Batteries to help grid become ‘the internet of energy’

Rather than facing a “death spiral”, the electricity grid is set to become the backbone of the “internet of energy”, with the help of batteries – as long as policymakers get on board, according to the Australian Financial Review.

The concept that the electricity network is set to become an expensive white elephant with everyone self-sufficient in producing and storing their own power has disappeared.

Bain Capital, Advent International in $2b-plus bid for ALS

A bidding war is expected to erupt for global laboratory testing outfit ALS after the revelation that private equity giant Bain Capital and sponsor partner Advent International had teamed up for a $2 billion-plus tilt at the company.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch-advised ALS requested a trading halt on the Australian Securities Exchange on Wednesday due to a “potential change-of-control event”

WA iron ore industry reaches turning point

State approval for Rio Tinto's plans to invest $367 million in two new Pilbara pits comes at a fascinating and instructive point in the cyclical gyrations of a seaborne iron ore market that, until relatively recently, had become something of a national obsession, according to the Australian Financial Review.

The first thing to note here is that Rio's investment in new mines will be funded from its sustaining capital budget. The investment has nothing to do with growth. The new pits already approved will feed production hubs at Yandicoogina and West Angelas and will replace legacy mines that have reached the end of their productive lives.