February 2019

Revolutionary power-efficient solution for network energy infrastructure

An exclusive Australian supplier of DC Power Converters and energy solutions, Powerbox Australia, recently released EnergyHub by Enatel Energy at Comms Connect Melbourne Exhibition and Conference. More than 1500 people from a broad range of industries attended this years event seeking out the very latest communications information, technologies and solutions. EnergyHub is a complete lithium-ion power solution for providers of power utilities, telecommunications and security, as well as transport operators. These industry sectors have historically relied on lead-acid battery solutions and worn the associated operation costs. Incorporating both DC rectifier technology and integrated lithium-ion battery modules, EnergyHub from Enatel Energy offers a truly dynamic li-ion solution. EnergyHub offers significant financial benefits because solutions are more efficient and less maintenance is required over the long term, vastly reducing operational costs when compared to the conventional lead-acid type batteries still widely used. As organisations begin to work with brand new EnergyHub, they will notice that this revolutionary system allows for much greater energy density and depth of discharge. “EnergyHub, which utilises li-on batteries, leaves more room for revenue-generating network equipment. Tight cell management from Enatel’s proprietary BMS in combination with the new RM848HE Rectifiers allows for optimised charging/discharging to improve system functionality,” said James Rutty, Business Development Manager of Powerbox Australia. “In addition, the EnergyHub requires zero set-up cost, can be easily scaled up to meet changing load demands and it shares a hot pluggable interface with EnergyPak battery modules to maximise usability.” According to Mr Rutty, safety of the system is ensured with the use of ‘Cold Terminal Design’, which stops voltage from travelling through the battery’s power and control pins to cut off the supply of current when it’s not connected to the charger. EnergyHub offers complete transparency of all energy data including battery cycle life, depth of discharge information, […]

Automation could revive Australia’s manufacturing industry

By Peter Hern, Country Manager, Oceania, Universal Robots Since 2016, the Australian manufacturing industry has experienced ongoing public scrutiny for the closure and offshoring of manufacturing, especially within the automotive sector, due to the high costs of labour. However, there is now opportunity for Australia to revive this industry. This requires a period of substantial change with the implementation of new, autonomous technologies. With these technologies, companies can be more efficient in countries where labour is expensive. Disruptive technologies and advanced automation, such as collaborative robots, or cobots, can help regenerate the dwindled manufacturing industry in Australia. This would allow Australia to compete on a global scale and contribute to global supply chains. A recent report by Bain and Company, Labour 2030: The Collision of Demographics, Automation and Inequality¸ has forecast that automation will create an economic boom over the next decade, offsetting a slowing in labour growth, something Australia needs to ensure it is a part of. Competing on a global scale Deloitte’s Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index revealed that as the digital and physical worlds of manufacturing converge, advanced technologies are becoming ever more important at company level and in global competitiveness. Technology-intensive sectors are dominating the global manufacturing landscape in advanced economies and allow a strong path to achieve or sustain competiveness. However, even while being an advanced economy, Australia is ranking at 21st on this index. Germany is at the forefront of advanced automation, with industry 4.0 being a whole-of-country strategy to strengthen the economy through manufacturing. At this current time, Australian manufacturers are falling behind their global counterparts in the adoption of industry 4.0, and as a nation, must embrace the digital transformation of manufacturing to compete as a player in global supply chains. Bringing back jobs Between November 2016 and November 2017 the manufacturing industry […]

Gloucester Resources court decision benefits our competitors

Statement by Greg Evans, Chief Executive Last week’s decision by the NSW Land and Environment court to decline a development application for the Rocky Hill coal mine is detrimental for jobs and economic opportunities in regional NSW. It also places the approval process for new resource investment in a position of confusion and uncertainty. The beneficiaries from the latest NSW court decision will be producers with spare production capacity including those in the United States, Canada, Russia and Mongolia. Further, the decision potentially presents a set of new obstacles that producers in NSW could face with expansion and new mine approvals. Industry analysis by Commodity Insights in late 2018 relating to metallurgical coal demand, forecasts an increased import requirement in Asia of close to 100 million tonnes annually by 2030. In part this will be met by increases in output from other countries to the detriment of projects such as Rocky Hill. The potential missed economic opportunity is even greater if we reject new thermal coal developments. The basis of the court knock back includes the view that the project will add to global greenhouse gas emissions. The court indicates it can consider as part of its decision the greenhouse emissions from coal as it is used in the making of steel in another country. In other words, if this rationale became accepted all our resource exports would have to account for the emissions applying to their downstream use, including gas, iron ore and thermal coal. However, under the Paris Agreement it’s up to individual countries to put in place Nationally Determined Contribution plans to deal with emissions at their source. It’s not about the unilateral banning of particular industries or commodities in supplier countries. Of course, the United States, a significant coal exporter, is not even part of the […]

