Australian firms have increased their presence on the global LNG market and in clean energy projects at home as the Labor Party of incumbent Prime Minister Anthony Albanese won the general election in a landslide.
The majority of Australian voters voted Labor and the ruling party expanded its majority in a win seen as a result of anti-Trump sentiment in many parts of the world.
“In this time of global uncertainty, Australians have chosen optimism and determination. Australians have chosen to face global challenges, the Australian way – looking after each other, while building for the future,” Albanese said on election night on 3 May.
Clean Energy Welcomes Labor Win
Australia’s top renewable energy industry, the Clean Energy Council, said that the Australian Labor Party’s decisive and historic victory at the 2025 election was “a vote of confidence by the Australian people in the nation’s clean energy future.”
The re-election of the Albanese Government provides continuity for strong and effective policy that is critical to underpin new investment in clean energy that will in turn deliver lower power prices for all Australians, Clean Energy Council Chief Executive, Kane Thornton, said.
“It’s now time to leave the politics behind and get on with the job of rolling out renewable energy to deliver affordable and reliable power for all Australians,” noted Thornton.
“This also includes ensuring the effective design and implementation of the Government’s promised Cheaper Home Batteries rebate program, much-needed reform to environment and planning laws and reform to the energy market to ensure clearer incentives for new investment, including for long duration energy storage.”
The Climate Council, for its part, commented that “A steep swing towards Labor, delivering what is expected to be their largest majority since World War II, represents a resounding endorsement of Australia’s current plan for renewable power.”
Australia’s national electricity grid is already 40 percent powered by renewables and storage. At the 2025 election, Australians endorsed the progress that’s already been made by the first term Labor (ALP) government, and backed a renewable-powered future.
By the next election, Australia’s main grid is expected to be more than two-thirds powered with renewables and storage – making this switch unstoppable, the Climate Council said.
Woodside Approves Louisiana LNG Project
At the end of April, Australia’s Woodside Energy made a final investment decision to develop the three-train, 16.5 million tonne per annum (Mtpa) Louisiana LNG export project in the United States. Woodside is targeting first LNG in 2029.
Woodside bought Louisiana LNG, the former Driftwood LNG project, as part of its acquisition of Tellurian for US$1.2 billion last year.
Development of Louisiana LNG will position Woodside as a global LNG powerhouse, enabling the company to deliver approximately 24 Mtpa from its global LNG portfolio in the 2030s, and operating over 5 percent of global LNG supply. The development has expansion capacity for two additional LNG trains and is fully permitted for a total capacity of 27.6 Mtpa.
“Louisiana LNG is a game-changer for Woodside, set to position our company as a global LNG powerhouse and enable us to deliver enduring shareholder returns,” Woodside chief executive officer Meg O’Neill said.
“Adding Louisiana LNG to our established Australian LNG business provides Woodside with a balanced and resilient portfolio, combining long-life, flexible LNG assets with high-return oil assets.”
The Louisiana LNG project will benefit from access to abundant low-cost gas resources in the United States and boasts an asset lifespan of more than 40 years. It also has access to well-established interstate and intrastate gas supply networks, the Australian company said.
Case in point: a day after announcing the FID, Woodside said it had signed an agreement with bp for the integrated energy major to supply natural gas to the Louisiana LNG project. This agreement represents the first tranche of a diversified portfolio of feedgas that will support the Louisiana LNG project, enabled by the project’s extensive interconnectivity to multiple producing basins and interconnecting pipelines.
Under the agreement, Louisiana LNG Gas Management LLC (GasCo), a wholly owned subsidiary of Louisiana LNG LLC, has committed to purchase on a long-term basis up to 640 billion cubic feet of gas from bp for an ultimate delivery to Line 200 beginning in 2029.
Woodside has also signed LNG sale and purchase agreements with Uniper for the supply of 1.0 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) from Louisiana LNG LLC and up to 1.0 Mtpa from its global portfolio (Woodside Energy Trading Singapore Pty. Ltd.), demonstrating ongoing strong demand for LNG globally.
“In an environment of increasing demand for dependable sources of LNG, particularly in Europe, we remain focused on delivering reliable energy supply that will benefit our partners and stakeholders for years to come,” O’Neill said.
Another Australian energy major, Santos, reported strong free cash flow from operations of about US$465 million for the first quarter, up by 9 percent on the prior quarter, from sales revenue of US$1.3 billion.
Santos’ production increased by 2 percent on the prior quarter driven by higher production from Western Australia. The company’s Western Australian production volumes increased by more than 18 percent on the previous quarter, driven by the Halyard-2 infill well.
Santos also noted that the Barossa LNG project is 95.2 percent complete with the Gas Export Pipeline and Darwin Pipeline Duplication complete, the majority of subsea infrastructure installed, and the FPSO shipyard commissioning over 90 percent complete. Four wells have been drilled and completed, a fifth well is suspended for later completion and drilling of the sixth well is in progress. The project remains on track for first gas in the third quarter of this year, Santos confirmed.
“Our portfolio is resilient in a volatile environment and we have an advantaged geographical position into regions with growing demand and highly sought after products,” said Santos managing director and CEO Kevin Gallagher.
In new energy technologies, University of Queensland researchers have set a world record for solar cell efficiency with eco-friendly perovskite technology.
A team led by Professor Lianzhou Wang has unveiled a tin halide perovskite (THP) solar cell capable of converting sunlight to electricity at a certified record efficiency of 16.65 percent, the University of Queensland said in April.
“The reading is in line with many silicon-based solar cells currently on the market but with the potential to be cheaper and quicker to make,” Professor Wang commented.
“We are thrilled with the record and also to be contributing to the progress of cost-effective renewable energy technology.”
Technip Energies has been awarded a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) contract by Jet Zero Australia Pty Ltd (Jet Zero) for Project Ulysses, a bioethanol to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project located in Townsville, Australia.
The project aims to produce 102 million litres of SAF and 11 million litres of renewable diesel annually by 2028 using Australian bioethanol and technologies from Technip Energies and LanzaJet.
Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, specialised in infrastructure investments for the energy transition, has announced a further expansion of its large-scale Supernode battery storage project with contracts signed for Stage 3 offtake with Stanwell Corporation.
The Stage 3 expansion adds a further 250MW/4hr Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) taking the total installed capacity to 780 MW and 3,096 MWh, believed to be one of the largest to date in Australia’s National Electricity Market.
“We are pleased to be delivering such a significant new infrastructure project supporting Queensland’s demand for clean energy to support the ‘green superpower’ opportunities in the Sunshine State,” said Brian Restall, Quinbrook’s Managing Director and Regional Leader, Australia.
The government of Victoria made a step forward toward creating Victoria’s Wind Worker Training Centre, which is aimed at delivering training for the onshore and offshore wind sectors.
“This investment in wind energy training is essential to building up the skilled workforce needed to support the planning, construction, and operations of new renewable energy projects and meet Victoria’s ambitious renewable energy targets,” the Victoria government said.
Minister for Energy and Resources Lily D’Ambrosio commented, “Because of renewable energy, Victoria has the lowest energy prices in the market and building more will make sure we can continue to drive them down – whilst creating thousands of lifelong jobs for Victorians.”
