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Queensland, which has the highest dependence on coal of any Australian state, has announced that it will spend AU $776 million (US $500 million) to build Australia’s largest publicly owned wind farm.

The Tarong West wind farm will be sited in Ironpot, 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) southwest of Kingaroy, in the South Burnett Region. It’s within the Southern Queensland Renewable Energy Zone, which is one of three regions designated by the state to accelerate renewables projects.

The 500-megawatt project will feature up to 150 wind turbines and could generate enough clean electricity to power up to 230,000 homes.

The Queensland government has a $2 billion Renewable Energy and Hydrogen Jobs Fund, which will pay for the project. The state-owned Stanwell Corporation will build and manage Tarong West. The government wants approvals completed by 2024, and aims for the wind farm to be operational by 2026.

As the Sydney Morning Herald points out in a 2018 article, Stanwell Corporation was ranked No. 3 in the country for worst carbon emissions in Australia:

Stanwell Corp runs the Stanwell and Tarong coal-fired power station, accounting for nearly half of all of Queensland’s coal-fired generating capacity.

The Queensland government’s State of the Environment Report 2020 states:

In 2018, Queensland contributed more GHG emissions than any other Australian state and territory, responsible for 32% of the nation’s total of 537.4 [metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent]. On a per capita basis, Queensland is the third highest emitting jurisdiction (34.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) per person) behind the Northern Territory (64.7 tCO2e per person) and Western Australia (35.2 tCO2e per person) and above the national average (21.5 tCO2e per person).

Queensland, which is Australia’s second-largest and third-most populous state, has a population of 5.2 million. The state has a 50% clean energy target by 2030 and a 30% emissions reduction below 2005 levels target by 2030. The latter target is the weakest emissions reduction target of any Australian state.

The Queensland government website states:

Queensland has already achieved 20% of our renewable energy target by 2020.

We are almost two-thirds to reaching our 2030 emissions reduction target having reduced emissions by 19% since 2005 based on the latest 2020 data.

Jason Lyddieth, a Brisbane-based clean energy and climate campaigner at the Australian Conservation Foundation, told the Guardian:

Queensland is Australia’s highest emitting state and one of the biggest jurisdictions for per-capita emissions anywhere. Only Alberta in Canada and Qatar are worse.

The state is also going hell for leather with new mines and gas fields. The government needs to get serious and have a plan to get off fossil fuels.

Having a 2030 target of just 30% when the federal government has a 43% target is completely untenable.

Read more: Construction officially starts on the largest wind farm in Australia

Photo: Leonard Low, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons


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Elon Musk says quiet part loud: he needs $1 trillion so he can control a robot army

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Elon Musk says quiet part loud: he needs  trillion so he can control a robot army

Elon Musk needs Tesla investors to vote for his $1 trillion payday so that he can control a robot army. Yes, really, that’s what he said.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is no stranger to unrealistic proclamations, but today’s is a doozie.

In the midst of an upcoming shareholder vote to give Musk a $1 trillion payday despite his recent poor performance as a CEO (with earnings down 40% during what should have been a record quarter), Tesla has been undergoing a media blitz trying to get shareholders to vote in favor of a plan to dilute their value and voting rights and saddle the company with the same CEO for the next decade.

For his part, Musk has stated repeatedly that he wants this award not for money, but for more control over the company, because he “doesn’t feel comfortable” building AI unless he has more control over it (in keeping with this mentality, Musk started his own private AI company, xAI, to compete with Tesla, which is likely illegal).

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Nevermind that there are better options available which would increase his voting control without diluting all other shareholders, and nevermind that the reason he has less control of Tesla than he used to is because he sold TSLA shares to overpay billions of dollars for a social media platform he’s hopelessly addicted to, and then turned into a white supremacist haven.

But this has at least been Musk’s story: he wants more control over AI development, and he needs more shares to do that. He thinks that his current ownership percentage of ~13% isn’t enough, and that ~25% is more comfortable.

He hasn’t, however, mentioned the reason he wants that control. Today he did, and it’s because he wants to control a “robot army.”

Musk literally says he wants to control a robot army. Yes really.

On Tesla’s Q3 conference call, Musk went on a tangent with his real thoughts on Optimus, Tesla’s (oft-remote-controlled) humanoid robot, in response to a shareholder question about the challenges of bringing Optimus to market. Here’s the way he ended that answer:

My fundamental concern with regard to how much money and control I have at Tesla is if I go ahead and build this enormous robot army, can I just be ousted at some point in the future? Um, that’s my biggest concern, that is really the only thing Im trying to address with this… what’s called compensation but it’s not like I’m gonna go spend the money, it’s just if we build this robot army do I have at least a strong influence over that robot army? Not control but a strong influence.

