New transmission towers are crucial for renewables – but contentious. Here’s where they should go
25 Nov 2025
The following article by Cheng Cheng was published in the Conversation on the 25th November 2025. Cheng Cheng, Australian National University Solar and wind now provide 99% of new generating capacity in...
Unlimited low-cost energy storage
22 Oct 2025
In this article published in PV Magazine, Andrew Blakers and Ricardo Rüther explore how solar firmed with pumped hydro and batteries could support data centre loads. Read more here
White elephant? Hardly – Snowy 2.0 will last 150 years and work with batteries to push out gas
22 Oct 2025
Image Talbingo reservoir. Source: Thennicke/Wikimedia, CC BY-NC-ND The following article, written by Andrew Blakers, Australian National University; Harry Armstrong-Thawley, Australian National University, and Timothy Weber, Australian National University, was published in the...
Solar myths and misconceptions
16 Jul 2025
Andrew Blakers and Ricardo Rüther tackle solar myths and misconceptions, such as whether solar can supply the primary energy, land use, waste, and many more. Read more at PV Magazine.
How pumped hydro could help get South Australia all the way to 100 pct renewables
3 Jul 2025
Andrew Blakers details the excellent pumped hydro sites available in South Australia, which could displace the expensive gas in the state, with very low water consumption and land use. Read more at...
How pumped hydro could cover for “wet and windless” weeks in the West
20 Jun 2025
Andrew Blakers explores the best pumped hydro in Western Australia, the largest of which could provide the equivalent of 110 Victorian Big Batteries. Read more at Renew Economy.
Global renewable energy pathfinding
13 Jun 2025
Professor Andrew Blakers and Professor Ricardo Rüther (UFSC) have published an article in PV Magazine detailing the many ways in which Australia is a pathfinder for high renewable electricity. The 2030 National...
Australia's energy storage forecasts are broken
8 May 2025
Harry Armstrong-Thawley and Timothy Weber have contributed an article to The Energy, detailing the costly assumptions in GenCost and the AEMO ISP. The full article is available here.
Baseload power is functionally extinct
22 Apr 2025
Harry Thawley-Armstrong has published a timely reminder of why nuclear won’t serve our grid. Much has been made of the notion that “renewables can’t supply baseload power”. This line suggests we need...
Why build nuclear power in place of old coal, when you could have pumped hydropower instead?
18 Mar 2025
The following article by Timothy Weber and Andrew Blakers was published in the Conversation today. The pumped hydro shortlisting tool can be accessed here. The above image is from Phillip Wittke, Shutterstock....