the RET scheme for LGCs. How we can claim that against a domestic usage is yet to be seen!
  • There is a proposal any vintage can be surrendered at any time for this year’s claim
  • It is also worth noting a REGO would require a time stamp under the proposals – meaning hourly matching could be undertaken. However, a note for is you are in an aggregated system for the REGO the last hour to make the 1MWh REGO would be the one counted.

It is proposed this will allow claims post the sunsetting of the RET in 2030 but does not go as far as to state it will replace the RET – however this must be implied that it is the intention of the scheme.

If this is to go ahead there are a few concerns:

  • Will it crash the price of the LGCs?
    • Could the market be flooded with “equal value” REGO certificates and bar RET liability the LGC market move?
  • Alternatively – What happens to the LGC market if everyone signs up to REGOs – would it mean LGCs could potentially go up in price as people are only creating REGOs and the LGC RET liability can’t be met
  • Will it increase volatility with an arbitrage being available between the two schemes?
  • Does this really level the playing field for Hydrogen in the way they think it will? I am not sure we meet all criteria in the market leading hydrogen certification markets with this proposal
Consultations close 3rd Feb but this is one to watch. It may be being pushed through a side door but it could blow open the LGC market as we near the end of the RET scheme. Have your say here: https://consult.dcceew.gov.au/aus-guarantee-of-origin-scheme-consultation   

 

COP27

In comparison to the COP26 (Conference of the Parties 26) which occurred with great media attention and pageantry, partly due to the delay due to Covid-19 and partly due to the significance of the promises being made by countries. COP27 kicked off yesterday, 6th November, the 12-day event has received little to none of the media fanfare that was seen in the conference last year.

Our staunchly anti-target ex-Prime-Minister Scott Morrison even attended COP26 (sponsored by Santos!) but to show the stark comparison, our new Prime-Minister Anthony Albanese, who is a big supporter of Climate Targets and moving towards renewables, has opted not to attend the COP27 in Egypt, instead sending Chris Bowen and Jenny McAllister (our Minister and Assistant Minister for Energy) in his place. As we were not announcing any new targets and therefore the importance to attend wasn’t as strong.

Yet we aren’t the only ones shying away, Joe Biden is going to forego his annual nap at the COP conference and is instead sending four Cabinet Officials – sighting the mid-term election as reasoning (as if we don’t all expect a massive flop in those and the GOP to take back the house!). Rishi Sunak, the newest UK Prime-Minister, was not going to attend, yet after significant pressure did a dramatic U-Turn at the end of last week and will be there in Egypt this week. It is no surprise that Vladimir Putin won’t be in attendance, yet the biggest surprise came from China, with Xi Jinping also pulling out and sending a negotiator to participate, the equivalent of sending a toy poodle as they will block everything and agree to nothing.

Yet this conference should certainly have more clout. It is thirty (30) years since the UN Framework on Climate Change was adopted and the first meeting in Berlin took place, and seven years since the massive commitments made in the Paris Agreement.

But does the lack of attention and attendance show that the support is waning? Maybe not long term, but with many countries in dire economic circumstances, Germany and others in Europe throwing out their climate targets around Coal generation, in favour of keeping the lights on, and prices as low as possible in an ever climbing and squeezed market and massive debt and austerity to come from an overspend during COVID, required to ensure their economies didn’t collapse. Standing up and agreeing to tighter emissions targets and the cost implications of this would not play well at the polls, and although a politician may have great ambition for Climate Change they have more ambition for Political safety and longevity.

Last year, at the COP26, world leaders agreed to “revisit and strengthen” their national climate targets annually, if possible, with what seemed like a consensus to produce significant commitments to target Climate Change. They agreed to look at and strengthen their targets every 12 months (previously five years as per the original Paris Agreement) and this was done to try and hold global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Yet heading into this COP27 only 21 countries have submitted updated climate commitments for their country, with 172 making no change. Of the 21, only Australia has made significant and credible commitments, yet many (everyone!) would argue this was to catch up to the rest of the world and is nowhere near what would be defined as ground-breaking.

Let’s be clear, regardless of politics, regardless of debt and war without significant change, within a decade we will go above the 1.5 degrees Celsius target and above 2.4 degrees by the end of the century. A recession can be reversed, it is awful and hard, but it can be, a war can be stopped, but once this warming has occurred there is no way back, and it will be those on the edges who suffer first and most. An incremental change is not good enough anymore and playing ostrich to ensure your political survival for four more years will not help future generations and ensure the world is thriving.

Yet with world leaders being beyond non-committal, the UN sending out strong statements but with no action and little education on what this means, we are not changing anywhere near fast enough and at some point the cost of it will be on our front door.