-Elon Musk, Tesla Q3 shareholder conference call, October 22, 2025

It’s apparent that he was trying to step back his comments mid-thought there, changing out the word “control” for “strong influence,” and the phrase “I go ahead and build” to “we build.” (I would suggest that perhaps the initial wordings used are more indicative of his true feelings on the matter than the ones he later changed to as his PR brain kicked in through the ketamine fog.)

This is significantly different than past statements on this issue. Musk has often publicly stated his concern with AI, calling it a “risk” and “threat” to humanity, and said that he wants to be involved in its development to ensure safety.

However, this statement had no mention of that. The discussion wasn’t about the safety of AI, but rather about wanting to control a robot army. And much of the statement was in the first person: he, alone, wants to “control” that robot army that he “builds.”

Notably, also, it is very important that any controller of any army be able to be ousted. This is fundamental to the entire concept of modern governance and democracy, and when it doesn’t happen like that, countries tend to have problems. And, generally, the threshold for whether to remove someone from control of an army is not that you allow them to have 25% of the vote – usually, they get the same vote as everyone else (about 0.0000006%, in an American election these days).

Let us put aside for the moment that, so far, Tesla’s Optimus robots have not yet shown the capabilities that would strike fear in the hearts of a fighting force.

At one of Tesla’s big unveil events, it’s clear that the robots were teleoperated. Since then, we’ve seen robots fail to deliver popcorn. However, a recent video did show Optimus doing some pretty impressive kung-fu moves… but a later video of the robot doing the same routine at the opening of the new Tron movie suggests that much of the choreography was scripted.

Regardless of that, and assuming the robots do improve rapidly enough to be a real threat to humanity, it is questionable that Musk’s fantasy involves him controlling a robot army that he in the past has said would number in the billions.

Musk’s questionable advocacy suggests he probably shouldn’t own a robot army

The prospect of Elon Musk controlling a robot army might be of some concern considering Musk’s recent political advocacy, which has centered largely on advocating for racists wherever possible. This has included performing back-to-back unambiguous Nazi salutes in front of a large crowd, agreeing with a defense of Hitler’s actions in the Holocaust, and many other white supremacist statements.

His advocacy hasn’t been limited just to the United States, he’s also meddled in other countries’ politics, including support for German neo-Nazis and rhetorical and monetary support in the UK for a violent racist fraudster who has been imprisoned multiple times.

All of this has driven protests against the companyembarrassed owners and destroyed Tesla’s brand reputation, leading to falling sales in most territories. The behavior has also limited Tesla’s business opportunities overseas, in the UK, Australia, Germany, Denmark, and so on.

Musk also stated that he wants “more voting control, but not so much that I can’t be fired if I go insane,” claiming that that number is around 25% (but as the situation around this trillion-dollar award indicates, and the rest of Musk’s public behavior as listed above, that time has already passed).

Musk goes on another rant against objective analyes of his absurd pay proposal

By the end of the call, Musk doubled-down on his “robot army”, stating further:

I just don’t feel comfortable building a robot army here, and then being ousted because of some asinine recommendations from ISS and Glass Lewis, who have no f**king clue. I mean those guys are corporate terrorists. Lemme explain the core problem here, so many of the passive funds vote along the lines of what ISS and Glass Lewis recommend. Now, they have made many terrible recommendations in the past that if those recommendations had been followed would have been extremely destructive to the future of the company. Now, If you’ve got passive funds that essentially defer responsibility for the vote to Glass Lewis and ISS, then you can have extremely disastrous consequences for a publicly traded company if too much of the publicly traded company is controlled by index funds. It’s de facto controlled by Glass Lewis and ISS. This is a fundamental problem for corporate governance, because they’re not voting along the lines that are actually good for shareholders. That’s the big issue, I mean, that’s what it comes down to. ISS Glass Lewis corporate terrorism.

-Elon Musk, Tesla Q3 shareholder conference call, October 22, 2025

While Musk does not specify any of these supposed “terrible recommendations,” likely one of the ones he’s referring to was when ISS/Glass Lewis recommended a “no” vote on Musk’s illegal $55 billion pay package, which would pay a CEO who has overseen a significant drop in Tesla earnings more than double the total amount of money that Tesla has made in profits over its entire lifetime.

