Company News

Building Australia’s EV battery future in Queensland

Gold Coast to become heart of EV battery manufacturing as eLumina’s $20 million facility nears completion. The Gold Coast will be home to Australia’s first factory capable of producing both community lithium batteries and EV chargers as eLumina’s $20 million manufacturing facility approaches completion. The factory will produce 300 batteries a year and create 300 jobs on the Gold Coast, capable of serving up to 100 Queensland households with reliable and cheaper renewable energy. Chief Executive Officer of eLumina, Lisa Marsh, said on-shore manufacturing of critical EV technology, such as chargers and batteries, was essential to Australia’s energy future. “Global demand for batteries is soaring. We have record solar uptake and energy generation in Australia, but we need battery storage at scale to harness its full potential,” she said. “Through battery storage we can capture this energy and ensure reliable and cheaper off-grid power to all Australians. This insulates communities from power outages and saves them money.” Ms Marsh said eLumina was proud to be building the factory in Queensland and grow the local industry. “Queensland has the potential to become a world leader in next-generation battery manufacturing and research and development. Our centre is just the start of that. We are committed to making a fundamental difference to Australia’s clean energy economy,” she said. “We’re building this facility using local talent and locally sourced parts and materials. Once it’s completed, it will support 300 high-skilled jobs, which will draw on the region’s talent.” “Our world-class research and development training centre will al so upskill hundreds of Queenslanders with the expertise to contribute to our evolving battery and EV charging sector.” Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said the Gold Coast had an ambitious plan to secure a larger slice of the clean energy sector and the high skilled jobs it’s […]

Climate Impact Corporation announces 10GW renewable hydrogen projects in South Australia and Northern Territory

Climate Impact Corporation (CIC), a leading international developer of renewable energy and green hydrogen projects, has announced its intention to develop two 10GW green hydrogen projects in central Australia utilising its proprietary renewable hydrogen production modular technology. The announcement is backed by CIC’s development, in partnership with GE Vernova, of self-contained modules that produce zero-carbon hydrogen. The deployment of the two projects is supported by CIC’s secure equipment supply chain including the onshore manufacturing of equipment. Compared to traditional renewable hydrogen production, which typically sources vast quantities of water from piped water sources and grid electricity, CIC’s modular hydrogen production units are designed to operate entirely off-grid, reducing demand on governments and communities to fund supporting infrastructure. Each module contains solar panels, atmospheric water generators, electrolysers and supporting infrastructure to produce hydrogen as an individual standalone unit. Crucially, the use of atmospheric water allows hydrogen to be produced anywhere where solar radiation is abundant, opening up new locations in central Australia as potential renewable fuel hubs. David Green, Chairman and Co-Founder of CIC, said the approach would unlock inland hydrogen production opportunities in solar-rich locations such as the Northern Territory and South Australia. “Renewable hydrogen production requires a significant amount of energy and water, which aren’t often found together in places like Australia,” Mr Green said. “Rather than repeating the same approach, we’re looking to solve this challenge by creating modules that use Australia’s abundant solar resources, combined with proven atmospheric water generation technology. It’s an approach that solves one of the biggest challenges Australia has faced in becoming a renewable hydrogen superpower, and we’re excited to be bringing it to market first in Australia.” CIC has recently achieved several key milestones for its Australian projects as it plans to begin manufacturing renewable hydrogen modules in Australia. CIC recently announced […]

