Hydrogen-Electric Powertrains on the horizon as Ecotricity launch the first ever electric airline

Edge2020_Hydrogen-Electric Powertrains

This week’s launch marks the first step towards Hydrogen-Electric Powertrains.

The hydrogen transition continues to evolve with the UK’s Ecotricity CEO this week launching the first Electric airline. The 19 seater plane will operate the roughly 400mile (650km) route between Southampton and Edinburgh.

The initial phase will see the plane run on a kerosene-based fuel but the hope is, within a year, they will transition to a “hydrogen-electric powertrains.”

The Fuel Cell construction is similar to that of a battery, and the compressed hydrogen gas will feed the stack, which does not burn the fuel but converts the chemical energy into electrical energy.

What does that mean – well imagine you have a lunchbox, and inside this lunchbox, you put sandwiches made of hydrogen gas. Now, these sandwiches aren’t like your normal sandwiches, because you don’t eat them, you just put them into this lunchbox.

This lunchbox is the fuel cell or stack. Instead of you eating the sandwich, the lunchbox eats it. But the lunchbox doesn’t eat it like we would, it turns the hydrogen sandwich into electricity. This electricity is then used to power the aeroplane’s engines.

It all seems quite logical, and the new “sustainable” air travel could be the key to the issue which has plagued the airline industry for so long, how do we travel without the emissions.

Australia will be watching this with interest as transport is the second-biggest greenhouse gas-emitting sector in Australia. It is estimated airline emissions make up about 12% of that sector. However, getting past regional flights into long haul may create other challenges the industry is not yet able to overcome.

With the idea of hydrogen cells being used for a range of industries now, China launching their Hydrogen fuel cell powered boat, “the Three Gorges Hydrogen Boat No 1” in April and BOC and BP already developing hydrogen service stations, the first to be placed at Lytton in Queensland the hydrogen future is already starting to move past the theoretical and into the reality.

Government Boosts Firming Power Generation: Blueprint or Cautionary Tale?

Edge2020_Power Generation

In a bold stride towards energy security and sustainability, the Australian Federal Government, led by Chris Bowen, unveiled plans on Thursday to augment its support for an additional 550 megawatts (MW) of firming power generation in New South Wales (NSW). This amplification propels the existing plan of the state to nearly a gigawatt of firming capacity, a robust move geared to maintain grid reliability and security.

The comprehensive scheme, anchored in sustainability, is anticipated to attract nearly AUD 10 billion in investment and stimulate the power generation of an impressive 6 gigawatts (GW) to support the national grid’s dependability.

To date, proposals exceeding 3.3GW have been tendered, these initiatives target the void left by the looming shutdown of fossil fuel generators across the National Electricity Market (NEM). The government’s ambitious plan aims to offset the forecasted power deficits in the CAL28/29 periods following the discontinuation of Eraring and Vales Point power stations, operated by Origin and Delta respectively.

Chris Bowen hailed the announcement as a substantial enhancement to energy security, attributing this positive shift to the deployment of large-scale batteries and other zero-emission technologies. These avant-garde technologies promise to swiftly dispatch cleaner, more affordable renewable energy on-demand, such as during intervals of calm weather and diminished sunlight.

However, the ambitious plan is not devoid of challenges. It remains uncertain whether the proposed measures will adequately address the power shortage anticipated from the phasing out of fossil fuel generators. The firming capacity earmarked for support is predominantly anchored in large-scale battery and pumped hydro storage.

Recent delays to the Snowy 2.0 project have sparked fresh apprehensions about the NEM’s ability to maintain a stable electricity supply and avert a surge in power prices. Furthermore, while storage options such as pumped hydro and batteries seemingly complement renewable sources, uncertainties linger about the reliability of renewable energy during periods of calm weather and low sunshine. These concerns will be crucial in determining whether the shutdown of existing coal generation is postponed or accelerated.

The Federal Government’s bid to enhance firming generation capacity in NSW, although ambitious, is riddled with uncertainties. Striking a fine balance between maintaining grid reliability, mitigating price surges, and ensuring project completions will be a delicate act.

