JOBS AND BIZ NEWS: Amid all the buzz about a wave of renewable energy investment expected to hit Australia after the federal and most state governments finally legislated their emissions targets, the plight of carbon capture and storage had been (thankfully) all but forgotten.
But earlier this week the government’s Climate Change Authority popped its head above the parapet with a report that crystallises the urgent need for carbon sequestration to help Australia reach its Paris Agreement goals.
The CCA report emphasised that all options should be on the table, including carbon capture and storage, where carbon is trapped from being released through industrial processes and stored in underground caverns that once contained oil, gas and minerals is one sequestration method.
The other, less controversial way is for carbon to be sequestered in trees, plants and soil.
Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen backed up the CCA report’s findings, saying that carbon sequestration, including capture and storage, would play a role in removing carbon from the atmosphere.
This is despite Labor removing $250 million for CCS in last October’s budget.
Renewable energy’s role in shoring up future electricity supplies is more pertinent than ever in New South Wales, which will lose 10 per cent of its baseload supply when the Liddell Power Station in the Hunter Valley switches off its remaining 1280 MW capacity.
The NSW government may moonlight as an electricity generator, more than a decade after privatising the state’s coal-fired fleet.
State Premier Chris Minns confirmed he is in discussions with Brookfield, the incoming owners of Origin Energy, about taking over ownership of the mammoth 2900 MW Eraring Power Station which is due to shutter in 2025.
The government is also considering becoming an owner of renewable energy in the same vein as Queensland, which set up CleanCo to own and run state-owned coal generators while investing in renewables.
The prospect of state ownership has gone down like a lead balloon in investor circles. The Clean Energy Investor Group, which collectively owns 76 renewable power stations with a combined value of more than $38 billion, released a position paper that warned of the dangers of government ownership.
The group is calling on governments to step in to buy the electricity from projects which would otherwise be uneconomic, as per the highly successful reverse auctions in Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory.
But the group said if governments become majority owners they may crowding out private investors who could be reluctant to invest alongside them, slow down projects with tardy decision making and bureaucracy, and ignite conflicts of interest in Renewable Energy Zones that they operate and regulate.
Lithium and soda water might prove good mixers for a longer life
Meanwhile, an industry for recycling the ever-growing amount of lithium batteries being used and discarded is one step closer to reality, with homegrown start-up Novalith successfully raising $23 million of Series A funding to commercialise its technology that extracts lithium from spent batteries using soda water.
Leyla Acaroglu in new job at Circular Australia
On the topic of waste management, Circular Australia has appointed Dr Leyla Acaroglu as its first chief circular designer. She specialises in designing systems-based solutions to design out waste from the economy, identifying materials that can be reprocessed and reused rather than buried or burnt.
Dr Acaroglu has previously helped corporates, governments, the United Nations and charities implement circular and sustainable solutions.
In jobs news, Cbus Property has added a new sustainability manager, Priyanka Kanagalingam to its Melbourne office.
Formerly a sustainability analyst at Colliers, Kanagalingam will oversee the super fund’s sustainability reporting as well as programs within its investee companies and assets.
She has previously managed programs to meet WELL Building, Green Star and GRESB ratings programs and was also previously with JLL where she managed sustainability programs for New South Wales Police, ISPT and Australia Post.
Chris Nunn who was head of platform operations and ESG investing at AMP Capital after nearly eight years with the company has joined student housing provider Scape as head of ESG. He has also been director of sustainability with JLL and and held a similar role with NDY.