Coal news and updates

To accelerate Australia’s rollout of big solar, the first funding agreement from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, ARENA, was signed Friday.

 

The new agreement commits up to A$8.9 million of ARENA funding towards publicly-traded Genex Power’s $126 million Kidston Solar Project in North Queensland.

The Kidston project is a key component in ARENA’s push to triple Australia’s large-scale solar capacity by supporting 12 new solar farms.

 

But at the same time, Australia is expanding its coal production and transport capacity.

 

The multinational mining company Adani Group’s A$21.7 billion Carmichael coal and rail project has just secured its final major Queensland state and federal government approval. Planned for the transport of coal mined 400 km away in Queensland’s Galilee Basin, the project already has all primary approvals.

 

With Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani in North Queensland tomorrow to meet with government officials, the coordinator-general has approved an application for the project’s rail line into the coal export Port of Abbot Point.

 

The port’s terminal is being expanded; once complete it will be the world’s largest coal port.

 

State Development Minister Dr. Anthony Lynham said, “This is another key milestone for the project, which Adani has confirmed it will start construction on next year.”

 

The most northerly deepwater coal port of Australia, Abbot Point is situated too near the Great Barrier Reef for environmentalists.

 

Coral across Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has suffered its most destructive die-off on record, according to a new report from teh ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Townsville.

In nine months, bleaching caused by warmer water has killed 67 percent of the coral in a previously pristine part of the world’s largest reef.

Source: Newswire