Written by Kyla Mandel / Think Progress / 14 May 2019

CO2 in the atmosphere has reached unprecedented levels.

The concentration of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere reached an unprecedented level this month. Researchers at the fossil fuel giant Exxon saw it coming decades ago.

Measurements taken on May 3 at the world’s oldest measuring station, the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, recorded “humanity’s first day ever with more than 415 parts per million [ppm] CO2 in the air,” according to the United Nation’s climate change Twitter account. As of May 12, levels have remained steady at 415 ppm.

Never before in human history has there been so much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The last time scientists believe it may have been this high was 2.5 to 5 million years ago during the Pliocene epoch, when sea levels were 25 meters higher than today and global temperatures were warmer by 2-3 degrees Celsius.

Unlike back then, however, the record carbon dioxide emissions being recorded now are the result of humans burning fossil fuels, which releases harmful heat-trapping pollution into the atmosphere. And scientists at Exxon predicted this decades ago.

According to an internal 1982 document from Exxon Research and Engineering Company — obtained by InsideClimate News as part of its 2015 investigation into what Exxon knew about the impact of fossil fuels on climate change — the company was modeling out the concentration of carbon emissions several years into the future.

According to a graph displaying the “growth of atmospheric CO2 and average global temperature increase” over time, the company expected that, by 2020, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would reach roughly 400 to 420 ppm. This month’s measurement of 415 ppm is right within the expected curve Exxon projected under its “21st Century Study-High Growth scenario.”

Not only did Exxon predict the rise in emissions, it also understood how severe the consequences would be.

“Considerable uncertainty also surrounds the possible impact on society of such a warming trend, should it occur,” the internal document stated. “At the low end of the predicted temperature range there could be some impact on agricultural growth and rainfall patterns which could be beneficial in some regions and detrimental in others.”

“At the high end, some scientists suggest there could be considerable adverse impact including the flooding of some coastal land masses as a result of a rise in sea level due to melting of the Antarctic ice sheet,” it continued, stating this would only take place centuries after temperatures warmed by 3 degrees Celsius.

Despite this knowledge, the company chose not to change or adapt its business model. Instead, it chose to invest heavily in disinformation campaigns that promoted climate science denial, failing to disclose its knowledge that the majority of the world’s fossil fuel reserves must remain untapped in order to avert catastrophic climate change.

The world is already experiencing the devastating impacts of climate change. As the very first line of the U.S. government’s National Climate Assessment asserts, “The impacts of climate change are already being felt in communities across the country.”

From more intense flooding, drought, heat waves, wildfires, and hurricanes, the world is becoming increasingly aware of what life in a warming world will look like. In 2018, the United States alone experienced 14 different climate and weather-related disasters, each costing over a billion dollars.

The record carbon emissions recorded this month indicate things will most likely continue to get worse; carbon remains in the atmosphere for a long time, meaning it continues to warm the world long after it is emitted. “This is a grim reminder of the perilous path we are on,” climate scientist Michael Mann said.

Mann was one of three scientists to first release what is known as the famous “hockey stick” graph in 1999. The graph, illustrating temperature increase over time, takes the shape of a hockey stick due to the sharp increase after the Industrial Revolution. Twenty years after the graph was released, CO2 levels were roughly 366 ppm. Today, Mann told ThinkProgress over email, they’re increasing by about 3 ppm each year.

“If you do the math, we’ll cross 450 ppm — which likely locks in dangerous planetary warming of more than 2C/3.5F — in just over a decade,” he said. “That means we have to act dramatically, now, to lower global carbon emissions (by about 5-10% a year) if we are to avert catastrophic climate change impacts.”

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Written by Sophie Vorrath / One Step Off The Grid / 10 May 2019

Up to 4MW of solar will be installed across six remote indigenous communities in Western Australia, as part of an $11.6 million plan to slash the use of heavy-polluting and heavily subsidised diesel fuel.

The “low-cost and reliable renewable energy solution” was announced by the Labor McGowan government as part of its budget this week, to install an average of 400-600kW in each community, starting next year.

It’s a win-win for the Labor government, considering the project will slash the cost of providing power to the 100 per cent diesel fuelled towns, while also cutting the cost of the government subsidy paid to the state-owned Horizon Power.