And while Musk claims that having a disinterested entity interested in shareholder value is bad for shareholders, Musk apparently does not mind if he is that entity, and if his interests are opposed to shareholder interests, as in the case of the situation surrounding the current shareholder vote.

In contrast to Musk’s statement, the actual analyses of ISS and Glass Lewis are highly analytical, lay out their case dispassionately, argue in favor of maintaining shareholder rights, and even take some positions in agreement with Tesla’s board where they think those would be beneficial for shareholders, showing their lack of “partisanship,” so to speak, on the matter.

ISS and Glass Lewis’ arguments are certainly more detailed, more accurate to reality, less reeking of political language, and delivered with more lucidity than whatever the heck that robot army rant from Musk was all about.

We’ve stated before that Elon Musk’s $1 trillion stock award gets more ridiculous the more you look into it, but we didn’t quite expect something as ridiculous as today’s proclamation.

But hey, if this dude from that weird rant above seems like the kind of “leader” you want to control a robot army, by all means, give up your voting rights for him.


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Wallbox expands its bidirectional EV charger program in the US

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Wallbox expands its bidirectional EV charger program in the US

After launching its first US residential pilot in California last week with six Quasar 2 bidirectional chargers, Wallbox wasted no time scaling up. The EV charger company is now rolling out a new program to bring bidirectional power to 180 homes across California and Connecticut with Bidirectional Energy.

EVs that power homes and the grid

The pilot programs start with Kia EV9 owners who can use Wallbox’s Quasar 2 bidirectional charger and Bidirectional Energy’s virtual power plant (VPP) platform to save money, support the grid, and make EVs part of the clean energy transition. The program will continue to expand to more vehicles and homes at a later date.

Participants will get big incentives: up to $8,800 in California and $10,800 in Connecticut to cover charger and installation costs. Homeowners can save up to $1,500 a year on energy bills and earn another $1,350 through grid participation.

Turning EVs into home batteries

The Quasar 2 is a 12.48-kilowatt bidirectional charger that can charge your EV, power a home, or send energy back to the grid. Paired with Wallbox’s Power Recovery Unit, it can also act as a backup generator, keeping the power on for several days during outages.

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As energy prices rise and blackouts become more frequent, bidirectional charging gives homeowners more control and independence. Bidirectional Energy’s app allows users to set charging preferences, manage grid participation, and monitor earnings.

How it works

To qualify for the first phase, participants must:

  • Own or lease a Kia EV9.
  • Live in a single-family or small multi-family home (four units or fewer).
  • Be customers of participating utilities.
  • Agree to share charging data and enroll in time-of-use or demand response programs.

Priority will go to underserved communities in both states.

Homeowners can check eligibility and apply through Bidirectional Energy’s website. Once approved, they can buy and install the Quasar 2, then submit receipts through the Bidirectional Energy app for state-funded rebates. The company will handle utility connections, rebate payments, and program setup. From there, Kia EV9 drivers can set their preferences and let the system manage the rest.

“Bidirectional charging holds the potential to transform how people use and manage energy at home,” said Douglas Alfaro, chief business development officer at Wallbox. “By partnering with Bidirectional Energy, we’re empowering EV owners to turn their vehicles into energy assets, earning money while supporting a more resilient grid.”

California residents can learn more here, and Connecticut residents can sign up here.

Read more: Wallbox chargers enable Kia EV9s to power homes for the first time


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Brent crude jumps about 5% after Trump administration sanctions big Russian oil companies

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Brent crude jumps about 5% after Trump administration sanctions big Russian oil companies

U.S. Treasury sanctions Russian oil companies in push for Ukraine ceasefire

Oil prices jumped about 5% on Wednesday evening after the Trump administration imposed further sanctions on Russia’s two largest crude companies, citing Moscow’s “lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine.”

Global benchmark Brent rallied $3.03, 4.94%, to $64.35 per barrel by 6:01 p.m. ET. U.S crude oil rose $1.40, or 2.39%, to $59.90 per barrel. During regular trading, Brent had gained 2% to close at $62.59 a barrel, while U.S. crude climbed 2.2% to settle at $58.50.

“Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said as he announced the sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil.

“Treasury is prepared to take further action if necessary to support President Trump’s effort to end yet another war,” Bessent said. “We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions.”

The Treasury Department said the new sanctions will harm the Kremlin’s ability to raise revenue to fund its war against Ukraine.

A senior White House official told NBC News that the new sanctions are related to plans for a meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest falling through.

A general view shows the oil refinery of the Lukoil company in Volgograd, Russia on April 22, 2022.

Reuters Photographer | Reuters

CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed to this report

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