<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/australian-maverick-solar-innovator-5b-says-costs-to-fall-25-pct-after-landing-first-sunshot-grant/>
"The “Maverick” rapid-deploying solar generation technology of Australian
innovator 5B has been selected as the first to receive funding from federal
Labor’s $1 billion Solar Sunshot program, in one of its first major energy
policy announcements since being re-elected.
Federal energy minister Chris Bowen announced on Wednesday that the Australian
Renewable Energy Agency has awarded $46 million to the South Australia-based
company to scale up production of its Maverick solar units at its Adelaide
manufacturing facility.
First conceived by UNSW renewable energy engineers Chris McGrath and Eden Tehan
more than 10 years ago, 5B’s Maverick is a prefabricated, pre-wired,
accordion-like unit made up of 90 modules totalling around 50kW capacity that
is unfolded on site using a forklift.
This makes it easy, cheap and quick to install – around 10 times faster than a
run-of-the mill large-scale solar farm. This makes it a popular choice for
powering off-grid projects like mines. In 2024, 5B installed 1.25MW in one day
with eight people at a lithium mine in WA.
Bowen says the SunShot funding will help 5B scale up its factory produce 200 MW
of Maverick units over three years. Last year the company’s Adelaide facility
was producing one Maverick unit every four hours – roughly 100kW a day, or 36
MW a year.
“When it comes to powering Australia’s future nothing will beat our sun and our
solar knowhow,” the minister said on Wednesday.
“That’s why bringing solar manufacturing to our shores is so critical for
unlocking our future as a renewable energy superpower and securing the job of
the future.
“As demand for solar surges, homegrown technologies like 5B Maverick help us
make solar supply chains stronger and build Australia’s future right here.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
