To read the rest of the article, click here.

This will also hugely impact the energy landscape in Queensland, where the government provides incentives for consumers so that solar is more affordable since 2008.

Queensland’s energy industry will be attending the 16th Queensland Power and Gas conference which will be held in October in Brisbane. To find out more, get in touch with camilla.kamsvaag@terrapinn.com

Despite all the hype around HEM systems and devices, this space has seen lower than expected growth rates in the initial years. However, predictions for steady growth over the coming years in this space have have been made by a variety of industry experts. Senior Analyst, Neil Strother from Pike Research states, “It will be driven by government mandates, utility programs, and a growing number of consumers looking to manage their energy bills. Also, a combination of consumer desire to be more ‘green,’ home construction and retrofits with energy management objectives, and new technologies surrounding plug-in electric vehicles will help stimulate the market.”

The leaders of utility retailers will be coming together from July 2-4, 2012 to discuss innovation in HEM, dynamic pricing & consumer engagement at The Utility Show 2012.

For more information on this event, please contact Daniel Stephenson, Project Director on +61 2 9021 8809, or on daniel.stephenson@terrapinn.com.

Hudson Clean Energy Partners (HCEP) is one of the newest entrants into Chinese cleantech market. Investors with this firm are well-positioned to make investments in the country which has announced that it will invest 5 trillion Yuan ($794 billion) over five years. 

To learn how HCEP is accessing the market and around the region, the founding managing director Neil Auerbach will be giving a presentation about this latest initiative at Clean Technology Investment World Asia in Singapore 28-29 June. In the recent Wall Street Journal article, he mentions that firms cannot haphazardly “throw money around.” And he says that competition there is stiff. You can gain insights into HCEP’s strategies at this event.

One project which may be covered is Hudson’s $55 million investment into Beijing-based GSE Investment for a minority stake in a waste-to-energy and wastewater treatment company.

Compared to the U.S. where the lack of explicit political commitments to renewable energy at the Federal level, despite the desires of President Barack Obama, have hampered investment, China’s private investors are much more comfortable backing clean energy and energy efficiency projects.

On 27 June, Hudson’s Executive chairman, Zhongmin Shen will personally be teaching a workshop on “How to spot promising growth and late stage investments.”

See more workshop information HERE.

You can also download the conference brochure HERE .

For more information about the event, and ways to get involved at Clean Technology Investment World Asia, contact Alison Hazell at alison.hazell@terrapinn.com or visit the event site at www.terrapinn.com/cleantechasia.

Morten Baadsgaard Trolle, Managing Director of Intelligent Energy at the DEA stated "Smart Grid is a clash between energy and information technologies. It will be a major task to fuse energy with advancing technologies in order to ensure the effective conversion to an intelligent energy system. The key to success is international cooperation. In joining the GSGF we have taken the first steps on the path to create a common language for Smart Grid that everyone can understand and act upon."

For more information about the Global Smart Grid Federation, please visit: www.globalsmartgridfederation.org

Australasian leaders in the smart grid space will be converging on Smart Electricity World 2012, from July 2-4 this year to discuss the outlook of grid modernisation in this region.

For more information on the event visit the site at: http://www.terrapinn.com/2012/smart-electricity-world/

The Minister will be speaking about the opportunities in the Queensland energy industry.

The 16th annual Queensland Power and Gas conference provides a platform for Queensland’s energy industry to network and share ideas. It features a one day, three streamed conference focusing on gas, power generation and electricity networks.

If you have any queries about the event, don’t hesitate to get in touch on camilla.kamsvaag@terrapinn.com

The State Government has flagged the possibility of merging the electricity producer, Verve, with the retailer, Synergy.

They were established in 2006 following the break-up of Western Power.

The ERA has released a report saying a merger could put more pressure on power prices by reducing competition and discouraging private investment.

It has warned there is increasing concern amongst the sector about the possibility and has recommended against the move.

The ERA’s chairman Lyndon Rowe says talk of a merger is creating uncertainty in the energy market.

"What they want is certainty, they want policy certainty, the amount of uncertainty around at the moment is not helping with that," he said.

"You’re not going to get people to put serious money into looking at options for investing in this market if there’s policy uncertainty around, that uncertainty needs to be dealt with."

The ERA has also rejected the argument that splitting up Western Power in the first place has contributed to recent price hikes, saying increases were inevitable because they had remained stagnant for so long.

The Energy Minister Peter Collier says the Government will consider the ERA’s advice.

Read the full article here.

The Utility Show conference will be happening on the 2-4 July 2012. It will discuss revenue management & customer engagement strategies for utilities & distributors. For more information, download the conference brochure here.

The regulator, known as IPART, last month proposed that power bills should rise by 16 per cent, largely because of the carbon price and the cost of spending on poles and wires.

Of that 16 per cent, nine percentage points are due to the carbon price, and the regulator wants to cut the costs for electricity generation by 2 per cent.

But in a submission this week Origin has told the regulator it is basing its prices for generating electricity on an "unreasonably low" and "completely unrealistic" price of coal that does not take account of the strength of the coal export market.

Read the full article here.

The Utility Show conference will be happening on the 2-4 July 2012. It will discuss revenue management & customer engagement strategies for utilities & distributors. For more information, download the conference brochure here.

The Queensland Power and Gas conference will be happening on the 22-23 October 2012. It will discuss investment, planning & strategy for generators, producers, government and investors. For more information, click here.

Plant operators Stanwell are planning to turn off the Swanbank B power station next Tuesday.

The planned closure of Swanbank B was announced in 2010 by previous plant operators CS Energy, before it was taken over by Stanwell.

Stanwell’s gas-fired Swanbank E power station will continue to operate.

A Stanwell spokeswoman said many of the station’s employees had been previously offered voluntary redundancy packages or transferred to other company operations.

The spokeswoman said the station’s shutdown was dependant on plant performance and remained subject to change.

"As Queensland has a secure supply of generation now and well into the future, Stanwell has continued with CS Energy’s plan of closing Swanbank’s last operational coal-fired unit," she said.

"The Swanbank Power Station site still maintains an important role in Stanwell’s generation portfolio with the highly efficient 385 MW gas-fired unit expected to continue powering south-east Queensland for decades to come.

"With the advent of a carbon tax, old lower efficiency coal-fired power stations, such as Swanbank B, are unlikely to be commercially viable.

"Future power supply to meet increasing power demand will most likely come from the construction of new higher efficiency gas-fired power stations and renewable power plants.

Read the full article here.

The Queensland Power and Gas conference will be happening on the 22-23 October 2012. It will discuss investment, planning & strategy for generators, producers, government and investors. For more information, click here.

CS Energy

Some of the key topics covered in the presentation include:

• Best practice plant technology
• Improving environmental sustainability
• Mitigating the impact of carbon price on coal plant operations

Download the presentation here

Queensland Power and Gas 2012 will bring together Queensland’s Energy industry to discuss objectives, create partnerships and gain expertise.

To find out how you can participate at this event call me on +61 2 9021 8833 or email camilla.kamsvaag@terrapinn.com

Electricity,Solar,CS Energy,QueenslandElectricity,Solar,CS Energy,Queensland