The simple truth: Coal-fired generators have no future in Australia

Lots of high quality energy and climate articles in he Australian press this week. * The simple truth: Coal-fired generators have no future in Australia

Malcolm Turnbull - Energy Magician

Malcolm Turnbull really isn't having a good time of things lately. If he'd actually done something positivie in the last couple of years I'd have more sympathy but as it is he seems to have been reduced to a servant of the coal industry.

At least he is finally rid of Cory Bernardi...

* Malcolm Turnbull - Energy Magician
* Standing Up To The Bully
* How Things Change When You Really Want To Be Prime Minister...

Remember in 2010 when @TurnbullMalcolm threw his support behind 100% renewable energy supply within a decade? #npc https://t.co/HDNJ6WLJPc

— Kristina Keneally (@KKeneally) February 1, 2017

Revisiting Australia's ground-breaking first commercial solar power plant at White Cliffs

The ABC has a look back at Australia's first commercial solar thermal power plant, at White Cliffs in NSW - Revisiting Australia's ground-breaking first commercial solar power plant at White Cliffs.

Located about 250 kilomtres east of Broken Hill, the $1.9 million plant generated electricity from 1982 until 2005, using two different technologies.

Initially, the solar thermal power station concentrated the sun's energy to produce steam from water which was used to drive a steam engine/generator system. In 1997 it was transformed using the latest photovoltaic (PV) technology, with the cells directly converting the concentrated sunlight to electricity.

A look back at Australia's first commercial solar power plant https://t.co/Hff4Q1dzcu via @ABCNews

— Big Gav (@biggav) January 26, 2017

ARENA solar farms begin to come online

The Guardian has an article on an ARENA funded 20 MW solar farm at Barcaldine - Queensland's largest solar farm plugs into the grid a month early.

The early delivery of the 20 megawatt plant, one of the first in the country to be funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, was evidence of the growing speed and proficiency of big solar developers, said Arena’s chief executive, Ivor Frischknecht. It is to be followed by a dozen new large-scale solar farms to be built across Australia by the end of 2017. ...

Arena has committed $1.1bn in funding to developers of more than 270 renewable energy projects, who are expected to at least match that investment. This includes $20m to Origin Energy’s 107 megawatt Darling Downs solar farm at Dalby, set to be Australia’s largest operating plant by the end of next year. Another project, Genex Power’s 50 megawatt Kidson solar farm west of Townsville, will be built on an old goldmine site.

Australian Government killed emissions scheme despite knowing it could shave $15 billion off electricity bills

The Australian government seems to be copping a lot of bad press over their failed energy policies, backflipping on a rare attempt at common sense on carbon pricing earlier this week and now being asked to explain why they are keeping energy prices artificially high.

* Australian Government To Reintroduce Carbon Pricing ?
* Australian Government killed emissions scheme despite knowing it could shave $15 billion off electricity bills

Update

TOD ANZ is pretty much as dead as The Oil Drum these days, however I still have the occasional burst of energy at Peak Energy.

Some recent articles with an Australian slant include:

Redflow launches home solar storage battery to take on Tesla Powerwall
Protean begins deployment of 30 wave energy devices
Browse Floating LNG Project Shelved
Heating, fresh water and electricity from seawater and sunlight
Message To Australia: 'Hands Off Timor's Oil'
Port Augusta Pushing For Solar Thermal Power To Replace Coal
BioPower wave power unit deployed in Southern Ocean

What happened to advanced biofuels ?

I've got a post up at Peak Energy in developments in the realm of advanced biofuels, with cellulosic ethanol plants beginning to appear in the wild - What happened to advanced biofuels ?.