State energy ministers are threatening to “go it alone” with a clean energy target, as they ramp up pressure on the Coalition government, which is fracturing from the hard right response to the Finkel Review and the prospect of a growing share of wind and solar power.

Queensland’s Labor state government has become the latest in Australia to commit to a target of zero net emissions by 2050, adding momentum to the state-based carbon reduction effort and putting further pressure on the federal government’s own unambitious climate goals.

Two sets of research this past week have confirmed that a second rooftop solar boom is well underway in Australia, driven by the rapidly improving economics of PV panels and storage, and by the rapidly worsening state of retail electricity prices.

‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMAL) member Hanwha Q CELLS said it had reached a new production milestone of 1.0 billion high-efficiency ‘Q.ANTUM’ solar cells, equivalent to around 5GW.