Energy

Fuel and fertiliser for the future: regional hydrogen and ammonia power Aussie farming

Hiringa Energy, Sundown Pastoral Company and the NSW Government have announced Financial Close has been reached on their Good Earth Green Hydrogen and Ammonia (GEGHA) project. GEGHA has satisfied all development milestones, with construction scheduled to begin in October this year. This achievement highlights the sustained opportunity for Australia’s green hydrogen industry, proving right-sized, demand-led projects can succeed. The GEGHA project is an integrated solar energy to low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia operation. Once complete the plant will be located adjacent to Sundown’s Joint Venture Wathagar cotton ginning facility, near Moree NSW. GEGHA will produce up to 4,500 tonnes of low-carbon ammonia annually, displacing high-carbon fossil fuel-based nitrogen fertilisers and removing up to 17,000 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions each year – the same as taking 6,500 passenger cars off the road or planting half a million trees. GEGHA fertiliser will be consumed by Sundown to support production of its positive net-zero, traceable Good Earth Cotton, with excess supply also available for other regional growers. In addition to ammonia production, the facility will supply ~224 tonnes of green hydrogen per annum for direct use. Green hydrogen is set to be consumed as part of Hiringa’s heavy-vehicle refuelling network, as well as on-farm to displace diesel in irrigation pumping, further decarbonising the agricultural supply chain from paddock-to-port. “Getting the green light for green fertiliser production isn’t just about producing low-carbon ammonia,” says Hiringa co-founder and CEO Andrew Clennett. “It’s a model for overcoming the obstacles that have held back the establishment of these new green industries. By strategically partnering with Sundown Pastoral Co, we’re anchoring demand with supply to meet the immediate needs of the agricultural sector.” Transforming supply chains GEGHA will offer East Coast Australia’s first green fertiliser supply, delivering regional producers with competitive, stable pricing for their fuels and feedstocks. […]

China’s greening steel industry signals an economic reality check for Australia

Cristoph Nedopil, Director Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University Australia has flourished as an export powerhouse for decades. Much of this prosperity has been driven by the nation’s natural endowment with two important raw products for producing steel the traditional way: iron ore and metallurgical coal. Worth more than A$100 billion in 2024, Australia’s iron ore shipments to China make up about 55% of everything we export there. But a transformation has been taking place in China’s steel industry, which is under intense pressure to decarbonise. Earlier this year, Beijing formally expanded its national emissions trading scheme to cover steel production. And just this month, it issued another decree requiring steelmakers to increase their share of green energy in steel production. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s recent visit to China may have looked like a celebration of normalised diplomatic or trade ties. Behind the scenes was a quiet but critical economic pivot. Australia’s economic future depends on whether it can green its exports fast enough to meet the decarbonisation needs of its biggest market. A greener China In China, no new permits for coal-based steelmaking appear to have been issued since early 2024. However, China has been approving new, greener steelmaking capacity, using electric arc furnace (EAF) technology, the main low-emissions technology in steel. These furnaces use high-voltage electric arcs, powered ideally by green energy, to melt scrap steel or what’s known as direct reduced iron (DRI). Through that process, they limit carbon emissions by reducing the use of thermal coal for electricity and metallurgical coal for iron making in blast furnaces. In total, China has now installed enough electric arc furnaces to produce more than 160 million tonnes of steel annually. That’s about the same as the total steel output of Japan and the United States combined. China’s current 10% share of steel production from electric arc furnaces still remains below the country’s 15% target. But […]

Allegro Energy positions its proprietary LDES as a clean power backbone for data centres

