Accelerating clean energy solutions through AIC TechClinics™

Nov. 16, 2010 - PRLog -- With a nationwide target for clean power to deliver 20 per cent of total supply by 2020 and the Tasmanian Innovation Strategy citing renewable energy as one of the five priority sectors for the state, the requirement to develop a successful clean energy industry is clear.

In order to respond to the challenges faced by the clean energy industry, and to accelerate innovation in the development of the sector, the Australian Institute for Commercialisation (AIC) was contracted by the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Resources through its involvement in the Enterprise Connect Clean Energy Innovation Centre (CEIC) in addition to other services, to run a series of R&D Forums and TechClinics™.

These events were conducted in partnership with the Western Australian Sustainable Energy Association (WA SEA) and Newcastle Innovation (NI).

R&D Forums and TechClinics™ are designed to fast-track solutions to market opportunities and industry challenges and the question posed at the first R&D Forum held to respond to the clean energy challenge was “What are the most promising energy storage technology options to meet the needs of renewable electricity generators and grid operators?”

The R&D Forum was attended by 50 experts in their fields, including representatives from sixteen leading Australian energy storage SMEs and commenced with six brief, focused presentations from relevant experts in the energy storage field. Speakers were drawn from power generator companies (Hydro Tasmania), end users (Australian Aluminium Association) and research organisations (University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, Curtin University, and CSIRO Energy Transformed Flagship).

Their topics included “Energy Storage and Renewables” (generator perspective), “Industry and Energy Storage”, “Smart Grids and Distributed Storage”, “Electrochemical Energy Storage”, “Electric Vehicle Array Energy Storage and the Grid”, and “Thermal Energy Storage”.

The R&D Forum identified specific projects which could be pursued in order to grow the energy storage industry and five in particular were identified as topical areas for the subsequent TechClinic™ - including Hydro Tasmania’s King Island project.
The TechClinic™ was attended by approximately 25 SMEs, ten utilities and system integrators, five research organisations, and ten relevant government entities.

For organisations participating in this Clean Energy Innovation Centre sponsored activity a range of significant actions with potential impact on the entire energy storage industry were agreed.

The workshops identified and provided access to new commercial opportunities as well as solutions to technical and commercial challenges and both workshops provided the opportunity to unite with customers and suppliers through a new virtual cluster and formed linkages between industry and leading edge research.

Importantly, each of the project proponents identified a range of participating SMEs that they were keen to speak with after the event with the aim of assessing their capability and potentially forming collaborative relationships. Equally important, significant actions with potential impact on the entire energy storage industry were agreed.


These included:

Agreement to establish an SME sub-group to offer or develop standardised models for their energy storage devices, that were needed by the project proponents to model and understand the application of specific technology within their systems

Agreement by all SMEs in the room to write strong letters of support for Hydro Tasmania’s bid to government to establish a user-led test bed for storage devices at its King Island project facility, enabling feasibility testing and in-situ trial results to be achieved.

Tasmania’s goal of becoming a leading renewable energy driven and sustainable society and economy will no doubt be achieved through a range of innovative and progressive initiatives. R&D Forums and TechClinics™ are designed to accelerate innovation and could be well placed to support the achievement of this goal.

If you would like to find out more about AIC R&D Forums and TechClinics™ please visit www.ausicom.com or contact us on (07) 3853 5225 or e-mail info@ausicom.com for further information.

# # #

The Australian Institute for Commercialisation provides innovation services that help organisations grow. We work with entrepreneurs, businesses, research organisations and governments to convert ideas into successful business outcomes.