Capital
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New solar cell technology, solid-state hydrogen storage and a vehicle-to-grid solution are among the recipients of the second round of grants from Australia’s Economic Accelerator. The grants are designed to help universities commercialise innovations that strengthen national capability and drive future industries. UNSW received more than $1m for validation of technology for green ironmaking, engineering a next generation zinc battery and advancing new solar cells. Monash University secured $475,000 for a generative AI tool supporting household energy planning and RMIT $500,000 for AI-enhanced design to cut offshore wind energy costs.
Rare earth aspirant Australian Strategic Materials Limited (ASX: ASM) is set to be acquired by US-based uranium and rare earths producer Energy Fuels for $450 million. Energy Fuels says it is creating the largest fully integrated rare earths "mine-to-metal & alloy" producer outside of China. The US Export-Import Bank has pledged US$600 million to ASM to help it build a refinery near Dubbo, now put in doubt by the deal. (AFR)
Metals recovery and recycling company Metalium (ASX: MTM) raised A$75 million, led by US-based institutional investors. CEO Michael Walshe said the company, which is working towards a NASDAQ listing in Q3 this year, was seeing more interest from US investors seeking exposure to critical minerals processing and enabling technologies. The raising comes after the US Secretary of Commerce found the United States is too reliant on foreign sources of processed critical minerals and lacks access to a sufficiently secure and reliable supply chain.
 Projects
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Japanese oil major Inpex withdrew an aspiring Australian carbon capture and storage project from the required planning approval process, citing recent reform to the EPBC Act. The Bonaparte project, slated for off the coast of Darwin, has ambitions to store up to 300 million tonnes of captured carbon dioxide from the Ichthys offshore gas field. The joint venture between Inpex, Total Energies and Woodside has been underway since 2013 and was awarded major project status by the federal government last year. (Reuters)
Policy
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The UK government launched a £15 billion “Warm Homes Plan”. Some £5 billion of the funding will go to free upgrade packages for low-income households, including fully funded installations of solar panels and a battery. A zero and low interest loans program for solar, batteries and heat pumps will be available for other households, with the government aiming to triple the number of homes with solar panels on their rooftops by 2030. New protections are also being introduced for renters with greater responsibility placed on landlords to ensure homes are warm.
Energy security should be elevated to the level of national security, International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol told the Davos summit. Birol, who has led the agency for more than ten years, said he had never seen energy security risks multiply like they are today. Meanwhile, BHP CEO Mike Henry told the audience that electrifying the company’s iron ore business alone would require five times the energy that they use now.
Also at Davos, Harvard University energy geopolitics expert Meghan O’Sullivan said US President Trump’s aggressive approach against renewables and use of foreign policy tools to enhance influence over global energy markets would quell rather than enhance investment.
New Zealand will go to the polls on November 7 with electricity billed as a likely election issue. (New Zealand Herald)
Regulation
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A shift in the guidelines on the way the Australian Energy Regulator determines a significant price outcome means it will no longer report when the fixed price reaches $5,000 per megawatt hour in the NEM. Instead, the regulator will now identify one day each month when the maximum 30-minute price across all regions is highest, and the next highest priced day in the calendar quarter. The change will mean it reports on a minimum of four significant days each quarter.
Technology
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Data centres that provide flexibility to the energy grid are still largely hypothetical, even in the US, experts told Latitude Media. A ‘flexibility hub’ involving researchers and hyperscalers in Arizona in 2024 found a data centre could reduce its power consumption by 25% during peak grid demand hours, but since then the dominant AI workload has become inference, which makes flexibility more challenging.
Research
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A team of UNSW researchers improved the performance of solar cells made from antimony chalcogenide, a material expected to make future solar panels cheaper, more efficient and more durable. Stacking of solar cells is seen as the next generation of technology for solar panels, with antimony chalcogenide being tested alongside other options in the race to improve efficiency.
Perovskite solar cells, long billed as the future of solar panel technology, can be made purer and more stable with a new assembly method developed by Chinese researchers. The ‘molecular press annealing’ process stabilises the chemical framework, promoting crystallisation and simultaneously suppressing defect formation. The experimental 1.1cm2 cell returned 25.4% efficiency and stayed more than 95% effective after 1,100 hours of operation at 85°C.
Random
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Dry weather has allowed dust to build up on South Australian power insulators, causing a spate of power outages. (ABC)