As data centre expansion accelerates to meet the demands of AI, cryptocurrencies, and cloud services, Allegro Energy has announced the relevance and applicability of its cutting-edge long duration energy storage (LDES) technology in enabling scalable, sustainable energy solutions tailored to the unique needs of modern data centres. With data centres operating on consistent, high-load profiles, they are uniquely positioned to benefit from a clean power strategy that combines renewable generation with long duration energy storage. Allegro Energy’s modular, scalable, and environmentally friendly battery systems present a breakthrough solution that overcomes the prohibitive cost, scalability and sustainability challenges associated with traditional lithium-ion or vanadium-based systems. Modularity & Scalability: Allegro’s LDES systems are designed to grow in parallel with a data centre’s needs. This allows incremental investment and deployment, a model that is ideal for both hyper-scale facilities and edge data centres. Renewable Compatibility: The system pairs seamlessly with solar and wind energy, helping data centres navigate grid volatility and peak pricing while advancing toward net-zero carbon targets. Climate-Friendly Storage Chemistry: Unlike conventional technologies, Allegro’s water based electrolyte is not resources constrained, offering a low-impact alternative that can be safely deployed at scale. Consistent Load Advantage: Data centres’ constant, 24/7 demand profiles make them ideal candidates for firming intermittent renewables with a storage option that delivers dependable performance without excessive cycling costs. “The exponential growth of generative AI, cloud computing, and digital services has made energy a critical chokepoint in data infrastructure,” said Dr. Thomas Nann, CEO of Allegro Energy. “We believe the future of high-performance computing does not need to come at the cost of the planet. With our technology, data centres can be powered entirely by renewables, supported by reliable, cost-effective long-duration storage.” Allegro Energy’s proprietary, locally manufactured microemulsion electrolyte technology has been widely recognised as a critical advancement in […]

Got Solar? Share the power: National energy trial needs volunteers

Australians with rooftop solar are being invited to take part in a first-of-its-kind research project exploring how communities can buy and sell clean energy directly with each other. Led by Deakin Business School, the Virtual Energy Network (VEN) study is testing how households and small businesses can benefit from peer-to-peer energy trading – allowing those with solar or battery systems to sell their excess energy to others who don’t have solar but want to access greener, cheaper power. ‘This is a potential game changer for how we share renewable energy,’ said Dr Andrea La Nauze, the project’s lead researcher and an energy economist at Deakin University. ‘It’s about empowering people with solar to decide where their surplus power goes and how much they charge for it, while giving more Australians access to clean energy – even if they can’t install panels themselves.’ The trial is now recruiting 400 participants from across Australia, including individuals and community groups, to join an online platform where sellers and buyers of energy can connect based on pricing preferences. Participants don’t need to live in the same suburb – or even the same state – but they do need to be with the same energy retailer. Sellers could include households, small businesses, or even larger operations with multiple properties. For example, parents could share their excess energy with their children or other extended family members to help with cost-of-living pressures. Buyers, meanwhile, can benefit by accessing power that’s cheaper than typical electricity prices, while supporting local renewable energy use. The VEN trial is funded through Energy Consumers Australia’s Grants Program and delivered in partnership with QuantumNRG, ReThink Sustainability and WinZero. Dr La Nauze said the project was inspired by a successful community-led energy trading initiative in Wingecarribee, NSW, and could help lay the foundation for […]

AREMA calls for urgent reform on incentives for hot water heat pumps

New South Wales and Victoria, supported by initiatives taken by the Commonwealth Government, created bold programs to support electrification and net zero through providing rebates to home and business owners that install hot water heat pumps. While well intentioned, there are major flaws within these programs, including: Safety – some of the equipment on the market have inherent risks and are being installed by an untrained cohort. Performance – some of the hot water heat pumps for sale simply do not give the electricity savings and hot water indicated. Fraud & waste – unscrupulous and untrained people are selling and installing poorly made and designed products to an unsuspecting population to obtain the incentives. Industry has been engaging on these issues with governments, for the last couple of years, but there remains no certainty that significant reforms are forthcoming. AREMA argues that if reform is not possible over this year, then the incentive programs in place now should be put on hiatus until these issues are resolved. So what needs to happen? Product standards for safety and minimum energy performance needed to be in place. We are still waiting for these to be developed, implemented and put into regulations. The trade needed to be trained and licensed. The knowledge and skills needed includes both plumbing and refrigeration expertise. The licensed plumber and fridgies out there needed to have their skills lifted before these programs recommence. There needed to be a robust compliance regime to ensure questionable products and people are kept out the market. To be clear, there are well-engineered hot water heat pumps on the market from all over the world, that are being installed by competent and experienced technicians. These products deliver hot water efficiently and with a markedly reduced electricity bill and lower emissions Sadly, these products […]

