LETs Pitch Australia Program Participants
As part of NERA's LETs Pitch Australia program, 10 companies pitched their low emissions technologies to a panel of industry experts for the chance to be one of three companies selected to join the international ‘Team Australia’ delegation to the Global Clean Energy Action Forum, 21–23 September 2022, in Pittsburgh, PA.
Ahead of the virtual pitch battle event, finalists received a pitch preparation workshop to assist each presenter in honing their pitch and refining their business proposition.
Winners of the pitch event will progress to the next phase of the program, which includes additional pitch workshopping to prepare the winners for international engagement opportunities in Pittsburgh.
Meet the LETs Pitch Australia Winners
Focus: Batteries
Technology: Energy storage
Technology name: Supercapacitors and Redox Flow Batteries
Location: NSW
Allegro Energy manufactures non-flammable, sustainable redox flow batteries for grid-scale, long-duration energy storage and supercapacitors for high power applications like electric transport and grid stabilisation.
Allegro has developed a water-based electrolyte that matches or outperforms the current state of the art in all forms of electrical energy storage, from batteries to supercapacitors. In addition, this water-based electrolyte enables energy storage that is not only non-flammable but much less expensive and much safer than competing technology, opening up the ability to address needs on a global scale.
Focus: Energy efficiency
Technology: Demand side digital technology
Technology name: Software to enable smarter energy
Location: NSW
Evergen provides a software platform that enables digital optimisation of the energy supply chain, maximising the benefit of deploying renewable technologies. These include utility-scale assets (solar farms), commercial and industrial sites, and thousands of homes and businesses with solar and storage.
Evergen recently confirmed its biggest financial investment after closing a A$15 million Series-B fundraise led by FRV-X, the innovation and venturing division of global renewable energy business Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV), part of Abdul Latif Jameel Energy.
Focus: Carbon capture
Technology: CO2 capture system
Technology name: UNO MK3 Potassium Carbonate Absorption Technology
Location: WA
KC8 Capture Technologies is a process engineering firm that has developed the technology and owns the patents to an Australian-developed solvent process for capturing CO2 from post-combustion flue gases in heavy industries at greater efficiencies and lower cost than current technologies. KC8’s core business is to develop capture projects and sell the license to use the technology to lower the cost of capture, enhancing and accelerating CCU as a leading greenhouse gas mitigation tool.
Focus: Clean hydrogen
Technology: Hydrogen storage
Technology name: Rux H2MOF
Location: NSW
Rux Energy is an advanced hydrogen materials business, aiming to double the volumetric efficiency and halve the cost of dispatchable hydrogen storage for heavy mobility and aviation.
Rux Energy has partnered with leading Australian universities (University of Sydney, UNSW and ANSTO) and trailblazing Australian composites, mobility and aerospace integrators to accelerate the piloting of our breakthrough MOF technologies, validating performance and fast-tracking implementation, to meet our planet's decarbonisation needs.
Meet the LETs Pitch Australia Finalists
Focus: Carbon capture, storage, and utilisation
Technology: CO2 conversion system
Technology name: Annulus Core Reactor (ACR)
Location: WA
Airbridge is a profit-for-purpose organisation with a patented technology capable of not only capturing CO2 and preventing it from entering our vulnerable atmosphere, but also transforming it into essential products the world needs. The Airbridge process can produce valuable commodities at a significant reduction to existing production costs, using captured CO2 and producing new carbon-negative supply chains for agriculture, mining, construction, manufacturing, and fuels. Airbridge is transforming carbon into a global resource, turning each client’s biggest risk into their greatest opportunity.
Focus: Clean hydrogen
Technology: Hydrogen storage
Technology name: Large Scale Hydrogen Storage in Vertical Shafts
Location: NSW
Ardent Underground provides safe, large-scale cost-effective compressed hydrogen storage using existing shaft construction technology and capability. Building on decades of shaft construction experience, Ardent creates a liner impermeable to hydrogen and transfers the large pressure forces to the surrounding rock structure.
At a fraction of the cost of aboveground storage solutions, a small footprint, and considerably lower risk, Ardent delivers the missing link to a green hydrogen future.
Focus: Energy storage
Technology: Gravitational energy storage
Technology name: Gravitational Energy Storage Centre
Location: NSW
Green Gravity’s energy storage technology moves multiple heavy weights vertically in a legacy mine shaft to capture and release the potential gravitational energy of the weights. By using proven mechanical parts, Green Gravity’s storage technology can be half the cost of battery alternatives and has twice the asset life. Storing energy in this way uses no processed chemicals, has no performance degradation and can deliver tens of megawatt-hours of storage in single sites.
By using legacy mine shafts, Green Gravity reuses existing structures, contributing to the circular economy and lowering costs. Due to the scale of legacy mining, which includes 100,000 legacy sites in Australia, Green Gravity’s technology offers the potential to underpin the energy transition using infrastructure that has already been built.
Focus: Energy efficiency
Technology: Waste heat to electricity
Technology name: Barton engine
Location: Vic
Capricorn Power is set to commercialise their patented Barton heat engine, which solves one of the world’s biggest challenges: how to generate renewable electricity 24/7. The Barton engine can use a wide range of heat sources or fuels, which are free, sustainable and widely distributed. It has a high efficiency, and maintains that efficiency at small scale (< 1 MW); ideal for ‘distributed generation’.
Capricorn Power plans to scale up engine production and sales, achieving a net profit of $M149 / year in 5 years, and an enterprise value of $600M (30x multiplier in 5 years).
Focus: Energy efficiency
Technology: Smart grid technology
Technology name: COMPASS – Low Voltage Management System
Location: Vic
Future Grid develops software for electricity utilities to help them transition to a net zero grid. They do this by using data from smart meters that allow an electricity provider to manage the impacts of rooftop solar and electric vehicles on existing electricity infrastructure, allowing more customers to benefit at the least cost.
Their Compass platform enables real-time monitoring, analysis, and visualisation of the secondary electricity network. It creates a real-time feedback loop from smart meters to existing distribution systems to enhance decision support for secondary grid management.
Focus: Low emissions electricity
Technology: Solar tiles
Technology name: Solar Tile
Location: Vic
Volt Solar Tile is a solar energy-generating roof tile designed to blend into the roof seamlessly. It functions like a solar panel but looks like a standard roof tile and, therefore, can be designed bespoke to the home. Volt is for homeowners who want sustainable energy for their home but don't like the look of traditional solar on their roof or have small or challenging roof layouts where solar panels are not possible.
Volt's meticulously designed extrusions and high-quality aluminium and glass components allow us to manufacture Volt at half the cost of competitors, making it more affordable and accessible within the market. These materials also give Volt an end-of-life plan as it's 100% recyclable. Volt has partnered with roof tile manufacturers Bristile Roofing and La Escandella. These manufacturers have a strong market presence in Australia and over 85 countries worldwide through which Volt will be distributed.