As Australia stands on the precipice of a renewable energy revolution, it begs the question: will this be the blueprint for the future, or will it serve as a cautionary tale? The success or failure of this grand scheme will undeniably cast a long shadow over the future of renewable energy not only in Australia but globally.

Australian Manufacturing: Is it time to bring it home?

Australian Manufacturing - Wind Turbine

The English love their football (soccer) and no more so than Baddiel and Skinner who sang “It’s coming home” for the 1996 Euro’s. But with another wind project either being delayed or scrapped is it really time to consider if the Chief Operating Officer of AGL, Markus Brokhof is right “The manufacturing industry has to come back to Australia.”

The latest announcement from CleanCo last week which stated the company is pulling the pin in their investment in the Karara Wind Farm in the Southern Downs in Queensland, citing delays, not in connections or transmission but in turbine parts and rising costs, only acts to further strengthen Brokhof’s argument. This investment was part of the wider MacIntyre precinct and would or may still be, the largest wind precinct in Australia. However, this could be a blow to Queensland’s target of owning 50% of new renewable generation within the state.

This is just the latest in a string of windfarms to hit delays, the Clarke Creek wind farm has been hit with numerous delays between change in ownership from Goldwind to Andrew Forest’s Squadron energy, through to shutdowns for worker safety as well as project management changes causing equipment to be removed from site. With the offtake from the first stage of the project mostly going to another Government Owned Corporation, Stanwell could this be a further blow to the state’s advanced renewable targets, 80 per cent by 2035, and the existing 50% by 2030.

Another one of Andrew Forests wide array of companies is Windlab, whose own windfarm the Upper Burdekin project has not only lost its inaugural customer Apple, but has had to significantly downsize the output of the site from the proposed 193 Wind turbines to a reduced 136 and is now likely to only have 80 following significant opposition from wildlife conservationists who stated that the project was threatening already endangered species.

To further stoke the flames, AEMO has now come into the forefront of media, stating that not only do we not have enough investment in renewable electricity to compensate for the expected closure dates of coal generation, but the firming technology to support this renewable grid has not been fully funded or addressed, this year’s ESOO will certainly paint a bleak picture for the medium term in Australia. This sentiment is only exacerbated by the Australian former chief scientist and first Victoria State Electricity Commission CEO, Andrew Finkel, who last week quit his role at the SEC stating; not only was the capital investment not in place but investment has dried up and the “country is unlikely to reach its emission reduction targets.” I’m sure not a sentiment which was welcome news for the Andrew’s government whose election campaign was built on the premise the SEC would be both decarbonising the Victorian grid whilst reducing the cost for Victorians.

With the COP 28 due in November and Australia looking like it will miss it’s, late to the party but thanks for coming, 2030 targets, increasing international pressure will be placed upon Australia to ask how we will try and achieve some meaningful reductions? Rik De Buyserie, Engie Australia’s CEO implied to even get close to the 2030 climate targets Australia would need 10,000km of new transmission, 44GW of new renewables and 15GW of firming capacity. With components scarce, increasing costs and logistical issues of port slots to physically ship the parts to Australia, maybe it is time to turn our attention inwards and start upskilling and creating our own industry to de-carbonise ourselves?

Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism gaining traction in Europe

Edge2020_Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism

The European Parliament is introducing new climate legislation including a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, in a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The new package aims to reduce emission by at least 55% by 2030 and will include a series of measures which will have big impacts to many large industry customers who now will have millions of tonnes of carbon at risk.

The proposal will include phasing out of the free European Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) allowances after 2026, including maritime shipping within the ETS and a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. The latter of these the CBAM or Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism will impose a tariff on goods whose production is carbon intensive and shows the greatest risk of carbon leakage, in Australia the most vocal opponents of this scheme are unsurprisingly the cement, aluminium and steel industries.

As a quick digress the term carbon leakage is referring to the idea that you move the most carbon intensive parts of your production abroad, into countries with less stringent climate policies, and then import them back into Australia.