Australia and Japan’s top engineers show the way for a renewable hydrogen sector

Australia and Japan’s joint technological expertise can lead the way in international clean energy, according to a joint report focussing on hydrogen, released today. This partnership will lead to new jobs, cleaner industry, and economic benefits for both nations.The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) and The Engineering Academy of Japan (EAJ), led by its Emerging Research Leaders Exchange Programme (ERLEP), launched their joint report ‘The Australia-Japan renewable hydrogen value chain’, at an event today in Osaka during World Expo 2025. ATSE and the EAJ have brought together Fellows from both Academies to shine a light on our shared potential. The report outlines hydrogen’s emerging role as a clean fuel with potential across two nations’ economies – in construction, manufacturing, agriculture and fertilisers, and chemical production. It articulates the steps necessary to most expediently produce, transport, store, and use millions of tonnes of green hydrogen across Australia and Japan. Fuelled by abundant and cheap Australian renewable energy using technologies leveraging Japanese and Australian inventions, green hydrogen is primed to become a critical industry and trade focus in the Asia-Pacific by 2050. Acting as a carrier of energy and a clean, highly useful chemical input, green hydrogen can also set up other sectors for success, including steelmaking and fertiliser manufacturing. ATSE CEO Kylie Walker said, “Achieving this potential requires a sustained focus on skills, infrastructure and financing. Japanese and Australian innovation, working together in partnership, are a force to be reckoned with. Today’s report lays out how retrained personnel from existing energy industries could add to their existing knowledge and fill the critical hydrogen roles of the future.” EAJ Chair of International Affairs Yuko Harayama said, “Japan and Australia are perfect partners for exploring the complementarity and synergy in their expertise in renewable hydrogen. The key would be to bring together stakeholders from industry and academia from […]

As the Latrobe Valley moves away from coal jobs, could a green worker’s cooperative offer a solution?

Gregory Patmore, Emeritus Professor of Business and Labour History, University of Sydney. Worker cooperatives may sound like something out of the 19th century, but they still exist in the age of global capitalism. In Spain, for instance, the Mondragon Corporation is a huge worker-run cooperative based around 95 collectives – the largest cooperative in the world. Worker cooperatives produce products or services. But they are run very differently. Workers can become members of the cooperative they work for by buying a share of the business. This gives them a vote in how the business is run and a share of net income, after costs have come out. Co-ops do not have external shareholders – the profits stay with workers. Rather than bosses deciding and workers carrying out the tasks, worker cooperatives are based on democratic principles. Big decisions are discussed and then voted on, and each member gets one vote. They offer a direct way for workers to control their production and shape the economy. In Australia, these models peaked in the 1980s. Most are gone, though a few older cooperatives are still running, such as Tasmanian recycling cooperative Resource Work Collective, founded in 1993. In recent years, there’s been renewed interest in the model. The Earthworker cooperative network focused on Victoria’s Latrobe Valley. The goal: find new types of employment and products in a coal area undergoing transition. Coal plants in the Latrobe Valley provided jobs for generations of workers. Their closure poses real challenges. Pictured: worker hardhats left on the fence at Hazelwood Power Station after it closed in 2017. Dorothy Chiron/Shutterstock How well does the model work? Mondragon is the most well-known example. Founded in 1956 in the Basque region of northern Spain, Mondragon grew and became self-sustaining. It has developed supporting institutions such as research and development companies and even a university. It also established a credit […]

