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SA Liberals pushing for all new wind farms to be assessed for their impact on the electricity market

All new wind farm projects would have to undergo an assessment to see how they would affect the electricity market before being approved, if changes proposed by the Opposition were adopted as reported by Lauren Novak. The move comes in response to concerns raised last week after major employers warned the State Government they were considering shutdowns because of wild fluctuations in energy prices. The instability was blamed in part on wild storms, demand interstate and delays in upgrading an interconnector with Victoria. Opposition Leader Steven Marshall added that South Australia’s “massive abundance” of renewable energy, such as wind and …

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Building the ‘New Economy’ With Sustainable Social Enterprise

There is a critical need for more diversity in business, and social enterprise could be the answer, writes Alan Greig, from the Social Enterprise Legal Models Working Group. Sustainable social enterprise can go a long way towards introducing the kind of “values” into capitalism that Kevin Rudd once made reference to in 2009 – “the values of equity, sustainability and community”. With the range of “values based” enterprises that are rapidly developing – many of them profiled in Pro Bono Australia News – social enterprise is already setting the pace in this direction. Social enterprise is changing the way we …

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Australia’s Largest Solar Crowdfunding Campaign a Success

For-purpose business, The People’s Solar has helped iconic Melbourne Not for Profit, the Abbotsford Convent raise $120,000 for its renewable energy project in the biggest crowdfunding project of its kind in Australia. The People’s Solar, part of Energy for the People, is a platform for delivering community-owned solar power to schools and Not for Profits as reported by Probono Australia. Director and co-founder Tosh Szatow told Pro Bono Australia News this was the biggest solar crowdfunding project of its kind in Australia to date. It was also the largest project his business has been involved in. “It’s really exciting. We’ve …

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A shift towards clean energy; Victoria’s renewables target

The Victorian Labor government has announced an “ambitious and achievable” Victorian Renewable Energy Target (VRET). This target will commit the state to generating 25% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2020, and 40% by 2025 as reported by Dylan McConnell. While details of the VRET are yet to be fully fleshed out, it is set to be based on a similar mechanism to the scheme used in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), which has managed to sidestep the uncertainty that has plagued the renewables industry in recent years. ACT deputy chief minister Simon Corbell called Victoria’s announcement “a game-changer”. …

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‘Flick’ a start-up shaking up the power business in NZ

“Electricity is sexy and very exciting!” Jessica Venning-Bryan, general manager for brand for Flick Electric Co, said. Flick is a start-up that’s shaking up the power business in New Zealand. For most people, the idea of an electricity company doesn’t exactly match up with words like “sexy” and “exciting”. But just like how Flick is changing the way consumers consume energy, it’s also turning the stilted corporate culture associated with big power companies on its head. Their vibrant office is a reflection of that and in this week’s Workspace, we will be exploring Flick’s base of operating in Wellington as …

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The Future of Renewables, Solar, Battery Storage and Electric Vehicles

A global renewable energy transformation is underway. The proposed merger between Tesla and Solar City outlines the shape of things to come. The integration of solar panels with battery storage and electric vehicles is the paradigm for both ecological global economic growth, and reaching the goals of the Paris Climate accord as reported by Roy Morrison. An integrated renewable energy company will combine electric vehicles, battery storage, and solar electric panels, all with rapidly expanding market share and plunging prices. Globally, investment in cheap and carbon free solar energy is already rapidly supplanting fossil fuels. Whether or not Tesla’s corporate …

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Regional Development Conference 2016: Keynote Speaker and Program Announcement

We are pleased to announce Associate Professor Simon McArthur, Deputy Chair, Australian Regional Tourism Network as a Keynote Speaker at the 3rd Australian Regional Development Conference; Participation and Progress to be held in Canberra on 5 – 6 September 2016. Simon will be speaking on; ‘Out with the Plan, in with the Model’. Many standard tourism plans have tried to introduce actions to move tourism towards a more sustainable approach. But plans are like a visitor’s photo – almost as soon as the shot is taken, the people and place changes. Enter a new approach – the Sustainable Tourism Model …

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Hybrid nanogenerator harvests hard-to-reach ocean energy

(Phys.org)—Energy from the ocean, or “blue energy,” is arguably the most underexploited power source, according to researchers in a new study. Although the oceans contain enough energy to meet all of the world’s energy needs, currently there is no effective way to harvest it economically and with reasonable efficiency. The main problem is that ocean waves are irregular and pass by at low frequencies, whereas most energy harvesters operate best with waves that have regular amplitudes and high frequencies. Unfortunately, the calming lull of slow, unpredictable waves beating against the shore that we tend to find so peaceful is not …

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Coal won’t solve energy poverty, but renewables will

Last month, a remarkable story emerged out of Kenya. Not one of violence or unrest that the world is becoming used to, but a lighter one: the national power grid was disrupted by a solitary monkey. The unfortunate primate’s precarious exploration of Kenya’s most important electrical source — a hydro power plant operated by the Kenya Electricity Generating Company — resulted in it falling onto a transformer, short circuiting the nation’s power grid, and causing widespread blackouts and disruption in the process as reported by The HP. While the episode exposed the vulnerabilities of Kenya’s national power gird, it also …

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Energy crowdfunding: the new way to boost renewables

Millions of euros have been crowdfunded in four years to finance small and medium renewable energy projects. And there is still potential to be developed It’s a brand new sector: the first steps date back to 2012. Today energy crowdfunding is a way of financing solar panel or wind turbine projects. For some people, like Andrew Yakub, founder of a US solar manufacturing company, it will save the planet. There is already a big annual conference dedicated to the sector, and a European association that brings together the platforms involved in renewable energy. In March 2016, when one of the …

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