The debt investment is the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation’s (NRFC) first in its Renewables and Low Emissions Technology Priority Area. The Sydney-based company was established in 2018 and currently manages a portfolio of more than 3.3 million smart meters across Australia.
NRFC funding will be used to support the rollout of smart meters and the upgrading of Intellihub’s Evergen energy management software to enable integration with a wider range of smart home devices. It will also enable the company to develop and acquire new ‘Behind-The-Meter’ or BTM devices that can be integrated into its Evergen platform.
NRFC CEO David Gall said, “Intellihub is the NRFC’s first investment in the Renewables and Low Emissions Technology priority area and the proprietary VPP technology behind its globally scalable Evergen platform was developed in partnership with the CSIRO.”
“The transition to a net zero economy is an urgent and important national project and survey after survey has shown that the majority of Australians want to see concrete action to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change.”
“One in three Australian homes has rooftop solar and the NRFC’s investment in Intellihub will help individual Australians to save money on their energy bills and make the most of their solar panels while contributing to the country’s energy transition.”
Smart meters play a vital role in enabling Australia to maximise the decarbonisation impact of its world leading uptake of rooftop solar and home batteries, while also delivering grid stability. The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has mandated their universal rollout by 2030 as a critical part of the net zero transition.
Intellihub’s technology uses smart meters to enable energy retailers and network operators to better track and manage the energy usage of BTM devices such as EV chargers, home batteries, and pool pumps.
Its proprietary Evergen software platform aggregates consumer energy resources from BTM devices into Virtual Power Plants or VPPs that can help to stabilise the grid, absorb excess daytime solar energy, and minimise usage when the energy grid is under stress.
This in turn helps individual consumers to save money on their energy bills by enabling them to better understand and manage their energy use. Data from the AEMC has found that rolling out smart meters to all Australian households will provide net benefits of up to $507 million for national electricity markets, including NSW, QLD, the ACT and SA.
The NRFC’s investment will help support temporary local and regional meter installation jobs, as well permanent roles within Intellihub’s operations, as part of the rollout. The capital will also aid Australia’s economic diversification by creating additional highly skilled jobs in software, analytics, and energy services, in logistics and warehousing, and with telecom and IT partners to provide connectivity and data services.
NRFC CIO Mary Manning said, “Intellihub supports a more sustainable future for Australia which is in line with the NRFC’s mandate and purpose. Making the transition to a net zero economy is a long-term endeavour, well suited to patient capital like the National Reconstruction Fund.”
Intellihub is owned by Brookfield and Pacific Equity Partners and the NRFC’s $100 million investment in senior secured debt is part of a $3.1 billion debt funding package.
Intellihub CEO Wes Ballantine said, “We’re committed to supporting Australia’s energy transition, by helping more consumers benefit from smart meter, solar, battery, EV charging and pool efficiency technology.”
“More than 3 million households across Australia and New Zealand already maximise their energy savings by utilising our smart devices together with Evergen software, with that number expected to double by 2030. This investment from the NRFC ensures Intellihub is strongly positioned to drive this expansion and accelerate this critical infrastructure deployment.”
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.