MGA Thermal achieves world-first 24/7 renewable industrial steam

Australian innovation delivers continuous, cost-effective clean steam for industry, positioning MGA Thermal at the forefront of decarbonisation with its groundbreaking latent heat energy storage. After more than ten years of development and breakthrough materials engineering, MGA Thermal’s world-first commercial Electro-Thermal Energy Storage (ETES) system – capable of dispatching industrial-grade steam from renewable energy – has now gone live. Anna Starrett, Mark Croudace, Alexander Post, Erich Kisi, Glen Reynolds. This groundbreaking ETES technology significantly outperforms conventional sensible heat thermal storage, offering a viable pathway to 24/7 renewable heat for industries, effectively replacing reliance on carbon-intensive fossil fuels. MGA Thermal’s utilisation of latent heat means that energy is stored more compactly, both in physical plant footprint and storage temperature range. This serves to make latent heat ETES more space efficient, reliable, energy efficient and affordable than sensible heat storage. The fully operational demonstration plant, unveiled today, has produced steam output while the storage material undergoes a material phase change to release latent heat, establishing MGA Thermal as a unique solution provider in the urgent global effort to decarbonise heavy industry. Steam, the workhorse of industrial manufacturing for centuries, underpins 44% of Australia’s energy consumption in heavy industries alone, with half dedicated to heat generation. Globally, industrial heat accounts for a staggering 25% of energy use and emissions, historically locking industries into carbon-intensive practices. MGA Thermal’s newly commissioned demonstration plant shatters this paradigm by converting intermittent renewable electricity into reliably stored thermal energy, ready for on-demand steam generation. This breakthrough unlocks a tangible route to net-zero industrial operations, with the potential to scale to GWh storage capacities, meeting the vast clean heat demands of the world’s largest production facilities. Located at MGA Thermal’s Tomago site, the compact demonstration unit (12m long, 3m wide, 4m tall) stores 5 MWh of energy with a 500kW thermal dispatch […]

China has moved to curb supply of critical minerals. Can Australia seize the moment?

Marina Yue Chang, Associate Professor, Technology and Innovation, University of Technology Sydney. In the escalating trade war between the United States and China, one notable exception stood out: 31 critical minerals, including rare earth elements, were strategically exempted from tariffs. This was not a gesture of goodwill. It was a tacit acknowledgment of the United States’ deep dependence on China for materials essential to its technological competitiveness, clean energy transition and national defence. Beijing’s response was swift and calculated. China’s Ministry of Commerce announced expanded export controls and a shift in pricing principles. The move reflects China’s long-standing effort to shift rare earth pricing from market supply and demand to pricing based on their strategic value. The impact was immediate. Rare earth exports from China effectively ground to a halt, as exporters awaited approvals under a new, opaque licensing regime. The announcement prompted President Trump to issue a new executive order directing a review of national security risks stemming from the US reliance on imported, processed critical minerals. As global supply chains reel from these disruptions, Australia finds itself in a unique strategic position. As a trusted US ally, it possesses the resources, partnerships and political capital to step into the breach. But can Australia seize this opportunity – or will it come with strings attached? China’s new playbook China’s latest restrictions target seven rare earths – such as dysprosium and terbium – crucial for electric vehicles, wind turbines, fighter jets and missile systems. While stopping short of a full export ban, the policy functions as a chokepoint. It leverages China’s near-total global control of rare earth refining (around 90%) and its monopoly on heavy rare earth processing (98%). Domestically, China’s rare earth sector is dominated by two state-owned giants which together control nearly 100% of national mining quotas. These measures have exposed the vulnerability of Western supply chains. The US has only one operational rare earth mine […]

Statement on the Coalition’s Frontier Economics gas policy modelling

Attributable to Australian Energy Producers Chief Executive Samantha McCulloch The Frontier Economics modelling of the Coalition’s gas price controls policy leaves many unanswered questions about how the policy would work and reaffirms industry’s fundamental concerns. The policy would introduce price controls in the east coast gas market and would be yet another heavy-handed intervention that will drive away investment and risk exacerbating the supply pressures in the longer term. The Coalition rightly opposed a similar policy in 2022, when the Federal Government introduced price caps that ultimately delayed new supply and damaged investor confidence. At the time, the Coalition noted that “price caps in the gas market would be a disaster” that could lead to “a collapse in industry confidence resulting in job losses and long-term investment downturns”, and cited EnergyQuest modelling “that showed a $10-per-gigajoule cap could remove or delay more than 700 petajoules of new gas supply in less than eight years.” Rather than increasing gas supply, the Coalition’s policy risks reducing domestic gas production and supply because there would be no incentive to produce sub-economic gas, and it would damage already suppressed investor confidence. The modelling also ignores the material infrastructure constraints that limit how much gas from Queensland can be sent to the southern states, with the pipes already running at full capacity during peak periods – a point the Coalition made less than six months ago. There is much in the Coalition’s broader gas plan that is welcome and responds to what industry has been calling for, including streamlining environmental approvals, providing more certainty and protection from lawfare for critical energy projects, including gas in the Capacity Investment Scheme, and support for pipeline and storage to address infrastructure constraints. We will continue to work with both major parties on sustainable solutions that promote a functioning, […]

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