The idea of the CBAM is this will place a price on the carbon which has been emitted during this production phase. The price being derived from the price of carbon which was paid for the product to be developed and produced within Australia.

Those keen eyed amongst us will remember the Safeguard Legislation, which will come into effect on the 1st July 2023, cited a review would be undertaken to examine the feasibility of a CBAM within Australia, including a consideration for early commencement for those high-exposure sectors such as steel and cement.

Now with the EU making the leap and the likely follow on from the UK, Japan and Canada, amongst others, including the US via its own Polluter Import Fees Australia, we will surely have to comply to ensure both our own goods are being protected as well as meeting the requirements of the global expectations.

However, what is the cost of compliance. Whilst the legislation is quite straight forward the compliance cost will increase. Cradle to gate / grave accounting is complex and with auditors being stretched between, NGERs, Safeguard and now this, finding a resource to complete the calculations and data collection will be one thing, but looking to have these accounts audited will be another. With the CER having only 75 registered auditors on their books will the cost of this be wider than the government are imagining?

News from Rewiring The Nation

Australian Power Lines

Over the last week Chris Bowen has been selling from everyone to industry to landowners on the government’s $20 billion “Rewiring the Nation” project. He has stated that “securing social license to build the transmission lines is the single most pressing issue for the Australian energy transition.

The proposal involves the development and construction of 10,000km of lines before 2030 and the key to achieving this will be community and stakeholder relationships, which are now being built into the regulatory investment test (RIT-T) process. To facilitate this the NSW and VIC government are offering $200,000 per km for the land crossed by these new infrastructure projects.

Ian Learmonth, the head of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, said that Australia will need an estimated 29GW of large-scale renewables to meet our ambitious goals, which breaks down to around 3.6GW a year.

This compares to last year’s large-scale wind and solar where Australia only installed 2.3GW. The 29GW required to be installed is challenged by the slow progress in developing essential new transmission lines and therefore Australia’s targets are at risk.

Daniel Westerman, the Chief Executive of AEMO, has stated that “From our control room we can see that increasing amounts of solar and wind generation are being curtailed because there’s not enough transmission capacity to transport it.”

Despite this, the share of renewables in the grid is hitting new highs, averaging 37% in Q1, and peaking at 66% for a half-hour dispatch period. As a result, greenhouse gas emissions from the grid were at their lowest recorded ever in Q123.

Additionally, there is concern from AEMO that there is 14GW of coal powered generation capacity retiring by 2030, which exceeds the 8GW of renewables announced so far. The effect of this could be starkest in the short term. With Eraring (2,880MW) due to come off in late 2025, there are concerns of a significant short term firming capacity gap for first few summers in NSW.

However, with a new Capacity scheme expected to be announced in the next few months, and the next ESOO due in October expected to show the shortfall for NSW, the possibility of extension is one being seriously discussed.

With the VIC – NSW West Interconnector final drafts expected soon and Humelink approval expected early next year, the move to new transmission is starting. However, questions remain as to whether it is too late for the government to meet its targets.

2023 Federal budget: slight update SA and VIC named for cap scheme

Melbourne, Victoria

Further to Edge’s update on the 2023 federal budget shared last week, more information has become evident from Hon Chris Bowen’s MP office around the actual schemes to be introduced and their allocation of the budget.

There is no doubt Australia, as in much of the world, they are pinning their hopes on a Hydrogen Economy. The governments ‘modernised’ energy economy is being underpinned by a technology which yet is not to scale and is unproven, can anyone say carbon capture and storage (CCS)! Now I do not believe Hydrogen is another CCS boondoggle, but the amount being invested, and the legislation changes to allow it to occur are akin to those of its previous silver bullet government neighbour.

The budget has allocated half of the $4bn green energy package, $2bn, to the Hydrogen Fund. The idea is the investment will assist in the commerciality of these projects and allow for 1GW of capacity to be on the system by 2030. The allocation of this will come in the form of “production credits” and as was later confirmed these will be allocated via a ‘competitive process’ however details of this are scarce. The funding is likely to have come in part to keep up with our European and US counterparts who have signaled similar investment in the industry through their own budgets (the US giving a $3/KG (USD) tax rebate if it relates to H2 production.

