ISPT offloads Blue Mountains shopping centre for $34.8m
ISPT, which recently became a subsidiary of global institutional investor and asset manager IFM Investors, purchased Katoomba Village in Katoomba from Coles Group. It initially acquired a 75 per cent stake in the shopping centre in 2013 for around $24 million, before purchasing the remaining 25 per cent in late 2016 for about $8.65 million.
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Canberra Times
3 minutes ago
- Canberra Times
China races to build world's largest solar farm
What's different this time is electricity demand is growing — up 3.7 per cent in the first half of this year — but the increase in power from solar, wind and nuclear has easily outpaced that, according to Myllyvirta, who analyses the most recent data in a study published on the UK-based Carbon Brief website.
Perth Now
3 minutes ago
- Perth Now
China races to build world's largest solar farm
Chinese government officials have shown off what they say will be the world's largest solar farm. It's on a Tibetan plateau and covers 610 square kilometres, which is the size of Chicago. China has been installing solar panels far faster than anywhere else in the world, and the investment is starting to pay off. A study released Thursday found that the country's carbon emissions edged down one per cent in the first six months of 2025 compared to a year earlier, extending a trend that began in March 2024. The good news is China's carbon emissions may have peaked well ahead of a government target of doing so before 2030. But China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, will need to bring them down much more sharply to play its part in slowing global climate change. For China to reach its declared goal of carbon neutrality by 2060, emissions would need to fall three per cent on average over the next 35 years, said Lauri Myllyvirta, the Finland-based author of the study and lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. "China needs to get to that three per cent territory as soon as possible," he said. China's emissions have fallen before during economic slowdowns. What's different this time is electricity demand is growing — up 3.7 per cent in the first half of this year — but the increase in power from solar, wind and nuclear has easily outpaced that, according to Myllyvirta, who analyses the most recent data in a study published on the UK-based Carbon Brief website. "We're talking really for the first time about a structural declining trend in China's emissions," he said. China installed 212 gigawatts of solar capacity in the first six months of the year, more than America's entire capacity of 178 gigawatts as of the end of 2024, the study said. Electricity from solar has overtaken hydropower in China and is poised to surpass wind this year to become the country's largest source of clean energy. Some 51 gigawatts of wind power were added from January to June. Li Shuo, the director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington, described the plateauing of China's carbon emissions as a turning point in the effort to combat climate change. "This is a moment of global significance, offering a rare glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak climate landscape," he wrote in an email response. It also shows that a country can cut emissions while still growing economically, he said. But Li cautioned that China's heavy reliance on coal remains a serious threat to progress on climate and said the economy needs to shift to less resource-intensive sectors. "There's still a long road ahead," he said. A seemingly endless expanse of solar panels stretches toward the horizon on the Tibetan plateau. White two-story buildings rise above them at regular intervals. In an area that is largely desert, the massive solar project has wrought a surprising change on the landscape. The panels act as windbreaks to reduce dust and sand and slow soil evaporation, giving vegetation a foothold. Thousands of sheep, dubbed "photovoltaic sheep," graze happily on the scrubby plants. Wang Anwei, the energy administration chief of Hainan Prefecture, called it a "win-win" situation on multiple levels. "In terms of production, enterprises generate electricity on the top level, and in terms of ecology, grass grows at the bottom under the solar panels, and villagers can herd sheep in between," he said. Solar panels have been installed on about two-thirds of the land, with power already flowing from completed phases. When fully complete, the project will have more than seven million panels and be capable of generating enough power for five million households. Like many of China's solar and wind farms, it was built in the relatively sparsely populated west. A major challenge is getting electricity to the population centres and factories in China's east. "The distribution of green energy resources is perfectly misaligned with the current industrial distribution of our country," Zhang Jinming, the vice governor of Qinghai province, told journalists on a government-organised tour. Part of the solution is building transmission lines traversing the country. One connects Qinghai to Henan province. Two more are planned, including one to Guangdong province in the southeast, almost at the opposite corner of the country. Making full use of the power is hindered by the relatively inflexible way that China's electricity grid is managed, tailored to the steady output of coal plants rather than more variable and less predictable wind and solar, Myllyvirta said. "This is an issue that the policymakers have recognised and are trying to manage, but it does require big changes to the way coal-fired power plants operate and big changes to the way the transmission network operates," he said. "So it's no small task."
ABC News
8 hours ago
- ABC News
Are ten storey apartment buildings coming to a street near you?