Sircel secures $5m impact investment from Kilara Capital

Funding to boost national expansion and Australia’s most advanced solar panel recycling facility Australia’s largest e-waste processor,Sircel, has secured a $5 million capital injection from impact investor Kilara Capital to drive its national expansion and processing capabilities on its mission to solve the global e-waste crisis. Attracted to the Australian owned green technology company’s proven circular economy business model, The Kilara Growth Fund undertook a rigorous impact assessment and rated Sircel highly across its key benchmarks for environmental sustainability and commercial impact. Founder and Managing Partner of Kilara Capital, Ben Krasnostein said that Kilara’s investment in Sircel was a unique opportunity to achieve multiple climate positive outcomes through a proven circular economy business that was operational and scalable. “Sircel really ticks a lot of the boxes that the Kilara Growth Fund looks for: it’s a company with a proven business model, an ever-growing customer base and it has the potential to achieve significant climate positive and commercial outcomes,” Krasnostein said. “Sircel’s impressive leadership team have remained focussed on solving the rapidly growing e-waste problem in its entirety, rather than taking shortcuts, which has led to a truly innovative business with the potential to change the way we think about electronic waste. “After so many years of R&D it’s an exciting and critical time for the business as it scales nationally, diverting more e-waste from landfill and recovering more materials than was previously thought possible.” “We’re particularly buoyed by the opportunities to salvage precious metals from e-waste to power the future of renewable energy, reducing reliance onmining operations.” Sircel has also announced Kilara Capital’s Portfolio Manager, Irina McCreadie, joins the Board of Directors, further strengthening our governance and strategic leadership. The investment follows Sircel’s May 2024 acquisition of Scipher Technologies, which elevated the company to become the largest e-waste processor in Australia and the […]

More than meets the eye: Turning transformer trouble into sustainable success

What started as an unexpected failure on a key piece of machinery has ended as one of the most ambitious and successful recycling projects Meridian has ever undertaken. A failure in one of two transformers at Meridian’s West Wind site last May left the team with one working transformer and scratching their heads about what to do with the other one – all 100 tonnes of it. “We decided that it wasn’t cost effective to repair,” says West Wind Site Owner Hamish Walker. “One of the questions we asked was, what’s best for business? Do we pick this failed transformer up, plonk it next to it, and just leave it there?” Ultimately, the decision was guided by a combination of economics and environmentalism. Senior Project Manager Jade Lloyd says the team quickly found that the best and only acceptable option was to salvage as much of the failed transformer as possible. More than meets the eye: turning transformer trouble into sustainable success – YouTube Of the roughly 100-tonne transformer and 36,000 litres of oil, it’s estimate that just three tonnes of wood, oil-soaked wood and paper were unable to be repurposed, recycled or reused. Lower Hutt-based supplier Macaulay Metals was engaged to assist with the removal of the transformer. Because its enormous size made it very hard to transport it on the winding rural roads leading from West Wind, it was dismantled into its component parts on site. “They took the tank away, pulled all the copper out, and that’s going away and getting recycled. And they pull all the steel laminations, which is the majority of the weight there. Then they get chopped into smaller laminations and get reused in smaller transformers,” says Hamish Walker. Following five months of meticulous planning, the scrapping process took just two weeks, starting […]

Samsara Eco secures $100M in Series A+ funding to help end plastic waste

The funding will increase the scale-up’s global recycling capabilities and divert millions of tonnes of plastics from landfills and incineration Canberra- Samsara Eco, the enviro-tech innovator has raised AUD$100/USD$65 million in its latest funding round. Led by global investment company, Temasek and Australian deep tech investment fund, Main Sequence, as well as a cohort of new and existing backers including Wollemi Capital, lululemon, Hitachi Ventures, Titanium Ventures (formerly Telstra Ventures) and DCVC, the funding brings Samsara Eco one step closer to eliminating plastic waste, and ensuring it never ends up in landfill or incinerated again. The capital will help Samsara Eco scale its enzymatic recycling capabilities, with new commercial facilities to be built in South East Asia in the next few years. The facilities will recycle millions of tonnes of plastic waste like discarded textiles and packaging, to produce tens of thousands of tonnes of monomers (the molecular building blocks of plastics), which will be turned into brand new products, creating a truly circular loop. The company will also scale-up its global team of chemists, engineers and technicians, as well as increase its library of plastic-eating enzymes. “Plastics have been an environmental disaster with almost every piece of the 9 billion tonnes ever made still on the planet. But almost all plastic is reusable and recyclable with the right technology. We’re on a mission to end plastic waste and with it, repair our climate, said Paul Riley, CEO and Founder of Samsara Eco. “The ability to infinitely recycle plastic in an environmentally friendly way is a game changer for brands and our planet. Our enzymatic recycling technology makes it easy for brands in almost every industry to meet their sustainability and decarbonisation goals by creating a circular loop for plastics. We’ve already made significant traction in the textile space but […]

