The triple-disaster of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown that hit the northeast of Japan in March 2011 was a wake-up call for many people. This was true for Masayoshi Son, a founder, chairman, and chief executive officer (CEO) of Softbank Group, a Japanese multinational telecommunications and internet corporation. Having experienced the danger of nuclear power plants in Fukushima, he felt the need to replace nuclear power with safer and cleaner renewable energy for a better future.

The NSW government has offloaded half of state-owned utility Ausgrid, selling a 50.4 per cent share to a consortium of Australian pension funds for $16.189 billion.

We regard Queensland’s 50% renewable target by 2030 as potentially by far the largest driver of new renewable energy supply in Australia over the next 20 years. Queensland is the only State where electricity demand is presently growing, it is Australia’s second largest source of electricity demand the current renewable supply is tiny relative to the target. Only NSW has the potential to match Queensland and for now the NSW Govt is more preoccupied with public transport.

Using beer waste to create lithium battery electrodes and a new technology promising 100 x faster battery charging – just two of the many very recent developments in the energy storage sector.