Matt Howell, who is the CEO of Australia’s largest electricity consumer – the Tomago Aluminium Smelter – thinks that Australia needs a new coal power plant. 

Australia’s booming rooftop solar market has hit a potential speed hump, with a sudden drop in the price of small scale renewable energy certificates, pushing up the cost of solar by around 10 per cent for households and small business and catching many installers unawares.

Australia’s electricity and gas prices have reached historic heights that are squeezing household budgets while threatening the very survival of some Australian manufacturers.

Over the years we’ve seen lobbyists and incumbent energy interests repeatedly proved badly wrong about the levels of renewable energy we could manage to achieve.

It appears the fossil fuel industry’s scare campaign over renewable energy driving up the price of electricity is having the same desired effect it had back in 2011 when they campaigned against placing a penalty on polluting the atmosphere with global warming gases.