Following the 2016 storms and blackouts, the South Australian government brokered a substantial deal to install battery storage for a wind farm north of Adelaide courtesy of Elon Musk, who promised to complete the project in 100 days or it was free. While this was the headline item for SA, they also did substantial work in ensuring that there are major back-up generators available for the state as well now.

Speaking of Elon Musk and Tesla we are also starting to see electric cars making some ground on conventional vehicles with charging stations in a number of locations in regional Victoria.  Several countries including the UK and France are setting targets for the end of the sale of conventional internal combustion vehicles by 2040, and a number of manufacturers have also announced they are phasing out manufacturing of these vehicles.

In June 2016, the Victorian government committed to Victorian renewable energy generation targets of 25 per cent by 2020 and 40 per cent by 2025, followed up by relevant legislation and the first of the reverse auctions. There has also been plenty of activity in our region with a number of wind farm and solar projects getting started this year with more to come.

Meanwhile we are yet to see a clear direction on this from the federal government who seem intent on supporting the coal sector and pumped hydro.

Climate change continues to occupy the minds of many people, although apparently not President Trump, who withdrew America from the Paris accord. The French President Macron has even offered American climate scientists funding for the duration of his presidency.

As for the War on Waste, I cannot remember a time when there has been a greater focus on waste. The Victorian government is currently consulting the community on a plastic bag ban, e-waste-to-landfill ban and waste-to-energy policy.  All of these are substantial policy issues in the waste sector.

In addition, the fire at the SKM recycling plant at Coolaroo in the middle of the year shone a light on the problem of stockpiling which has been exacerbated by the Chinese government’s decision to implement a ban on poorly-sorted recyclables. In short we will need to do it better or develop our own reprocessing capacity.