ImpexTrack redefines global container and shipment visibility

ImpexDocs, a leading Australian GTM (Global Trade Management) software company headquartered in Sydney, has launched ImpexTrack, a revolutionary software solution designed to redefine container and shipment visibility for exporters and importers worldwide. With ImpexTrack, businesses can now experience unparalleled insight into international shipments through real-time container event tracking, including dynamic Estimated/Actual Time of Arrival (ETAs/ATAs) and Estimated/Actual Time of Departure (ETDs/ATDs), thereby revolutionising shipment visibility in the global trade landscape. Manish Desai, CEO of ImpexDocs, emphasises that the introduction of ImpexTrack marks a significant milestone in the company’s dedication to empowering customers with actionable insights and streamlined logistics processes. “Real-time container event tracking goes beyond mere shipment monitoring; it’s about comprehensively understanding its journey, anticipating its Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA), and proactively responding to potential disruptions,” he elaborates. “ImpexTrack represents a game-changer, enabling our customers to optimise logistics planning, drive operational efficiency, and ultimately enhance customer satisfaction.” The development of ImpexTrack stems from a strategic collaboration with a trusted industry partner, leveraging their expertise and cutting-edge technology to deliver a seamless and efficient digital trade solution for shippers. By consolidating shipping container event information into a single, user-friendly platform, ImpexTrack eliminates the need for customers to navigate multiple shipping line portals or manually track details in spreadsheets, thereby streamlining their workflow and enhancing productivity. In light of recent global challenges, the significance of real-time, up-to-date information has become increasingly apparent. Mr. Desai underscores, “In today’s dynamic trade environment, relying on outdated, static data is no longer viable. Each shipment’s data is now as critical as the shipment itself.” Tejas Oza, Chief Revenue Officer of ImpexDocs, highlights the collaborative benefits of ImpexTrack, particularly in fostering stronger partnerships between exporters and importers. “ImpexTrack facilitates seamless collaboration between exporters and importers, empowering importers to independently access comprehensive shipment information via the Customer […]

Advanced, energy efficient computing cluster speeds up science

Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, has worked with Dell Technologies to build a high-performance computer (HPC) system which will speed up scientific discoveries and help grow Australia’s industry and economy. Named Virga, the HPC system is built on state-of-the-art Dell PowerEdge XE9640 servers and is the first deployment of its kind in Australia, designed to optimise artificial intelligence (AI) workflows while also being power-efficient using direct liquid cooling. Professor Elanor Huntington, CSIRO’s Digital, National Facilities and Collections Executive Director, said Virga will provide the critical computing infrastructure needed for machine learning and AI to grow Australia’s industry and economy. “CSIRO is proud to be a steward of some of Australia’s most important pieces of research infrastructure,” Professor Huntington said. “AI is used in practically all fields of research at CSIRO, such as developing world-leading flexible printed solar panels, predicting fires, measuring wheat crops and developing vaccines, just to name a few. “High-performance computing systems like Virga also play an important role in CSIRO’s robotics and sensing work and are crucial to the recently launched National Robotics Strategy to drive competitiveness, and productivity of Australian industry.” The HPC cluster, which is housed at CDC’s Hume Data Centre in Canberra, is named Virga after the meteorological effect of rain that evaporates before it reaches the ground and was named in recognition of CSIRO’s decades of research into cloud and rain physics. CSIRO’s new, powerful and energy-efficient high-performance computer (HPC) Virga (below)is speeding up science, working alongside THE other HPC Petrichor. Dr Jason Dowling from CSIRO’s Australian e-Health Research Centre said the increase in medical imaging data coupled with the growing complexity of diagnostic techniques has led to an urgent need for advanced computational power and data processing for medical image analysis. “The new HPC facilities will allow researchers in our Australian e-Health […]

DroneShield Pyrmont Global Headquarters AUS MN

DroneShield triples sovereign defence R&D and manufacturing capacity to $400m with new global headquarters

