LEAN SW Tasmania

LEAN SW Tasmania LEAN is a group dedicated to preserving the environment in South West Tasmania including Kingborough, Huon, Channel, Bruny, Macquarie Islands.

14/08/2026

Renew Economy: 'The New Zealand government has recommended legalising plug-in solar in Aotearoa, moving a crucial step closer to tapping into a huge new, and game-changing market for distributed PV – and potentially beating Australia to the punch.

Plug-in solar – sometimes called ‘balcony solar’ in reference to one of its most common applications – has been a runaway success in parts of Europe, like Germany, where it has extended the bill-slashing benefits of PV to apartment dwellers and renters and others previously locked out of the market.

In Australia, however, it is not yet legal. As Smart Energy Lab general manager Glenn Morris explained it to Renew Economy here, Australia and New Zealand have slightly different electrical standards than the rest of the world, in terms of the configuration of our networks and safety requirements.'

NSW - Labor Environment Action NetworkLEAN Qld - Labor Environment Action NetworkLEAN Central CoastLEAN Townsville - Labor Environment Action NetworkLEAN Tasmania - Labor Environment Action Network LEAN WA - Labor Environment Action Network

14/08/2026

Putting more roofs to work “We're putting more rooftops to work and helping businesses, farms and community organisations cut energy costs by slashing the cost of installing medium-sized solar systems by around 20 per cent. "

The Albanese Government is helping businesses, farms and community organisations cut energy costs and strengthen Australia’s energy security by slashing the cost of installing medium-sized solar systems by around 20 per cent.

The Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) will be expanded from 100 kW to 1 MW, allowing businesses, farms and community facilities to install solar systems up to ten times larger, better matching their energy needs and unlocking the potential of large commercial rooftops.

According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, while Australia’s residential solar is sitting at 22 gigawatts, businesses have only installed around 5.6 gigawatts, with most of this being rooftop solar systems below 100 kW in size.

This reform will unlock more rooftop solar for the missing middle – helping more businesses take up solar and shield their energy bills from volatile global energy markets. Lower energy costs will improve productivity and competitiveness across manufacturing, agriculture, retail, transport and logistics, with benefits flowing through to households using those goods and services.

And more energy generated where it’s used is good for the grid too – reducing the need for expensive networks and smoothing out demand peaks for all energy users.

It means more regional and remote areas will have access to clean, reliable and affordable solar energy – with community groups, schools, hospitals, farms and businesses able to secure the discount.

We will also improve network connection processes for mid-scale solar projects through targeted rule change requests and enhancements to the existing framework.

Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said the expansion would help businesses and communities realise the same benefits from solar that millions of Australian households already are.

“One in three Australian homes have rooftop solar, but larger energy users have been locked out because the existing solar rebate only supports systems up to 100 kW.

“We're fixing that by expanding support to systems up to 1 MW, unlocking the potential of commercial rooftops and helping businesses cut power bills, invest in growth and create jobs.

“This will help manufacturers, farmers, retailers, logistics centres, schools, hospitals and community organisations reduce energy costs – and it uses an existing, proven scheme meaning no new bureaucracy or red tape.”

“More rooftop solar means lower energy costs, a stronger economy and faster progress towards an energy system powered by Australian renewable energy.”

The expanded SRES is expected to commence from 1 October 2026, subject to the necessary regulations being in place.

LEAN Qld - Labor Environment Action NetworkLEAN Townsville - Labor Environment Action NetworkLEAN WA - Labor Environment Action Network LEAN South West TasmaniaLEAN Capital Region - Labor Environment Action NetworkLEAN Central CoastLEAN Tasmania - Labor Environment Action NetworkLEAN Victoria LEAN - Sunshine Coast & Wide Bay LEAN NSW - Labor Environment Action Network Chris Bowen MP Penny Sharpe MLC

14/08/2026

They are at it again!

Ken Henry AFR: “Environmental restoration projects financed by carbon revenues are being opposed because they are seen to be making life easier for carbon emitters.

“And a small set of conservation and climate groups is ramping up a campaign to do away with carbon offsetting altogether.”

Henry says land-based Australian carbon credit units, which are governed by the Carbon Farming Initiative Act 2011, are the only instrument that has ever been available to drive private financing of nature restoration at scale.

“I am very confident there will never be another,” he says.

' Leading environmental advocate and former Treasury secretary Ken Henry says Australia’s entire climate change policy architecture, which has been painstakingly built over the past two decades, is at risk of disappearing – and those on both sides of the debate are to blame.

In a keynote speech to the Clean Energy Council to be delivered on Wednesday, Henry says the same “second-rate partisans with first-rate egos” who led Australia to junk a price on carbon – which he describes as “the world’s most economically and scientifically rational climate policy” – are at it again.'

14/08/2026

The guardian: 'Resources giant Rio Tinto says Australia’s largest aluminium smelter will run entirely on renewable energy by 2033 after it struck a $2.5bn subsidy deal with the federal and New South Wales governments to prevent a potential closure.

The deal – announced by Anthony Albanese and the NSW premier, Chris Minns, at the Tomago smelter near Newcastle on Thursday – is for a 10-year below-market power supply guarantee that begins after the facility’s existing coal-focused electricity contract with AGL ends in December 2028.

The governments said the deal would underpin nearly 3,000 megawatts of new renewable and “firming” capacity in the state, more than a giant coal station.

Rio Tinto, a joint owner of the smelter, said it meant by 2033 the smelter would run on clean energy only and cut its annual greenhouse gas emissions by 7.1m tonnes a year, equivalent to 1.5% of Australia’s annual climate pollution.

Bowen said the renewable energy developments would not all be in the Hunter Valley, and would be “spread predominantly out through New South Wales”.

“It will take projects which have been worked on in the pipeline that maybe have already received environmental approval, but haven’t reached final investment decision,” he said. “Some will be windfarms, others will be solar backed by batteries.”

Minns said the deal was vital to the local and broader economy. “The truth of the matter is we couldn’t have a situation where that level of economic stimulus is withdrawn from an economy like that,” he said. “If you look at the Liberals in South Australia or the Democrats in Michigan, they presided over the deindustrialisation of those regions. We are never going to do that for the Hunter.”

14/08/2026

SMH: ‘The triennial conference, which will serve as a launchpad for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s 2028 election bid, is expected to sign off on principles that may ultimately lead to a gas export tax and winding back a scheme that refunds miners, farmers and other industries the 52.6¢ a litre excise applied to petrol and diesel. Doing so would save about $2.5 billion a year.’… LEANs proposal would only impact the top 15 companies.

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