Queensland taking an axe to windfarm and looks to more cuts; home batteries’ breakthrough

IN BRIEF: Queensland has followed its downgrading of sustainability at its upcoming Olympics with an even bigger blow, to deny approval for a $1 billion wind farm planned for a site 40km north-west of Rockhampton.

Planning Minister Jarrod Bleijie has thereby kyboshed the opportunity to power 260,000 homes with 88 260-metre turbines and a grid-scale battery.

Developer Greenleaf Renewables was originally granted conditional approval by Queensland’s State Assessment and Referral Agency in December last year. Bleijie, however, called in the 450-megawatt project for reassessment in January before axing it.

Both the Queensland Conservation Council and Queensland Renewable Energy Council warned that the axing of an already conditionally approved windfarm would undermine confidence in the renewable energy sector in Queensland.

However, Bleijie argued that the local council and 88 per cent of local residents who made submissions opposed the windfarm, and the farm would require clearing of 434 hectares of regulated vegetation, although its environmental impact statement said the area has been “heavily impacted by historical land clearing, primarily for cattle grazing”.

Meanwhile, a further crackdown on construction and shaving of net zero is on the cards

In other bad news, the Queensland Government has been keeping the state’s newly refreshed Productivity Commission busy with a review of the state’s three emission reduction targets, as well as an inquiry to improve productivity in the construction sector.

At the start of April, Treasurer and Energy Minister David Janetzki told Queensland’s Energy Club that the government remains committed to delivering net zero by 2050.

But the ABC pointed out that the party had pledged that it would repeal Queensland’s renewable energy targets of reaching 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030, 70 per cent by 2032 and 80 per cent by 2035 prior to its election win. And Janetzki also said that gas would play a bigger, “critical role” in the state’s energy mix.

Heading the Productivity Commission is Angela Moody, previously chief financial officer for the Gladstone Area Water Board and roles with Synergies Economic Consulting AGL and Ergon Energy Network, as well as Brazilian oil and gas firm Enertrade.

This breakthrough could mean cheaper and safer home batteries

Engineers at Monash University have developed an upgrade to the traditional “flow battery”, a water based battery that’s traditionally only been used in large-scale energy storage due to its large size and slow charge speed.

The team led by PhD candidate Wanqiao Liang has engineered a membrane that controls the flow of ions in flow batteries, and claims the product is safe, low-cost cost and offers high-speed performance. There are no flammable liquids, cheaper than lithium-ion, and it uses materials in abundance rather than critical minerals, making it competitive for residential and mid-scale storage. If current prototyping and real world testing go well, the new battery could be on the market in a few years, they said.

Jobs

Belinda Coates has moved on from chief executive of ADP to start her own company after the engineering firm was bought by Spanish Ayesa, adding about 300 staff to its total global count of about 13,000 staff.

Coates told The Fifth Estate that she was proud of the work she had done for ADP, including the expansion into the UK.

Her new firm, Harper B, was named after her grandmother, Betty Harper, a successful textile designer in the 1930s, who retired soon after marriage but inspired Coates throughout her career.

In a similar vein, Coates has dedicated her new business to helping people and companies find their purpose and achieve their full potential, “beyond their dreams”, she said.

Coates said the new business has already had a lot of interest from a variety of businesses, in design, property tech and development. She planned to host the chief executive of Opportunity London in Melbourne in late July.

Indigenous leader Jefa Greenaway has been conferred an Honorary Doctorate in Design by the Swinburne University of Technology – recognising his contribution to Indigenous-led architecture and the integration of cultural narratives into the built environment.

Greenway has exhibited three times at the Venice Biennale, and in 2020, he was inducted into the Design Institute of Australia Hall of Fame.