Following DroneShield’s recent $115m capital raise, the new site in Pyrmont, NSW, cements and scales DroneShield’s fully sovereign R&D and manufacturing capabilities DroneShield (ASX:DRO) has opened its new headquarters, tripling its research and development (R&D) and manufacturing capacity to more than AU$400 million in hardware and software per year as the company works to convert a sales pipeline of over $500 million. The new site is located in Pyrmont, NSW, where the company’s 120 local staff are based. The facility includes a dedicated floor for high-tech R&D, engineering and manufacturing to fulfil orders from government, defence and commercial customers in 70 countries. Funded by DroneShield’s recent $115m capital raise ($30m of which is subject to shareholder approval), which positions DroneShield – with around $700m current market capitalisation – as the second largest publicly-listed defence company in Australia, the new headquarters enable the company to expedite the build-up of inventory to support strong demand from high-quality customer opportunities. This includes a pipeline of over $500m with more than 90 qualified projects at different stages and $27m in orders currently being fulfilled. “The threats that drones can pose are finally being taken seriously,” said Oleg Vornik, CEO at DroneShield. “Whether it’s due to the turmoil they can cause on the battlefield, or the countless ways they can disrupt everyday life – at airports, prisons and public events, for example – drone deterrence is now a priority for government agencies and authorities, in Australia and abroad. “We are seeing a major push for comprehensive counter-drone and counter-UAS capabilities – predominately from the US, but broadly across Five Eyes and allies, and slowly but surely in Australia. However, our equipment is sophisticated, AI based technology that can take up to four months to build, containing up to 200 components that must be manufactured, assembled […]

Over 30 trades represented at 47th WorldSkills International

The refrigeration industry will be among over 30 trades represented at the 47th WorldSkills International tournament, a global movement dedicated to promoting the skills excellence of young tradespeople playing a crucial role in the visibility, development, and empowerment of tomorrow’s experts. WorldSkills Australia competitor, Bailey Loenneker, a fourth-year refrigeration apprentice from the Sunshine Coast, and his Expert Carl Balke will represent Australia in the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning category on the global stage in Lyon, France in September to compete against the best young apprentices in the world. The contingent of apprentices, trainees, and students, known as the Skillaroos, is the largest delegation of competitors, trainers, officials, and team management ever sent to an International Competition. Refrigeration represents a crucial yet often overlooked trade. Despite the vital role refrigeration tradespeople play in maintaining the cold chain essential for food safety, healthcare, comfort cooling, air quality, and numerous industrial processes, their numbers are significantly lower compared to other trades on offer. This is one of the reasons that the WorldSkills Australia initiative is supported by Refrigerant Reclaim Australia (RRA) and like-minded organisations committed to the promotion and development of skills excellence in Australia. Kylie from Refrigerant Reclaim Australia says this disparity highlights the need to elevate the profile of refrigeration professionals, by increasing awareness and appreciation for their specialised skills.” “Our longstanding partnership supporting WorldSkills helps to Promote the importance of refrigeration tradespeople and underscores their contribution to public health, safety, and the economy”. Carl, WorldSkills Australia Expert, emphasises the transformative impact of the competition on young apprentices and highlights the importance of the competition in promoting refrigeration apprenticeships to the wider sector. “The competition is not only great for the young apprentices coming through, but it also lifts the profile of refrigeration apprentices which historically has remained unseen”. In addition […]

Kemppi Australia’s Art of Welding Competition is on again

Kemppi Australia has launched its Art of Welding Competition for 2024. The competition showcases “welding art” which can take the form of a welded sculpture, pattern design, a motif or an object. The welding process involved to create the art piece can be manual or use more advanced techniques such as robotics, lasers or friction welding. Now in its fifth year, the competition is keenly contested by both professional artists and amateurs alike. “It’s great to see the artistic talent that is flourishing not just among professional metal artists but also welders, apprentices, teachers, tinkers and hobbyists,” said Mark Shaw, Managing Director, Kemppi Australia. This year, the competition again features a dedicated amateur category. Entrants can win from a pool of four great prizes. The prizes include state-of-the-art Kemppi welding equipment and helmets, as well as clothing and gloves. The competition will run until Monday 30th September and is open to anyone in Australia and New Zealand over the age of 18. For more information on how to enter visit the Kemppi Australia Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn pages or message Kemppi Australia’s social media pages directly. Alternatively, email skettos@skettos.com.au for a copy of the competition flyer.

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