The program is being rolled out alongside Horizon Power’s solar incentive project which encourages eligible remote communities to invest in their own roof-top solar on community buildings, with Horizon Power contributing 30 per cent of the cost.

Energy minister Bill Johnston said the roll-out of solar farms would also foster community development through local jobs, training and investment opportunities.

State Aboriginal affairs minister Ben Wyatt – who is also state Treasurer – said it would reduce power bills for community buildings and improve energy reliability at times when it can be hard to access diesel.

The communities set to get the solar power stations are spread throughout the state’s vast Kimberley region, and the include northernmost settlement in Western Australia, Kalumburu.

The government said on Thursday that construction was scheduled for Warmun and Kalumburu in 2020 and in Ardyaloon, Beagle Bay, Djarindjin/Lombadina and Bidyadanga in 2021.

Horizon says it intends to release a Request for Tender for the construction of the east Kimberley systems in May 2019.

“The program follows on from the launch of the McGowan Government’s Energy Transformation Strategy, which aims to deliver cleaner, affordable and more reliable energy,” Johnston said.

But the W.A. Greens say the lack of funds actually allocated to driving the transition to renewables in the state budget tells a different story.

“The only commitment … made to assisting the transition to renewables is two specific solar projects,” Greens WA climate and energy spokesperson Tim Clifford said.

“And though they are important and valid projects, the spend is nothing compared to more than $41 million dollars that is just being given to the fossil fuel industry and related infrastructure.

“Rather than endorse the recently rescinded EPA guidelines to make big polluters offset emissions, the McGowan government is gifting hundreds of thousands of dollars to the sequestration project; to a company that has paid just $50 million in tax from an $8 billion profit,” Clifford said, in reference to Chevron.

“Spending three times as much on the big polluters of our planet, rather than clean energy, clearly shows were the state government’s priorities lie.”

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Written by Ashleigh McMillan / The Curier / 3 May 2019

Renewable energy leaders have welcomed a funding promise for training in the sector, as Ballarat hits ‘critical mass’ with wind energy.

Labor leader Bill Shorten promised on Thursday to put $75 million towards building Australia’s renewable energy sector, which he said will create 70,000 jobs.

National director of the Australian Wind Alliance Andrew Bray said if it goes ahead, the program would be a real “boost for getting younger people involved in the renewable sector”.

“It means you can have jobs in places that were previously dependent almost solely on agriculture,” he said. “Jobs in agriculture go up and down, depending on the seasons and commodity prices, but these are long-term jobs and they’ve meant that young people can stay in local towns.

“Part of the issue for rural and regional Australia has been keeping young people, and having the jobs for them to stay around.”

Ballarat is now directly tied to renewable energy – not only for the hundreds of wind turbines dotting hills around the region – but for a training centre now being created in the city by Federation University.

The $12.5 million Asia Pacific Renewable Energy Training Centre, the first of its kind in Victoria, will train apprentices in the installation and maintenance of wind turbines, solar panels, and domestic batteries, as well as site safety.

Labor has said they will put $45 million towards apprenticeship incentives through which employers could get up to $8000 for taking on a trainee.

The apprentices themselves would get $2000 to help with education costs.

Mr Bray said programs like those at FedUni will be working on the “latest, up-to-date technology” and will work closely with industry, while also having the possibility of a dependable job nearby once they complete study.

“In Ballarat, it’s reaching a real critical mass, there’s now hundreds of turbines around that need technicians to service them.”

If successful at the May 18 election, a Shorten government would also put $20 million towards upgrading TAFE facilities, so equipment at the sites such as batteries and solar panels are industry standard.

A further $10 million would go into a clean energy training fund so workers can be trained and upskilled for renewable industries.

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Written by Giles Parkinson / RenewEconomy / 2 May 2019

The two biggest solar farms in South Australia were switched off for long periods this week as wholesale market prices fell below zero – the result, apparently, of new “zero price clauses” in power purchase contracts.

As RenewEconomy reported on Tuesday, and updated on Wednesday, wholesale prices in South Australia fell below zero for extended periods on Tuesday (nearly six hours), and on Wednesday (nearly four hours).

This was the result of high wind and solar output, as well as relatively low demand, and export limits (down to 50MW) on the main link to Victoria because of maintenance works, which meant that excess renewable production could not be traded interstate.

