Strategic Alliances

Only weeks after announcing its plan to build a lithium-ion battery gigafactory in Geelong, Australia-based startup Recharge Industries has bought collapsed battery maker Britishvolt – doubling its manufacturing ambitions. The takeover resuscitates Britishvolt’s gigafactory play in northern England, and means the little known startup now holds two significant battery making projects.

Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes’ family fund Grok Ventures is among the initial investors in Canberra-based Infradebt’s Energy Transition Fund. The fund will finance six to eight grid-scale battery projects with a total capacity of up to 2 GW.

Spark Renewables, part of the listed network investment company Spark Infrastructure, intends to develop a 1 GW hybrid wind, solar and battery storage hub near Murulan in the New South Wales Southern Tablelands as it continues its push into green power.

Australian energy management software company Simble Solutions is partnering with energy heavyweight Origin Energy in a move which it said will help its commercial and industrial customers make the transition to net zero emissions.

Newcastle Airport has signed a new long-term power purchase agreement with Australian energy retailer Flow Power that will allow it to achieve its 100% renewable energy strategy this year, seven years ahead of schedule.

US researchers are studying how agrivoltaic systems mounted on single-axis trackers affect rainfall and light redistribution at a 1.2 MW installation on grassland in Boulder, Colorado.

Western Australia-based AVESS is set to deploy demonstration batteries at a WA mine site in the second half of the year. The deployment is about proving the company’s technology, as it plans to move towards manufacturing the flow batteries in Australia from 2024.

The Brookfield-led North American consortium courting Origin Energy has finally come back with a revised bid for the company, valued at roughly $18.2 billion (USD 12.5 billion). The offer is only fractionally lower than the initial bid, which came as a relief for the market, and has been endorsed by Origin’s board.

Grid operator Transgrid has partnered with German machine manufacturer Zeck for the use of its innovative steel separation technology. Zeck’s machine can process electricity transmission lines into a recycle-ready state onsite. Previously, Transgrid sent old transmission lines offshore for this process at a much higher cost to both the grid operator’s revenue and the environment.

Australian graphite miner turn integrated lithium battery company, Magnis Energy Technologies, has signed a significant offtake deal with electric vehicle giant Tesla. The agreement comes the same month the company quietly dropped its plan to build a 18 GWh lithium-ion battery factory in Townsville, northern Queensland.