Sustainable Energy Now

Western Australia’s Grandparents for Climate Action are cycling across the country to petition the federal government on gas development. Sharp eyed viewers will notice a old SEN logo on the support van. 81 year-old Professor Neville Bruce, who is cycling the whole trip, said: "The purpose of our epic journey was to expose the travesty of the Australian gas industry and to call on everyone to help do something about it. Western Australia alone accounts for 60% of all Australian Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) exports that contribute directly to global heating". "The Climate Analytics organisation reports that Australia is the world’s third largest fossil fuel exporter, and the second largest exporter of fossil fuel CO₂ emissions. This causes massive global heating and promotes storms, floods and fires around the world including in Australia. For example, the people of Lismore and the Murray lands are still trying to recover from devastating floods." Onya Neville !

A number of SEN members are involved in Rewiring Australia Electrify My Community groups. Electrification is inevitable and we've progressed quite a long way as this Nissan Leaf ad highlights. Really is time to fully electrify. https://lnkd.in/eJn5twh3

Giles Parkinson adds his well articulated voice to a number of people calling for the grid to be redesigned from the bottom-up. A grid to serve customers first and foremost, not continuing to support a system being rendered redundant by the energy transition. Sustainable Energy Now tried to float the idea of a customer energy resources led system with WA energy policy makers and whilst some pollies liked the "democractisation of energy" as a slogan, the bureaucrats weren't keen. They know well where the real power lies and what the appetite for, and resistance to, change would be. Public energy policy is anything but public - it serves incumbent power. 'Energy' operates as separate, but sometimes overlapping, market places, each with their own game, players, spectators and rules: Oil & Gas, Coal and Electricity. The electricity sector has fiendishly complex rules which, with several layers of opacity, act to protect incumbents and resist change at all costs. Broken Hill highlights the system is broken. There is enormous value in complexity - for the bigger players, not for customers. Whilst the technical and regulatory goals and solutions are relatively clear, how to bring about lasting change is anything but. https://lnkd.in/gjr-Q5Mk

The House Select Committee on Nuclear Energy is seeking submissions by Friday, 15 November 2024. In person submissions are already underway and John Grimes CEO of Smart Energy Council has made their views pretty clear in this video. Sustainable Energy Now are working on our submission that focuses on technical and economics aspects of a prospective LNP nuclear power plant at Collie. We will be supporting our allies on technical aspects of their submssions drawing on SEN's independent energy modelling, knowledge of the SWIS and technology pathways. Pity people have to waste time fighting these very damaging distractions. https://lnkd.in/ge9Y5mTB

What do mining and Oil & Gas companies have in common when it comes to asset management? ... Repurposing an abandoned asset to delay decommissioning cost. In this post truth world the idea doesn't need to stack-up, you just enough gullible people to get onboard, hoodwink the media and government and next thing it's in a policy paper awaiting taxpayer subsidies. Shipping CO2 from Japan to sequester it in depleted offshore gas wells (e.g. Santos's Bayu Undan) or reuse an disused mineshaft to store energy using gravity as this ABC article by Abbey Halter. Bonkers ! a quick calculation would show that those "120,000 households" would be much better off served by a behind the meter battery storage than an efficient and expensive asset in the middle of nowhere where you need to transmit the energy a long distance over congested-contested networks. Yes the energy transition is urgent and we need to consider all options - all the more reason to screen out the expensive duds that don't scale early to avoid wasting time, money and eroding public confidence and those of genuine investors ... #killdudsearly https://lnkd.in/gfWN-P9t

Good to see some Australian innovation in the much under-researched and under-reported area of industrial heat noting that 50% of energy is used in specifically generating heat. This is a concentrated solar thermal (CST) project with 18MW capacity. The RenewEconomy article highlights "The CST project will help to reduce 50 per cent of the Mars Petcare facility’s gas use - equivalent to the average annual gas use of over 2,000 households " ... Imagine what we could do in WA with a concentrated effort to decarbonise existing industrial, commercial and residential sectors ... https://lnkd.in/gvWmt6Kp

Interesting article from the ABC on nuclear power in Taiwan where community opposition trumps energy security. Food for thought - Sustainable Energy Now is planning a SEN Presents on Nuclear Power: A WA Option? for March next year when the government comes out of caretaker mode in the lead up to the State Election Saturday 8 March 2025.... watch this space for details. https://lnkd.in/g6AvJ_he

You may have missed this media release from The Australia Institute on some of the risks associated with the proposed licence extension of the North West Shelf LNG plant operated by Woodside on behalf of the Joint Venture Partners. The release echoes concerns Sustainable Energy Now and Piers Verstegen raised in a submission to the recent WA Domgas inquiry. The Australia Institute analysis is joined by two former WA premiers, Carmen Lawrence and Peter Dowding, and oil and gas industry expert Tim Forcey to highlight the threat posed by Woodside’s proposed export expansion.

For those involved in the clean energy transition understanding the local politics is essential - that it is the politics of power from big business. Rhiannon Shine article documents how that power is exercised in practice - state capture writ large. Cleaning house prior NWS extension and Browse. Piers Verstegen and Dr. Brad Pettitt MLC provide valuable input to the article. The federal safeguarding mechanism has been described as "setting your own speed limits". https://lnkd.in/g_B6PKmN

SEN’s success as Western Australia’s leading clean energy advocate owes much to the knowledge, experience and dedication of its volunteers. Craig Carter is a power systems engineer, an adjunct professor at Murdoch University and a longstanding SEN volunteer. Craig is a former employee of the State Energy Commission of WA, which later became Western Power. Acting on his global warming concerns, he transferred to Western Power’s Sustainable Energy Branch in 1995 to pioneer the early development of renewable energy in the state. Craig was involved in nearly all of WA’s microgrids and main grid wind, solar and energy storage projects at Western Power, until his resignation in 2012. Craig joined SEN ten years ago, and volunteered in our technical group that developed a plan to roll out close to 100% renewable energy on the South West Interconnected System (SWIS) by 2029. See more here: https://lnkd.in/g4YEFzuq Craig’s engineering knowledge was vital in developing a robust model that would withstand criticism from a galaxy of detractors. That pioneering work helped shape WA’s current energy policy, including the Whole of System Plan. Craig’s contribution to Murdoch Uni was recognised recently with the award of an Honorary Doctorate - onya Craig!