About Renew Economy

Renew Economy

Overview

Renew Economy is an Australian online news service covering the clean energy transition: renewable generation, battery storage, electric vehicles, energy policy and the economics of decarbonisation. Published from Sydney at reneweconomy.com.au, it reports daily on the projects, companies, regulators and political fights reshaping Australia's electricity system, mixing breaking news with analysis, market commentary and long-running data features such as its interactive maps of big batteries and wind and solar farms.

The site describes itself, in its own billing, as Australia's most widely read and respected website specialising in clean energy, and as essential reading for the energy industry. It is the flagship of a small independent stable that also includes One Step Off The Grid, covering rooftop solar and household energy, and the EV-focused site The Driven. Renew Economy operates on an advertising revenue model, supported by a free daily newsletter, a program of podcasts and webinars, and reader donations and subscriptions.

History

Renew Economy was launched in early 2012 by Giles Parkinson, a journalist who had been business editor and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review, and before that worked at AAP. Parkinson had also been a columnist for The Bulletin magazine and The Australian, and was the founder and former editor of Climate Spectator, the climate and clean energy publication of the Business Spectator group. He founded Renew Economy as an independent venture and, according to the site's own About page, remains its owner; he is still its editor-in-chief more than a decade later.

Sophie Vorrath, who also came from Business Spectator and Climate Spectator and has been with the publication since its first day, is now its editor. Regular contributors over the years have included Paul Gilding, the sustainability writer and author of The Great Disruption, and a roster of energy analysts and commentators whose columns run in its Commentary section.

The publication grew with the market it covers. In October 2017, Renew Economy reported that its total page views since launch had passed 25 million, with monthly page views then averaging around 800,000 and monthly unique visitors averaging nearly 300,000; the same month, Parkinson received the Bob Brown Foundation's Deni Greene Award for environmental journalism. The stable later expanded to include One Step Off The Grid, aimed at households and small businesses generating and storing their own power, and The Driven, a dedicated electric vehicle news site founded and edited by Parkinson, which has become a significant publication in its own right. By the mid-2020s the group was also running regular industry webinars alongside its editorial output.

Content and Coverage

Renew Economy publishes news throughout the day across categories that include Renewables, Storage, Solar, Wind, Policy & Planning, CleanTech Bites and Energy Efficiency. Its reporting follows the National Electricity Market closely: project approvals and construction starts, grid connection queues, battery commissioning, coal plant closure timetables, market rule changes, and the output records set by wind and solar farms. Its bylines include Parkinson and Vorrath, reporters such as Rachel Williamson and Joshua S. Hill, and Press Association-style contributors including former Guardian Australia environment editor Peter Hannam.

Distinctive features include its interactive maps — a Big Battery Storage Map of Australia and maps of large-scale wind and solar farms, operating and under construction — and Grid Connections, a running column tracking executive appointments across the green energy sector. A short-form strand, Energy Bytes, packages brief items and striking charts from the day's developments. Commentary is a major strand, with regular columns from analysts including David Leitch and Tim Buckley and frequent contributed pieces from academics, consultants and industry figures, often sharply critical of fossil fuel policy and of delays in the transition.

In its founding statement, the site set out to discuss ideas and analyse the trends, technologies and policies driving the transformation to a net zero economy, and Parkinson later described its two big themes as the falling costs and exciting developments of renewable and storage technology, and public frustration with policy design, politicians and regulators. Contributed articles are actively invited, and opinion pieces from named industry participants — contradicting the site's own editorial line as often as supporting it — form a large part of its daily output.

The publication also produces four podcasts: Energy Insiders, a weekly interview and news program co-hosted by Parkinson that the publisher says has passed two million plays; Solar Insiders, on the rooftop solar and battery market; SwitchedOn Australia, about household electrification; and The Driven Podcast, covering electric vehicles. Podcast episodes are published on the site alongside the news, with new editions appearing weekly in October 2026.

Audience and Reach

All published audience figures for Renew Economy are the publisher's own, and no independently audited figure is available. On its About page, the publication states that in calendar 2024 it recorded more than 24.5 million page views and averaged more than 500,000 unique visitors a month. Across its stable of websites, including The Driven and One Step Off The Grid, it puts annual page views at more than 35 million and its combined audience at more than one million unique visitors.

The daily email newsletter is free; the publisher says it is received by more than 28,000 subscribers, mostly working in the energy industry, with an open rate of 38 per cent. The site's LinkedIn company page, which lists the business as a self-owned media production company founded in 2012 with a small team, had about 20,700 followers in October 2026. Its readership is concentrated among energy industry professionals, policy makers, investors and an engaged general audience following the transition.

Digital Presence

Renew Economy is a digital-only publication; it has never had a print edition. Its website is the centre of the operation, publishing multiple stories a day — its homepage on 17 October 2026 carried news dated that day and the day before — supported by the daily newsletter, the podcast feeds, and social distribution. The Driven maintains its own site at thedriven.io and One Step Off The Grid at onestepoffthegrid.com.au, and the three titles cross-promote each other's stories.

The site carries display and masthead advertising and sponsored content, and runs industry webinars; in October 2026 it was promoting webinar sessions on battery storage performance hosted by Parkinson with industry guests. Reader comments are moderated, and the site invites contributed articles from industry participants.

Ownership and Organisation

Renew Economy is independently owned. Its About page states that it was founded and is still owned by Giles Parkinson, who serves as editor-in-chief. Sophie Vorrath is the editor, and the LinkedIn company profile describes a small team of between two and ten employees, typical of a specialist digital publisher whose output relies on a core staff plus regular contributors and columnists.

The business's published postal and trading address is in Willoughby, on Sydney's north shore. It is a private, founder-owned operation rather than part of a media group, and it has no corporate parent; its revenue comes from advertising, sponsorships, webinars and reader support.

Contact and Availability

Renew Economy is at https://www.reneweconomy.com.au/, and its contact page directs editorial enquiries — press releases, news tips, story ideas and written contributions — and advertising enquiries through the addresses published there. Its postal and trading address is 549 Willoughby Road, Willoughby NSW 2068, Australia. The daily newsletter is free to subscribe to via the website, and its podcasts, including Energy Insiders, Solar Insiders, SwitchedOn Australia and The Driven Podcast, are available through the site and the usual podcast platforms.