Telstra has signed a contract to build a 70MW solar farm in north Queensland in a bid to cap energy costs, and as the first part of its long-awaited rollout of the Telstra Energy strategy, which may see it compete against major utilities.

In its latest attempt to prop up Australia’s fossil fuel industry, the Turnbull government says it will seek to remove restrictions that prevent the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation from supporting investment in carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies.

A trend for solar power trading in locally produced solar energy is catching on across the globe.

Solar energy – on the rooftop of homes and businesses and increasingly in large scale ground mounted arrays – provided more than 3 per cent of Australia’s electricity demand in 2016, and appears on track to deliver at least 30 per cent by 2030, before becoming the dominant source of power for the sunburnt country.