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The burgeoning offshore wind industry is awaiting a declaration from the federal government to start major work on the water. Key points: The renewable energy industry is waiting for the federal government to designate Gippsland as an offshore wind development zone There are five wind farm projects planning to build turbines off the coast of Gippsland CSIRO says the price for building an offshore wind farm has dropped significantly, making it a viable option There are five offshore wind farms planned off the coast of Gippsland, with the hope of leveraging the existing transmission infrastructure of the Latrobe Valley. Under a new law governing offshore wind farms passed by Parliament last year, operators are only allowed to carry out certain activities in zones designated for offshore wind development. The most developed project, Star of the South, plans to erect up to 200 turbines in the windswept waters of Gippsland. Acting chief executive Erin Coldham said making the declaration wou

The former federal minister who oversaw the introduction of carbon prices in Australia has backed calls for policies such as insurance to help fix the crisis plaguing the country’s largest power grid. Key points: Former climate change minister Greg Combet has backed plans for capacity markets to help repair networks The proposal was pursued in the midst of skyrocketing prices and warnings of blackouts in the national electricity market Mr Combet said the policy was needed to help Australia transition to 100 per cent renewable energy Greg Combet, a former union leader who served as climate change minister in the Gillard government, said ideology needed to be removed from debates about how to solve problems affecting national electricity markets. Mr Combet said businesses and households – especially the vulnerable – were suffering amid skyrocketing prices and rolling blackout warnings as the system struggled to cope with demand. While he blamed the “chaos” at the feet of the previous Coa

Octopus Investment Australia has officially launched a $10 billion renewable energy “platform,” which will seek to finance large solar, wind and battery storage projects and has purchased Australia’s largest operating solar farm. Octopus Australia – a subsidiary of one of the world’s largest investors in clean energy, the Octopus Group – said on Wednesday it had simultaneously closed two full subscription funds co-invested in Australia’s multibillion-dollar renewable energy portfolio. The two investment vehicles are the Octopus Australia Sustainable Investments (Oasis) Fund, open to institutional investors, and the Octopus Renewable Energy Opportunities (Oreo) Fund, open to wholesale investors. Among the institutional investors who have joined the Oasis fund so far are the federal government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation and Australian pension fund Hostplus, which has more than 1.5 million members and $86.6 billion in funds under management. Octopus said the secured portfolio c

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has received an overwhelming response to its offer of a $100 million grant for an ‘advanced’ grid-scale battery project, which is seen as critical to the transition to a 100 percent renewable energy grid. A shortlist of 12 projects representing capacity in excess of 3GW and 7GWh storage was completed from more than 54 proposals. ARENA said its response “far exceeded expectations,” and underlined the major development path of Australia’s large battery storage project. Funding will be provided for at least three projects and selected projects have been asked to submit full applications for their share of the funding offer, available for new and existing projects equipped with ‘advanced’ inverters. Selected projects totaled a combined $297 million of grant requests, for a total investment value of $3.7 billion. The figures suggest that ARENA’s funding could eventually support the development of approximately 1,000 MW of new battery storage capacit