I would urge you to follow the public debates and live streams https://unfccc.int/cop27#events or look at the U.Ns campaign to see what “individual Actions” you can do to help reduce everyone’s carbon footprint here https://www.un.org/en/actnow/

I assure you this is not just a big emitters problem, changes by us all could help, and to be clear I do not mean by gluing yourself to a Van Gogh or Vermeer or covering Ferrari showrooms in orange paint.  Gorilla activism is not the answer, their actions are disruptive and not effective in changing the minds of those outside of their own cause. But, all of us taking our positions to the checkout each week will force a change, in the way only free markets can be affected, and that can only benefit everyone now and in the future. I assure you our politicians will not do it for us and this COP27 is just the latest proof of this, unless it is a silver bullet they will not act, therefore we must.

Green hydrogen

Green hydrogen

In the brightest day and the blackest night, no opportunity shall escape my sight.

Ok, bar the bad Green Lantern pun, Green Hydrogen is the superpower on everyone’s lips at the moment. From the USA releasing its draft National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap a few weeks ago, to the announced changes in the Hydrogen regulation in Europe, even Queensland has jumped on the press release bandwagon, announcing it as a cornerstone within its new Jobs and Energy Plan.

But what is this superpower? How can it help and what does it really do?

Well let’s start at the beginning, what is Green Hydrogen, why is it different to Grey or Blue Hydrogen and why is that important?

Green Hydrogen is produced by electrolysis, by splitting water into its base elements of Hydrogen and Oxygen. The reason it is Green is this process is done using renewable energy. The most preferred approach is to have this PPA (green energy) onsite and therefore Behind the Meter, however it is equally classified, at the moment, from other sources, with both the PPA and electrolyser being grid connected. Noting that there are additional costs if this is not co-located BTM generation as Network costs come into play.

The differential between this and Grey and Blue Hydrogen isn’t the process, but the fuel used to power the electrolysis. Grey Hydrogen comes from Natural Gas and Blue is from Gas but that is coupled with Carbon Capture and Storage (a technology which has been the silver bullet since I was at Uni and despite millions being pumped into the technology remains uneconomic and therefore unused).

Why is this important – well to truly move towards a clean energy future, and for Hydrogen to play a large part in that, the technology used to create the hydrogen must be green, otherwise the end product (the hydrogen) is just an energy transition of the non-renewable source which was used to create it. This is why the Europeans (CertifHy) amongst others, will only allow Green Hydrogen certification from real PPA sources, not greenwashed with carbon credits, and certainly not from any other forms of electricity.

So how can the green hydrogen transform our supply? Well ignoring other uses of the fuel and export at the moment, transportation being a key area which could benefit as their fuel is hard to abate without a viable alternative as well as Ammonia and Methanol production. There is the obvious use if the fuel can be used for power supply.

This is moving closer with the planned Tallawarra B 200MW dual fuel power station (natural gas and green Hydrogen) due online in the summer of 2023/ 24. If this technology can be proven, this will be a huge source of clean energy which can be used for grid stability and baseload generation, it could also remove any bumps from the transition away from coal.

To give a sense of scale though 1KG of hydrogen is equivalent to about 33.3KWh of electricity. Last year the NEM supplied around 204TWh of electricity, so we would require around 6.2million tonnes (or 6.2billion KG) of Hydrogen to power the NEM.

Now the part to blow your noodle, to produce that 1Kg of Hydrogen we need to put into the electrolyser around 50KWh of electricity (taking a 67% efficiency rate for an Alkaline or PEM electrolyser, noting Solid Oxide electrolysers can have higher efficiencies.) Using this 67% efficiency rate we need to put in 310TWh of electricity to be able to produce the 240TWh required for the NEM. This is without factoring that Hydrogen which can be used for transportation and that which will be exported (with Japan underpinning many domestic projects how much will be available in Australia initially? But I said I wouldn’t be diverted to this today!).

This means the Hydrogen power industry alone has the capability to more than double the capacity requirements of the NEM. However, this requirement and thirst for power could be its real secret superpower.

Network constraints are the words every solar and wind operator hates, the renewable energy is being produced but either cannot be transported to the load centres or cannot be used in the local distribution zone and as such is wasted. Although the Hydrogen industry may not be able to use all this excess volume, especially in the near term, it certainly can absorb a large amount of it. Thus, reducing curtailment and increasing the renewable penetration to the grid.

But that isn’t its only superpower to assist with the balance of the grid, cast your mind back to this winter with curtailment being requested from every corner of the NEM. Rather than being the off-taker, the electrolysers can provide demand side management. They will naturally be programmed to react to the price and renewable energy generation signals anyway to be efficient. Therefore, turning up and down at these strained periods without needing market intervention will be a benefit we have not previously been able to tap into.

Hydrogen certainly looks to be the silver bullet this industry has been craving, and no one wants to be left behind when this train leaves the station. However, with so much in theory and nothing as yet proven to scale, we all hope that it doesn’t turn out to be the Aquaman of the superhero world.

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