capSpire continues global expansion

capSpire, a global consulting and solutions company serving the energy industry, is pleased to announce the opening of its Australian entity, capSpire Pty Ltd, based in Sydney. capSpire has already worked with a number of clients across Australia over the past five years but is now investing in a formal entity to provide a permanent base from which to conduct its operations in the region. The Australian office will build on capSpire’s international experience and its reputation as the choice advisory, technology delivery and operations support service provider for energy and commodity management organisations across the U.S. and Europe. “capSpire brings something different to the Australian market; Deep energy and commodity domain experience, gained from working with more than 100 of the leading energy players in the world, coupled with extensive technical expertise in delivering successful project and program outcomes for our clients. Our clients tell us that this proven combination of industry and technical expertise is something that they have not experienced in the past,” says Dave Webb, Managing Director. “Now is the right time to expand our footprint in Australia. Our wealth of experience from other regions is highly relevant to the Australian markets. Equally, we have significant experience of working with our clients to successfully deliver market readiness during periods of change. With our extensive vendor partner network across energy management, E/CTRM, digital and analytics domains, we ensure that we bring right fit advice and solutions to our clients. We are very much looking forward to sharing our experience and expertise with clients in the Australian market,” says Mike Scharf, Co-Founder. The establishment of the Australian entity will become capSpire’s seventh global location with existing offices already dotted across the U.S. and Europe and follows on the back of nine successive years of growth. The entity will […]

Australian importer launched for Dormer Pramet

Algra Tooling will become the sole importer of Dormer Pramet cutting tools into Australia from 1 April 2019. The announcement comes after the global manufacturer revealed it will close its Australian sales office, effective 31 March 2019. Andrew Sherry, Dormer Pramet’s current sales manager for Australia and New Zealand, will head up the new Algra Tooling to continue the supply of round and indexable tools into the country. Andrew said: “Dormer Pramet’s withdrawal from our Singapore distribution center in 2016 restricted our ability to support a quick supply to the Australian market. These changes will address this – our customers have asked, and we’ve listened. “We see this as business as usual in Australia and, if anything, it will improve the level of service our customers demand. With local stock in place, we will now be able to offer next day delivery on most items, significantly speeding up the process to get our products to the market.” Stefan Steenstrup, president of Dormer Pramet, added: “We appreciate this change may cause some concern, but we wish to reassure customers that our assortment of cutting tools will continue to be available right across Australia. “We are working very closely with Algra Tooling to make the transition process as smooth as possible. It is important we adapt to changing market conditions, while better meeting the needs of our customers. We believe this decision will allow us to do that.”

Coal’s No. 1 in 2018

Greg Evans, Chief Executive Coal has now asserted its pivotal role in the Australian economy – it is our largest export, and it remains the dominant fuel in our energy mix. The export performance is a resounding rebuttal of coal detractors who have repeatedly called the end of this iconic industry due to falling demand. Trade numbers released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirm coal was the nation’s largest single export in 2018. Total coal exports in the past 12 months to the end of December were valued at $66.2 billion up from $57.1 billion in 2017. The next largest export was iron ore which was valued at $63 billion. Historically coal has been Australia’s most significant export contributor, and the latest data signifies a resurgent industry with a positive future. Coal was previously our largest export in 2009. The robust performance of the sector has delivered tangible benefits for all Australians including across the coal regions of Queensland and NSW. The benefits include over 150,000 direct and related jobs and rising tax and royalty collections. Coal royalties provide $5.5 billion directly to those two State governments while overall tax collections and the flow on economic activity has helped improve the Commonwealth budget position. In addition to exports coal also benefits the domestic economy where coal-fired power, including brown coal in Victoria, accounts for over 70% of electricity generation in the national electricity grid. Coal-based generation remains the cheapest and most reliable electricity in Australia. Asian demand for high-quality Australian coal is expected to remain strong with respected industry analyst Commodity Insights recently forecasting the requirement for up to an additional 500 million tonnes of coal per annum comprising both thermal and metallurgical coal by 2030. Australia, however, cannot take the continued industry strength for granted and commercial […]

TIC-TOC technology moves Tactile Internet a step closer to reality

Researchers in South Korea have developed extremely fast information processing technologies that can help usher in the next generation of the Internet. Researchers at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) in South Korea have developed technology capable of sending packets of digital information at 25 Gb/s (giga-bit per second) – 10 times faster than currently available speeds. The technology, named TIC-TOC, is a critical component of the future Tactile Internet, in which information is sent and received at speeds on par with human perception. The technology operates at a speed fast enough to download a 3 GB movie within one second. Furthermore, the TIC-TOC system enables more urgent data to jump ahead of other information packets and be transferred in one milli-second (1/1000 of a second), the same speed at which the human sense of touch works. TIC-TOC stands for “Time Controlled Tactile Optical Access” and is designed to work on 5G networks. The researchers anticipate the TIC-TOC technology will help advance virtual reality and augmented reality in all sorts of sectors, from education and healthcare, to entertainment and public safety. For example, it could be possible to deploy and operate robots in dangerous or disaster areas with instant sight and feel communication between human controllers and machines. When the machine sees something, the humans sees it, and when the human remotely controls the robot’s hand or head, the motion will happen immediately. The same could be true for telesurgery, with a doctor remotely controlling a robot performing the surgery, but the doctor feels as if she were in the operating room because the response is instantaneous. “The Tactile Internet is expected to be the fourth industrial revolution,” said HwanSeok Chung, a project leader at ETRI. “We will see robots, cars and all other machines connected to the Internet […]