Strategic Alliances

Australian mining giant BHP and its strategic partner Mitsubishi Development, the holding company of Mitsubishi’s coal investments in Australia, have pledged to pursue emissions reductions, including from the life-cycle use of marketed products.

Mining company Neometals and Manikaran Power have started a jointly funded study into the feasibility of establishing India’s first lithium refinery, which would process ore from the Mount Marion mine in Western Australia.

The South Korean battery manufacturer has joined forces with Victorian recycler Envirostream to develop processing solutions and reduce battery waste stream in Australia.

Australian-Chinese renewables developer Maoneng and Chinese module maker and EPC contractor Chint have come together to develop a series of utility-scale solar projects in Australia.

Australia’s national science agency CSIRO and Canada’s University of British Columbia have announced a memorandum of understanding aimed at accelerating clean hydrogen technologies.

Europe’s most important scientific research institutes have joined forces to make perovskite solar applications more than just a dream. The European Perovskite Initiative consortium is planning to draw up a perovskite white paper.

Thirteen of Victoria’s water corporations have partnered to buy clean energy from the Kiamal Solar Farm in north-west Victoria, at a much cheaper rate than would be possible individually.

Toyota Australia will transform its former manufacturing site in West Melbourne into a renewable energy hub to produce green hydrogen with the help of funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). In other hydrogen-related news, researchers at UNSW Sydney with partners H2Store have received a $3.5 million investment from Providence Asset Group to develop a hydrogen residential storage.

As the business case grows for corporates to take out power purchase agreements for renewable energy, and Australia’s renewable-projects pipeline expands, the country’s first ever marketplace has opened for buyers and developers to form perfect power couples.

In May 2018, oil giant Shell invested in German manufacturer Sonnen. Now the 112-year-old company wants to fully acquire the business, subject to Germany’s monopoly authorities. Sonnen said it hopes the deal will accelerate its growth by expanding its market reach and capacity.