This will be supported by the new REGO or Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin scheme which was first floated in the papers released at the end of last year.  $38million has been allocated to the project which will be used to certify the energy and emissions from these projects.

The details around the controversial capacity scheme continues to be scarce. With ‘commercial sensitivities’ being touted as a reason for non-disclosure. However, we do expect these to be run state by state and through auctions, so we hope for more detail to be shared on this in the future, especially given SA and VIC have already been named to lead the charge on this later this year. The choice of these states is unsurprising given the high renewable penetration on those grids.

We have also seen a little more information come out around the function of the “Net Zero Authority” who received $83m on Tuesday. It is anticipated that they will be working with local state and territory governments as well as lobbyists and stakeholders to create a roadmap to net zero in those regions, focus will naturally sit in heavy mining regions such as Queensland, the Hunter Valley and Latrobe Valley. From the 1st July the executive agency will be established and they will be tasked with supporting those in heavy industry to transition into a low carbon economy, assist with policies around this and assist with investment in the regions. No small feat to say the transition is already well underway.

Federal Budget 2023 – A shock to the Gas Industry

Australian Parliament House

Under a tightly embargoed budget speculators and hedgers alike could be forgiven for worrying the 2023 Federal budget hid an unknown shock, on top of a Liddell closure, Bayswater trip and extended outages. Last week’s market uncertainty was definitely not dampened by the little information coming out of Hon Dr Jim Chalmers MP’ office.

However, there was good news to be had, in contrast to the October 2022 budget which forecast a deficit of $36.9bn for this financial year the Hon Dr Jim Chalmers MP was almost giddy to announce a surplus of $4bn, it is the first in 15 years, yet is everything that glimmers actually gold?

Little was made of the fact 20 per cent of the surplus came from increased commodity prices, a nod was made to the Ukraine crisis but little to the other drivers and opportunist behaviour which has been within our market for the past 12 months. There was certainly no mention of the huge windfalls the treasury gained from the commodity industry.

The Gas and Coal caps were mentioned but there has been no discussion of the Coal Cap either being extended or removed in December 2024 when it expires. In contrast, the Gas cap has been confirmed to remain until 2025 and as such the potential for a market move in the summer months is still possible.

Overall, the budget was light on Energy for large business, the most focus was on infrastructure for Electric Cars and cost of living relief for residential and small businesses. The creation of a National Net Zero Authority was predicted under the Chubb review and therefore no shocks were seen.

There was a slight nod to a new Hydrogen head start program, giving $2bn to the scheme and more investment in green industry, which was unsurprising. A curious section was on a Capacity Investment Scheme “unlocking over $10 billion of investment in firmed-up renewable energy projects up and down the east coast” as a throw away comment and I am sure a few more details will emerge over the next few days – this one did pique my curiosity.

Undoubtably in the commodity space the biggest losers this evening were the Gas companies, between the extension of the Gas cap at $12/GJ into 2025, increased taxes due to the extraordinary market conditions would follow, but a second stab at the inflated pie has come in the form of the Petroleum Rent Resource Tax. I think its mention was all of 3 seconds of the budget, yet this piece of legislation will increase the government coffers to the tune of $2.4bn over the forward estimates. On top of the Safeguard mechanism changes and power the greens had in ensuring many new gas projects do not get off the ground easily if at all, this is yet another cost to the industry. Yet in comparison to those enforced overseas, and especially in the UK, this was light touch, and it will be interesting to see if it is strengthened at all by the Greens, whom Labor will need to pass this through the house.

Overall, not a great deal of shock waves this evening, a budget which I am sure will be picked apart and a barrage of “inflationary pressures” will be dissected, yet overall, no real change to the status quo. Looking down the barrel of economic growth slowing to one and a half per cent in the next financial year, coupled with increasing wages it’s not the time to be throwing about cash, however hitting industry for half baked wins for those at the other end of the scale may not be enough to make any new friends and certainly could lose this government more.

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.

 

 

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