As Dylan McConnell, from the Climate and Energy College in Melbourne, points out, and illustrates with the graph above from the OpenNem resource, the state’s two biggest solar farms both switched off power on Wednesday.

The Bungala One and the semi-complete Bungala 2 projects cut output from around 1030am, ahead of the anticipated zero pricing event, while the newly-complete Tailem Bend solar farm cut power off on both Tuesday and Wednesday from around 11am as the prices hit zero. Both projects were offline for nearly six hours on Wednesday.

Both the 220MW Bungala projects and the 95MW Tailem Bend projects have long term power purchase agreements with Orign Energy and Snowy Hydro respectively.

But a new feature of PPAs being signed in Australia these days is a “zero price” clause that means that the off-taker will not pay for the output of the solar farm at the contracted price if the market price falls into negative territory. This is considered a major risk in states like South Australia, and Queensland.

This is because the off-taker does not want to pay twice – once for the contracted price to the solar plant owner, and secondly the market price for the output. As a result, the solar farm is switched off.

In the case of Tailem Bend, that must have been frustrating because the solar farm only reached full commercial operations, and permission to operate at full capacity, on April 29, the day before the zero pricing events.

The first 110MW stage of the Bungala solar farm was completed last year, but the second 110MW stage has been working slowly through its permissions. It only reached its next stage of permissions, which allows output of around 30MW, in recent weeks, but also had to switch off when prices fell below zero and to lows of minus $120/MWh.

In any case, negative prices should not be a long term phenomenon, even if the growth of rooftop solar matches periods of minimum demand, an event that the market operator says could start to occur within a few years.

The addition of more battery storage and pumped hydro will be able to soak up the excess wind and solar output, and act as a “solar sponge”, even when the links to other states are constrained. Certainly, more solar farms will be looking for storage of one to two hours to soak up the output in such events. Being switched off is not part of the business model.

For the moment, installations like the Tesla big battery operated by Neoen at Hornsdale have been having a party this week, getting paid to top up when the prices go negative, and then selling into the grid when prices rise again. As some industry analysts have noted. this is a great opportunities for household solar and “visual power plants”, as well as charging electric vehicles.

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2nd May 2019 / EcoGeneration

New rules rushed through by the Queensland Government are likely to hit the commercial solar sector hard when they come into effect in less than two weeks, and will make it harder for the state to meet its own renewable energy target, the Clean Energy Council said today.

Anna Freeman, the Clean Energy Council’s director of energy generation, said the new regulations for solar meant that electricians had to be used for work such as carrying unplugged solar panels or bolting them to a rail.

“This is like having to call in an electrician to hang a TV on a bracket on your wall. It’s absurd. It would be virtually impossible to electrocute yourself by handling an unconnected panel. You’re at greater risk from plugging in a toaster at home,” Freeman said.

“The changes will drive up the cost of building both large solar farms and commercial solar systems installed in places like shopping centres, schools, swimming pools and factories.

“Estimates from solar businesses are that the cost of building commercial projects will increase by 10-20%, delaying the payback period for businesses and schools and making many projects unviable.

“Combined with the effect on large-scale solar farms, these changes will slow the installation of solar across the state and make it more costly for businesses to control their energy costs.

“Not even an electrical apprentice will be able to handle and attach an unconnected solar panel, so the opportunities for apprentices to work in the new solar industry are going to be slashed. At the very time in which the Federal Labor Party announces its commitment to boost apprenticeships in renewable energy, the Queensland Government continues to persist with a regulation that will kill off many clean energy apprenticeships.

“From 13 May, those businesses which already have projects under construction are going to have to wear this extra cost, without the ability to pass this on to their customers. This means many small- to medium-sized businesses will be out of pocket,” she said.

Freeman said the sudden regulatory change had not been justified, with the government not able to demonstrate a single safety incident on a solar farm relating to the mounting and fixing of solar panels.

“To our knowledge, no other jurisdiction on the planet has such extreme and unnecessary regulation in place,” she said.

“We are asking the government to immediately delay this new regulation before people start losing their jobs, so that proper consultation can take place with the solar industry.

“If the Palaszczuk Government is willing to return to the table, we are confident that we can work co-operatively together with all parties to find a way forward that does not destroy jobs and investment.”

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