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Interview: First Solar CEO James Hughes
First Solar CEO James Hughes gives his take on the rooftop and utility-scale solar markets; why centralised power is here to stay, why solar will win the intermediate and peaking markets; cost productions; solar hot spots, and why grid parity does not matter.1 -
Campbell Newman’s solar tap-dance gives power to the people
The Queensland Premier’s rapid response to an uprising over standing charges for solar households reveals just how far the balance of power has moved into the hands of the new energy “pro-sumers”, and is draining the hold of the incumbents. -
Give Monckton credit, he has more guts than Abbott
Lord Monckton’s Doha antics might have got him banned from all future UN climate negotiations, but they had no impact at all on the outcome. It is domestic politics – and the likes of Tony Abbott – that has been the biggest drain on ambition, and on the ability of any major party to respond to calls to meet the science. -
Doha saved 250 trees, but it couldn’t save the planet
Some smart use of paper saved a lot of trees at Doha, but it faces a tough slog to achieve a treaty in Paris in 2015. Maybe the world will rely on Gulf riches to provide the technology breakthroughs in solar – the real economy will have to drag the political economy behind it. -
Doha Dispatches: Papering over the cracks
The fault lines exposed at the start of the conference – mostly over the question of finance and the extension of the Kyoto Protocol – have not been resolved, but some sort of agreement will be achieved. Can we look forward to a Paris Protocol? Plus: NAB on why investors have to adapt; and Monckton gets the hump. -
Doha Dispatches: Carbon market collapse creates another fine mess
Record low CER prices might seem like a good thing for heavy emitters looking for cheap abatement, but the collapse of the carbon market is bad news for all concerned, not least Australia, and pretty lousy for the planet. So what’s gone wrong, and can it – or should it – be saved?