ADAM HARVEY, REPORTER: This elegant home in Sydney's inner west faded over time. Kerri Kennedy bought it 30 years ago. KERRI KENNEDY: It was definitely the ugly duckling in the street. We kind of lived with that for a good 20-odd years, raised our kids here and then we finally sort of managed to get enough together to give it some love and try to bring it back to the original look. ADAM HARVEY: Restoring it was a labour of love. KERRI KENNEDY: All the bricks that we took down we cleaned and recycled. We did all that ourselves so it was very hands on. The whole family was involved. ADAM HARVEY: Now this part of Marrickville is set to be transformed and the entire street, let alone Kerri's house, is unlikely to survive. KERRI KENNEDY: In the colour coding that the council are using, we're in the red zone, which is the highest residential zoning that they're proposing. So, I think right here would be eight to 12 stories, yeah. ADAM HARVEY: To tackle a shortage of affordable housing, the New South Wales Government is encouraging development by rezoning streets close to transport and shopping areas. In the inner west, the local council has come up with its own plan that's even bigger than the state government's proposal. Mayor Darcy Byrne says it's all about keeping the area affordable. DARCY BYRNE, MAYOR OF INNER WEST COUNCIL: We're seeing an exodus of young people from the inner west. People who've lived here all their lives, who love the place and want to live here into the future but simply can't find a home that they can afford. ADAM HARVEY: Here in Sydney's inner west Jersey Street, Marrickville is at the heart of the changes. Rezoning means that big apartment buildings are coming - around ten stories. And that'll suit some residents because when developers come knocking - and they will - they'll offer as much as double the market value. But for some cash is cold comfort as the reasons they moved here in the first place vanish. KERRI KENNEDY: We're not here to make money, we're here to live. DARCY BYRNE: I tell you what, if the exodus of young people from the inner west continues, we lose the heart and soul of the place. And so, character and heritage, that's not just about buildings, it's about people as well. ADAM HARVEY: That's tough for some of the young families who already live here. Alyce Umback bought her first home here last year. ALICE UMBACK: We've formed a little village of neighbours who care about our family and always make a point of saying hello when you see them on the street. It's just a really lovely close community vibe. ADAM HARVEY: She heard of the proposed rezoning via a pamphlet in her letterbox. ALICE UMBACK: It's like seeing everything you've worked so hard for just dissolve into meaninglessness. We didn't buy this place to get a short term, you know, super high windfall on an investment. We bought it because we wanted to live here for at least a couple of decades, for our kids to go to the local school, to know our neighbours, to form a sense of community. DARCY BYRNE: No one will have to leave, no one will be forced to sell their home. The only thing that will occur is that if people in a rezoned area choose to sell their home in the future, it will be for a higher value. So, a home that was worth $2.5 million before might be worth $3.5 million in the future. ALICE UMBACK: But if you've got a nine storey plus high rise going up right next to your backyard that blocks out all of the sunlight permeation into your home and eliminates any privacy you've got, would you want to live next to it is what I, I just don't think it's for us. ADAM HARVEY: Alyce says increasing housing supply doesn't mean the new homes will be any cheaper. ALICE UMBACK: I'm not against the greater investment in social and affordable housing. Unfortunately, that's not want council is proposing. I think it's 2 per cent dedicated to affordable housing. ADAM HARVEY: The council says it's still working on what proportion of the new homes will be 'not for profit' housing. Planning minister Paul Scully says the scale and speed of the changes is partly because of decades of overly tight restrictions on development. Is this not a way of saying that councils made it too hard for too long? PAUL SCULLY, NSW PLANNING MINISTER: Yes, put simply we didn't build enough homes in New South Wales for a long, long time. In New South Wales we've been building six homes per thousand people for the last few years, the last decade or so. In Queensland and Victoria, they've been building eight and nine. As a result, Sydney has become the second most expensive city on the planet. ADAM HARVEY: The changes are happening across Sydney. A 75-minute drive from Marrickville, in Sydney's Hills district, the commuter carpark for the new metro line fills early. MICHELLE BYRNE, MAYOR OF THE HILLS SHIRE COUNCIL: Usually by 7.30 every morning. Same with every commuter car park across the Hills. So, if you're not there early enough, you're not getting a spot. ADAM HARVEY: And more people are coming – a lot more. MICHELLE BYRNE: It is a TOD. So it's a transport orientated development. So, it's been rezoned for 11,300 units. So, in that one K between the two metros will be at least 23,300 people and that's denser than the middle of the CBD in Sydney. ADAM HARVEY: She says the area just isn't ready. MICHELLE BYRNE: And we've got schools that are crumbling. We've got a primary school that has toilets from the 1950s. We've got a high school that's got 51 demountables. We've got a wi-fi problem. Our schools sporting fields are also at capacity, clubs are turning kids away from playing sports. ADAM HARVEY: Paul Scully says the new homes were always coming and the roads, hospitals and schools will get there, soon. PAUL SCULLY: The Hills is part of the northwest growth area. It's long been identified as an area for future growth, and we've set housing targets on the basis of that continued growth. This is not something that was not ever going to be realised in the Hills. Perhaps it's quicker than the mayor and the council might've liked, but the reality is we're matching that housing growth with investment in the services that those communities need to make up for the infrastructure deficit that we inherited, and the Hills were left by the previous government. ADAM HARVEY: The new zoning rules restrict the ability of councils to block developments. MICHELLE BYRNE: I welcome new housing in the Hills. I want everyone to come and live in the Hills. It's the greatest place on earth, but we need the infrastructure to go with it.
