Spend five minutes talking publicly about solar and batteries in Australia and someone will inevitably declare that nuclear is the only serious answer. Usually with great confidence. Sometimes with claims it can be built in a couple of years for a few billion dollars.
By 2026, Cuba’s energy system was no longer simply strained — it was hanging by a thread. What had once been a heavily centralised, oil-dependent electricity network was rapidly unravelling under the combined weight of fuel shortages, ageing infrastructure and geopolitical pressure. In that context, solar power stopped being a climate policy aspiration and became something far more urgent: a national survival strategy .
If you’ve been watching the news lately, you’ve probably seen the federal government doing a bit of a victory lap. The headline is simple and sounds like gold: three hours of "free" power every day in the middle of the day.
America’s push into electric vehicles was always going to be ambitious. Over roughly a decade, more than US$200 billion has been poured into EV factories, battery plants and supply chains, reshaping large parts of the US car industry. Much of that money flowed not to the old manufacturing heartlands of the Midwest, but into southern states that promised cheaper labour, generous incentives and faster approvals. The expectation was clear: jobs, regional development and a cleaner transport future all rolled into one.