Rewired

Australian innovators AMSL Aero are taking renewable energy to the skies with their futuristic reimagining of the aircraft.

Founders Andrew Moore and Siobhan Lyndon joined us this week to share their vision for air travel and explain how soon we might take off in their emissions free ‘air taxi’.

Moore has used his aeronautical engineering background, paired with 15 years experience in the aviation industry, to inform the design of AMSL Aero’s “Vertiia” aircraft.

It takes off vertically like a helicopter, using eight electric powered rotors that rotate to horizontal to allow it to fly using a pair of wings. It will come with the option of hydrogen fuel cell or battery electric propulsion, with hydrogen able to travel 1000 kilometres for the same weight as the battery version which can cover about 250 kilometres.

Read more - https://arena.gov.au/blog/a-bit-like-the-jetsons-green-hydrogen-takes-flight

 

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When Professor Martin Green started his solar research in the 1970s, the idea of using solar panels to power our homes was out of this world. 

NASA was developing solar technology to power spacecraft and satellites, but was far too expensive and inefficient for terrestrial applications.

Half a century on, more than three million Australian homes have panels on their rooftops, combining into a force that is transforming the way we use energy.

This week Professor Green joined us this week to share his remarkable story and look to the future of energy, now that solar has officially changed the game.

Read more - https://arena.gov.au/blog/revolutionising-energy-with-australias-solar-superman 

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This week, SEA Electric’s Bill Gillespie joins us to share exciting developments in the world of zero emissions heavy vehicles.

Their trucks are now in operation across some of Australia’s biggest fleets, ferrying deliveries for Woolworths, IKEA, Australia Post and DHL, and also helping local councils to reduce emissions.

Founded in Australia and now based in Los Angeles, SEA Electric is expanding into international markets, with a growing presence in the US, Europe and Asia.

As well as helping companies to meet their customers’ sustainability expectations, Gillespie explains that the growth of electric trucks offers fleet operators a way to make “extreme” savings on their fuel bills.

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Australian solar pioneers have set a new efficiency benchmark with their next generation cells.

From humble beginnings in a garage in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, solar startup SunDrive is on a rapid rise.

In September, they announced that they had developed the world’s most efficient silicon cell, claiming the record from China’s Longi Solar.

The record is made more significant by the fact that SunDrive’s cells are manufactured with copper in the place of silver, a precious metal that is in limited supply.

This week co-founder and CEO Vince Allen joined Rewired to discuss their new world record for solar efficiency, and what it could mean for the transition to renewable energy.

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Fresh off the back of launching ARENA's new investment plan, CEO Darren Miller joins us to explain how renewables could soon shake up the heaviest of heavy industries.

In our conversation he explains that investment decisions made today will be key to transforming our energy system and achieving net zero emissions.

We also explore the bold vision that underpins ARENA's new investment plan. As well as helping to decarbonise emissions-intensive industries, success could see more value captured from Australia’s renewable energy and new opportunities created in jobs-rich manufacturing industries.

Read more: arena.gov.au/blog/darren-millers-vision-for-a-prosperous-renewable-future/

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Working on solar since the 1990s, Professor Renate Egan has helped to transform the way we consume energy, recently taking up the challenge to “electrify everything”.

Professor Egan is living her vision, investing in a small solar system in 2008 that she has since expanded and backed up with battery storage. Renate's electrification journey has seen her switch to an electric vehicle and she aims to replace her gas cooktop and water heater within the next year.

In 2013 Renate co-founded Solar Analytics, which provides monitoring information to help solar households understand their energy generation and usage.

Read more on ARENAWIRE: arena.gov.au/blog/electrifying-our-lives-with-professor-renate-egan

 

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Cheap, abundant and variable wind and solar is shaking up the electricity market, forcing traders to rethink how energy is bought and sold.

The Renewable Energy Hub, an offshoot of global carbon brokers Tradition, is taking up the challenge, creating new renewable-specific ways to trade energy.

In the newest episode of Rewired, founder Chris Halliwell joined us to discuss the Hub’s work, explaining that electricity is amongst the most volatile and unpredictable commodities in the world.

Read more on ARENAWIRE: https://arena.gov.au/blog/new-trading-toolkit-for-a-transforming-energy-market/

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Energy transformer Dr John Lasich has helped to take solar from “witchcraft or alchemy” into the cheapest form of energy generation in history.

The RayGen founder joined Rewired to discuss how an idea he developed in his shed has attracted $42 million in capital and will soon be deployed on the site of AGL’s Liddell Power Station.

His “solar thermal” technology concentrates sunlight to central solar PV receivers to produce electricity, while employing an innovative approach to capture the heat by-product to provide long term energy storage.

Read more - https://arena.gov.au/blog/solar-pioneer-breaks-down-his-game-changing-invention/

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Green hydrogen offers a renewable alternative to natural gas, but is it a viable energy source for our homes?

With 15 years in the energy industry and a background as a chemical engineer, AGIG’s Head of Strategy and Innovation Kristin Raman is one of the quiet transformers having a big impact on the way we use energy.

She joined us to discuss AGIG’s plan to transition its natural gas network to hydrogen and explain why she thinks our homes should be repowered with renewable gasses.

Read more - https://arena.gov.au/blog/role-for-renewable-gas-in-our-homes

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ARENA’s podcast Rewired is back for its biggest season yet.

This season, we will introduce you to some of the people transforming Australia’s energy landscape that you might not have heard from before.

From startup founders disrupting traditional business models, to the people investing new technologies that could power our lives in the future, Rewired will give you unprecedented access to the front line in the energy transition.

Not just generation

We will hear how ARENA funding is helping to trial new ways of producing metals like steel and aluminium using renewable energy.

Experts will share progress commercialising technologies like renewable hydrogen and electric vehicles, which are finally achieving long-held potential.

And we will explore how Australia’s riches of wind and solar could unlock opportunities to undertake more energy-intensive processes onshore, creating jobs and wealth.

This is our most ambitious season to date, with twice as many episodes giving us the chance to showcase more of the ways Australia is unlocking a renewable energy future.

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