Public Consultation open for GO Scheme for hydrogen and renewable energy certification

16 December, 2022
The Australian government is consulting with stakeholders on two policy papers drafted for a proposed Guarantee of Origin (GO) Scheme for hydrogen and renewable electricity certification. Consultation on the policy papers closes on 3 February 2023. Snapshot The Guarantee of Origin (GO) Scheme is proposed to measure, track and verify greenhouse gas emissions, initially for … Read more

Contracts for Difference (CfD) Scheme consultation updates

26 November, 2020
BEIS has published its response to a consultation which ran from 2 March to 29 May 2020 on proposed changes to the CfD scheme. CfDs incentivise investment in renewables by providing generators with protection from volatility in wholesale prices, as well as protecting consumers from paying increased support costs when electricity prices are high. BEIS … Read more

600MW Round 2 Victorian Renewable Energy Target (VRET) auction to drive Victoria’s Covid recovery

03 September, 2020
Victorian Government announce market sounding process to test industry interest and capacity for 600+ MW of new solar, wind and other renewable energy projects. Round 2 VRET auction The Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Lily D’Ambrosio, announced on 2 September 2020 the commencement of a market sounding process from interested proponents for the … Read more

Planning for the future of energy storage – a boost to the industry

11 August, 2020
The UK Government has announced legislation to change the consenting process for electricity storage projects. This is expected to provide a boost to the battery storage sector. Last November, we wrote a blog detailing the Government’s proposed changes in relation to energy storage under planning law. The Government is now proceeding with its proposals and … Read more

Investments in Energy: The Case for Oil and Gas [In a Nutshell]

06 July, 2020
Joining William Powell and Joseph Murphy of Natural Gas World, Lewis McDonald discusses what the future now looks like in terms of investments in energy, namely oil and gas. Given the burgeoning global population, rising standards of living and climate goals, there has been a serious increase in awareness and concern in global climate change around the world. The environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda is now at the top of many companies’ priorities though currently appearing to mainly affect companies in Europe and less so in Asia. Prior to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, ESG was the major issue being discussed in board rooms. With about 12,000 entities, together controlling around $14 trillion, divesting or wanting to divest from fossil fuels primarily based on consumer demand and consumer sentiment and where the laws and regulation are heading, we have seen rather a chilling effect on investment in the oil and gas sector – and the big question is ... where does it all go from here… Read more

Future Cities Series: Emissions down in lock-down ⁠– how can we lock-in the climate gains?

26 June, 2020
We are well into the pandemic and lockdown in many regions, so it is natural to ask the question, “when will this end and when will we return to normal”... The problem is, “normal” was not sustainable, in so many ways. Those of us in the energy industry particularly know that to be true. The “business as usual” scenario put out by the International Energy Agency in its 2019 World Energy Outlook does not make for happy reading. It had us on a crash course towards over three degrees of temperature increase due to carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel consumption. The IEA also has a “sustainable development scenario” which keeps us within the Paris limits of 1.5 degrees. The only problem is that, according to the OECD, we would need to spend €6.3 trillion per year globally in each of the next 10 years for us to get there. To give you a feeling for how much money that is, the total size of the global economy is estimated at around $86 trillion. And so the challenge seems virtually impossible. Read more

The Spanish Government approves a Bill on Climate Change and the Energy Transition: analysis of the main aspects

03 June, 2020
On 19 May 2020, the Council of Ministers approved the Bill on Climate Change and the Energy Transition (Proyecto de Ley de Cambio Climático y Transición Energética (the “Bill”), which it sent to Spanish Parliament for processing and final approval. The Council of Ministers had made a commitment to pass the bill within its first 100 days, included in its Statement of Government in the face of the Climate and Environmental Emergency approved on 21 January 2020. The approval of the Bill brings an end to a administrative process that has been more than one year in the making. The Council of Ministers, in effect, took into account the first Draft Bill dated 22 February 2019, which was submitted to public consultation and successive reports issued by the different Ministries, considerations from the Advisory Council for the Environment and the Sector Conference of the Autonomous Regions, a report issued by the Spanish National Markets and Competition Commission (the “CNMC”) and a report issued by the State Council. The text finally sent to Parliament contains the modifications made to the initial Draft Bill throughout that process. Read more