Ray Wills, Author at Renew Economy

Ray Wills

Contributor

Ray Wills is managing director of Future Smart Strategies, and claims to be world’s least wrong futurist.

Commentary

Thin white strips on brown slopes: Manufactured ski seasons are fuelling the climate problem
Ribbons of manufactured snow remind us that national parks should be front-line responses to climate change, not showcases for energy-intensive recreations that deepen the problem.
Ray Wills

Jul 2, 2026

6
Commentary

Delaying clean energy is what really makes power bills soar
What is making us poorer is not the move to clean energy – it is doing the transition slowly and badly.
Ray Wills

Jun 19, 2026

7
Commentary

We’re targeting 35 pct electrification in less than 10 years – but 35 pct of what?
The COP31 co-presidents had the idea right on global electrification targets. They got the measurement wrong.
Ray Wills

Jun 17, 2026

3
Commentary

Solar is already creating the fastest shift in electricity generation in history – and it is still accelerating
Solar is moving fast. Really fast. Batteries are moving faster. And there is no evidence in either prices or deployment that the system is about to tap the brakes.
Ray Wills

Jun 11, 2026

12
Commentary

What we’re Googling tells us how we are thinking about energy: We look for “best,” but “cheap” is back
Google searches show consumers are looking for affordable options, they are rethinking how they move, and they are considering how to power their homes independently.
Ray Wills

May 25, 2026

4
Commentary

Our island homes: Isolated grids are now the test beds for high‑penetration renewables and storage
Islanded and semi‑islanded grids cannot pretend the old fossil fleet will always come to the rescue. They must plan for independence, high shares of renewables, storage and flexible demand.
Ray Wills

May 5, 2026

1
Commentary

No more Dark Side of the Grid: The fossil fuel empire loses ground to renewables and storage
Australia’s regions used to be the very definition of the grid’s dark side: expensive diesel, fragile long lines, limited reliability. They are now a proving ground for high‑renewable, storage‑rich power.
Ray Wills

May 4, 2026

5
Electric Vehicles

An electric farm, an electric harvest …. electric everything
Farms need to be electric – because, once this kit is scaled appropriately, on-farm costs will be so much lower.
Ray Wills

Apr 5, 2026

50
Commentary

One ship loaded with solar PV is now worth more to the grid than 120 coal-carriers
Technology gains mean that one ship load of solar PV panels is now worth more to the grid than 120 coal carriers, or 57 LNG tankers.
Ray Wills

Jan 16, 2026

1
Chart of the day

Big batteries overtake big solar in the world’s largest isolated grid
In the world’s biggest isolated grid, the addition of two giant batteries has seen daily battery dispatch overtake that of utility scale solar.
Ray Wills

Nov 30, 2025

2
Commentary

Gas and high coal penetration are the drivers of expensive, volatile power prices
The evidence in observed data and modelled projections shows that delaying renewables does not save money: It prolongs high prices and entrenches fossil fuels.
Ray Wills

Oct 14, 2025

13
Australia keeps adding solar, as rooftop installs head to one million
More than 10% of Australian homes now have installed solar panels, and projections suggest 1 million homes will have rooftop PV by mid-2013.
Ray Wills

Oct 10, 2012

1