ARC Research Hub to reduce energy cost opens at UNSW Sydney
The Research Hub, funded through the Australian Research Council’s Industrial Transformation Research Hubs Scheme, will generate knowledge in storage technology manufacturing, control and management, and provide solutions to a more sustainable, secure, reliable and economically efficient energy supply.
It will develop advanced energy storage technologies including batteries for extreme environments, structural supercapacitors, innovated fuel cells, and power-to-gas systems. The goal is to integrate these storage solutions into existing energy networks and applications using novel storage monitoring, control and optimisation technologies.
The new hub was launched at a ceremony at UNSW on Thursday by the Federal Minister for Education, the Hon. Dan Tehan, who joined a group of researchers and Hub partners on a tour of the world-class facilities, including the Particles and Catalysis Research Laboratory and rooftop solar energy facilities.
Special guests at the launch included the CEO of the Australian Research Council, Professor Sue Thomas; UNSW President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ian Jacobs; Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research, Professor Nicholas Fisk; and Hub Director and Professor of Energy Systems, Joe Dong.
“What this Integrated Energy Storage Solutions Hub will embark on is absolutely vital to our nation’s future,” Minister Tehan said.
“If we are to transition our economy, then having the energy solutions to do it is absolutely vital because if we don’t, we won’t be able to transition in a way which takes all Australians with us.”
He said that the research conducted at this hub will drive more secure, sustainable and economically efficient energy usage through effective storage devices and advanced technologies.
“Importantly, this research hub will bring together experts from universities and industry to work together to develop new, commercially-viable methods to capture surplus electricity from Australia’s abundant renewable resources,” he said.
Scientia Professor Rose Amal, The Hon. Warwick Smith, Professor Joe Dong, Australian Research Council CEO Professor Sue Thomas and Dr Daiyan Rahman taking part in the Particles and Catalysis Lab tour.
Professor Jacobs said he was proud to help launch the facility where UNSW researchers will collaborate with colleagues from UTS and Deakin University.
“We need to take the world class research being done at Australian universities and translate it into industrial solutions. And that is precisely what this Research Hub will do,” Professor Jacobs said.
“Improving the lives of people around the world is an ambition shared by all universities and I am supremely confident the Hub will make an enduring contribution to that goal,” he concluded.
The new research hub will involve 14 participating organisations and international collaborations providing a total input of $12 million.
Professor Fisk said that this hub team had spectacular credentials for truly transformative research in the energy storage space – essential for tackling the intermittency bugbear of renewable energy.