Australian solar pioneer 5B has been selected as the first project to receive funding from the Federal Government’s $1 billion Solar Sunshot Program.
Funding of up to $46 million will go to the Australian based company to increase manufacturing capacity of its ‘Maverick’ – an automated solar deployment system using prefabricated, prewired panels.
The technology has the potential to drastically speed up and scale up the roll out of solar farms, reducing the cost and labour intensity of current methods.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is delivering the $1 billion Solar Sunshot Program to support innovation in Australia’s solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing industry.
Darren Miller, Chief Executive Officer of ARENA said the agency is excited to be announcing 5B as the first project in the program to support solar manufacturing in Australia to accelerate the renewable energy transition.
“This project represents the best of homegrown Australian technology and innovation in solar and we are proud to support 5B’s goals of making solar deployment faster, cheaper, safer and more efficient,” said Miller.
“ARENA has a vision of reaching one terawatt of installed solar PV in Australia by 2050 to achieve our renewable energy ambitions. Projects like this are what we need to get there.
“Today represents a step towards building Australia’s resilience in the solar value chain as the global demand for renewable energy technologies, products and knowledge intensifies.”
David Griffin, Chief Executive Officer of 5B, said this funding would drive down 5B’s Australian production costs by 25 per cent.
As well as accelerate 5B’s ability to offer large customers lower cost energy alongside the safety, speed and land efficiencies unique to the 5B Maverick solution.
“It means we can further strengthen our team, creating opportunities from the factory floor, in our field deployment crews, and specialists working on gigawatts of solar farm designs,” he said.
The funding will support the expansion of 5B’s Australian manufacturing capacity in solar to produce at least 200 MW of Maverick units at their Adelaide manufacturing facility over the next three years.
The Maverick systems will support the demand for increased deployment of large-scale solar across Australia.