Highlights from the Australian market
- The federal and NSW governments will split $2.5 billion to keep the Tomago aluminium smelter running in return for 100% renewable supply from 2033 and $1.1 billion of Rio’s own investment.
- Energy ministers have backed all 14 recommendations of the Ray review into AEMO’s governance, agreeing to divest AusEnergy Services Limited and shift AEMO to full government membership while leaving the ISP untouched.
- Chris Bowen has warned states they may toughen the federal data centre rules but not water them down, while the AEMC has told ministers data centres should bring their own clean, firm energy.
- The CER has confirmed the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme will expand to solar systems up to 1 MW, ten times the current cap and aimed at the stalled commercial-and-industrial “missing middle”.
- South Australia has announced a nation-first royal commission into artificial intelligence, a ~$3 million inquiry prompted partly by data centre proposals at Tailem Bend but focused mainly on work and labour.
- Electric vehicles took 21.7% of Australia’s new-car market in July, a second straight month above 20%, with BYD’s 5,116 deliveries beating Tesla’s record July result.
News from Japan
- Paywalled: Kansai Electric’s 1.18 GW Oi Unit 3 tripped automatically on Saturday 8 August after a loss-of-field alarm on the generator and remains offline with no restart date.
- Paywalled: Japan’s supplementary T-1 capacity auction for FY2027 cleared every bid yet still missed its target for the first time, securing 4.58 GW at ¥10,361/kW and leaving Hokkaido short with no new entrants able to close the gap.
Podcast of the week
Zugzwang: The Market Modelling Podcast. The energy sector has been asking for this. Zugzwang is Endgame Analytics’ new podcast digging into market modelling, from Oliver Nunn and Jack Simpson.
The name comes from chess, a position where any move you make leaves you worse off. It’s hard to pronounce and a little pretentious, and that’s exactly the point.
Episodes launching next week. Subscribe and listen to the teaser here: https://open.spotify.com/show/0346ILtbXgKJJIlOy64p1i?si=77a682128e1c4836