The price of new-build renewable energy is expected to fall significantly relative to new-build coal energy in coming years.
AAP Image/Lucy Hughes Jones
The price of renewable energy will fall significantly relative to new-build coal in coming decades, making an all-renewable electricity system more desirable, both economically and environmentally.
Solar panels are integrated into a block of flats in the Viikki area of Helsinki, Finland.
Pöllö/Wikimedia
Not everyone can afford to pay for solar panels up front, but local planners can help disadvantaged households overcome energy poverty in several ways.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull still can’t seem to distance himself from coal.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
The Turnbull government is still tying itself in knots over the future of coal, as literally decades of policy turmoil on climate and energy continue to roll on.
Solar panels are still a rarity in WA’s lower-income areas.
Orderinchaos/Wikimedia Commons
Western Australia has huge amounts of sunshine and wind, yet only 7% of its energy comes from renewables. What’s more, most households in the poorest suburbs are still locked out of the solar panel boom.
Information about discounts will be simpler, but you’ll still have to do the legwork to shop around.
AAP Image/Julian Smith
The government’s deal with electricity retailers to provide simple information to customers about their discounts and bills is a welcome step, but doesn’t cut to the heart of the power price issue.
The government faces a hard internal sell on the Finkel plan, not least to Tony Abbott.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Bedding down an energy security policy based broadly on the Finkel model is now crucial for Malcolm Turnbull. But the issue will also test Tony Abbott’s judgement and influence, in what has long been a…
SA energy minister Tom Koutsantonis outlines his plan to make his state more energy-independent.
AAP Image/David Mariuz
South Australia has unveiled its keenly awaited energy plan, featuring battery storage, a state-owned gas power station, and a thumb of the nose to the federal electricity rules.
Surprisingly, the places with the most competition have seen some of the biggest price rises.
AAP Image/Julian Smith
Electricity retailers need to make their prices and offers more transparent and easier for customers to understand, or risk having to submit to price regulation to drive down bills.
The rules were written at a time when coal and gas were the only major options.
AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts
Here’s the real problem behind Australia’s electricity woes: the rules that govern decisions about what infrastructure to build, and when, are inflexible and outdated.
It’s time to take the political heat out of electricity grids.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
Privatisation and competition were supposed to make electricity cheaper. Instead, Australia’s quasi-federal energy system has made it easier to pass the buck when things go wrong.
High gas prices have left Adelaide’s Pelican Point power station running at less than half its capacity.
Peripitus/Wikimedia Commons
South Australia’s government was angry about the blackouts enforced by electricity regulators. But with much of the state’s gas power offline, the regulators had little choice.
You shouldn’t have to crank up the aircon.
chanus/shutterstock.com
Power-hungry houses that rely on air conditioning to make up for their bad design mean that the electricity grid has to cope with summer demand peaks – and everybody pays.
Lights out for Hazelwood, but other power stations can pick up the slack.
AAP Image/David Crosling
The potential shutdown of Victoria’s Hazelwood power station could leave a large gap in coal-fired baseload generation. But other coal power stations have plenty of spare capacity to fill the gap.
How can we get Australian electricity heading down the right road?
CSIRO/Wikimedia Commons
Alex Fattal, University of Technology Sydney and Nicky Ison, University of Technology Sydney
The electricity market that covers most of Australia is designed to have periods of high prices, to attract new generators. But there may be better ways to encourage electricity investment.
Labor leader Bill Shorten sees more renewable energy on the horizon.
AAP Image/Alan Porritt
Labor’s plan to deliver 50% renewable energy by 2050 could add between $160 and $264 to annual household power bills. But this could be completely offset by better policies to encourage energy efficiency.
Tasmanian hydro power had a boom couple of years when the carbon price was in place.
CSIRO/Wikimedia Commons
A year after the demise of the carbon tax, we might expect both coal and greenhouse emissions to have bounced back, at the expense of renewables like hydroelectricity. Sure enough, that’s what happened.
There are many misleading claims about what happens after electricity privatisation – including the impact on prices and on jobs.
Paul Miller/AAP
Both sides of the electricity privatisation debate are guilty of cherry-picking so-called “facts” to suit their campaigns, rather than presenting the real story to voters.
Money spent on helping consumers reduce demand means less money spent on substations and other infrastructure.
Bidgee/Wikimedia Commons
Incentives for cutting peak power demand are cheaper than building ever more infrastructure and sending power bills ever higher. The industry has a chance to embrace this new approach - but will it?
Cooking on gas could be unpalatable when the bill arrives.
CCat82/Shutterstock.com
During Melbourne’s recent spell of hot weather, my air conditioner got a workout after a long hiatus. Technically it’s a split system that also could have been used during winter, but like many Melbourne…
Falling demand and prices are leaving no incentive to invest in Australia’s electricity sector.
Indigo Skies Photography /Flickr
There’s been much talk about how uncertainty over the future of the Renewable Energy Target (RET) is affecting the renewable energy industry. Investment in renewable energy is at its lowest level since…