ARENA

“Playing catch-up:” Sunshot targets cheaper construction in quest for ultra-low cost solar

Arena opens a third Solar Sunshot round aimed at cutting utility-scale solar construction costs, while recapping grants already handed to 5B, Tindo Solar, Solquartz, Stellar PV, Luminous Robotics and Built Robotics' local subsidiary.

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🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #176, 30th August 2026

Weekly roundup: Blackbird confirms a record fund close and Galileo reaches a first close, Genesis merges with Proudi, IREN secures massive debt, and several startups report raises, grants and program wins.

🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #173, 9th August 2026

Weekly roundup: Firmus completes its $2.85b round; Procore acquires DroneDeploy; Atlassian rebounds while Canva cuts guidance; plus fresh raises for Zabidou, BioScout, Vexev, Enrola, Spacetalk and others.

Also Dealroom·RenewEconomy·RenewEconomy

Powering the battery revolution

The CEFC recounts a decade of project financing behind Australia's landmark grid batteries — DeGrussa, Hornsdale, Victorian Big Battery and Capital Battery — showing how early public capital helped storage reach mainstream markets.

ARENA backs forestry byproducts-to-aviation fuel project

ARENA has conditionally awarded HAMR Energy $32 million toward engineering design for a plant turning forestry residues in Victoria and South Australia into methanol-based jet fuel and other low-carbon products.

Also Dealroom·Startup Daily

Wildfire Energy secures Queensland government funding for Bulwer Island Biofuels Hub

Wildfire Energy receives an 18.56 million dollar Queensland government grant for its Bulwer Island Biofuels Hub, with the article recalling earlier ARENA funding and a Climate Tech Partners investment.

Industrial decarbonisation gets $13 million boost

ARENA grants five industrial decarbonisation projects a combined $13 million, spanning brewery electrification, low-carbon laundry, pharmaceutical manufacturing, aluminium extrusion and biochar production, as a new round of its transformation stream opens.

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LUMI robots ScaleUp solar deployment with advanced automation

ARENA awarded Luminous $4.9 million under its Solar ScaleUp Challenge to deploy its LUMI robot fleet at two Australian solar farms operated by Neoen and Engie.

Also RenewEconomy

Flexible services to roll out in Victoria

ARENA awards United Energy $3.54 million toward an $8 million Victorian trial of demand flexibility, covering hot-water control and dynamic solar export limits across three distribution networks, finishing in 2026.

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Sunshot program backs “Sun King” to bring large-scale solar panel manufacturing back to Australia

Sunman Group wins $171 million in federal and NSW funding for a Hunter Valley solar panel factory; earlier grants to Tindo Solar, Stellar PV, Solquartz and SunDrive are also recalled.

Climate tech now employs 7000+ people and is driving Australia's economic growth, Climate Salad's annual analysis finds

Climate Salad's report says Australia's climate tech sector has passed 7,000 workers across 730 startups and drew $680 million in venture capital; Sea Forest's ASX debut and fund commitments point to investor appetite.

Evie Networks secures $50 million debt for EV charging infrastructure

Evie's own announcement says the EV charging firm has closed a 50 million dollar debt facility, which it bills as an Australian first, and reflects on shifting from venture to infrastructure funding.

Saudi-backed developer secures finance for its biggest battery project to date

FRV has secured financing for its Gnarwarre battery in Victoria, adding two financiers to last year's portfolio-wide refinancing; the article also recalls the Terang close and a 2022 ARENA grant.

ARENA backs Hunter Valley renewable hydrogen project with $432 million

The clean energy funder conditionally awarded Orica's Hunter Valley hydrogen hub as much as $432 million under its Hydrogen Headstart program, following CIP's Murchison Green Hydrogen Project's earlier $814 million grant.

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Tallest energy monitoring mast in southern hemisphere to test the winds in Victoria

Sydney wind-measurement firm Fulcrum3D has been granted Arena funding to build a 200m-plus validation mast in Victoria, the southern hemisphere's tallest, with DNV's Australian arm among its first industry users.

Australian innovation helped launch China solar juggernaut – now it's time to hitch a ride with PV giants

Australian solar firm SunDrive has signed a JDA with Chinese equipment makers Maxwell Technologies and Vistar, adding to partnerships with Trina Solar and AGL and an earlier Arena grant.

Green steam and thermal storage startup reboots pilot plant after “tough lesson”

MGA Thermal has its 5 MWh Tomago pilot plant working again after an 18-month fix, and is seeking significant new capital to scale up production.

It's taken 12 months, but solar power startup Raygen Resources finally bagged another $75 million for its Series D

Solar storage firm RayGen has wrapped up a $127 million Series D a year after it began, with SLB leading and Breakthrough Victoria, ARENA and energy companies among the backers.

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Arena backs Australian factory featuring “breakthrough” in battery storage powders

VSPC, Livium's battery subsidiary, wins a $30 million ARENA grant toward a cathode powder demonstration plant; the piece also recalls funding for AnteoTech, Li-S, Novonix and Energy Storage Industries, plus Redflow's administration.

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“Time to come back:” Sunman unveils plans to make flexible solar panels in Australia

Solar pioneer Zhengrong Shi intends a Newcastle factory for frameless lightweight panels via Sunman's Energus subsidiary, eyeing federal programs; CEFC, Southern Cross Venture Partners and Softbank China are recalled as backers.

Manufacturing news briefs — stories you might have missed

Manufacturing roundup: Monash shares 3D-printing guidelines for blind students; MGA Thermal gains syndicate investment atop ARENA funding; UniSA touts a natural obesity treatment; Sparc Technologies signs an MoU with CLP Group.

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“Shell companies for rent seekers:” Coalition attacks solar innovators, including Turnbull-backed SunDrive

A federal opposition senator attacks Labor's solar manufacturing program and SunDrive, which has cut staff and changed CEO while pursuing partnerships with AGL and Trina Solar to localise panel production.

Australian champion of two-way smart grid technology that won Arena funding placed in liquidation

Queensland smart-grid company Elexsys Energy, trading as Planet Ark Power, won federal and state grants and partial Series B backing before being wound up on a tax office application.

Solar developer FRV hits go on first big battery after landing $1.2 billion funding round

FRV Australia proceeds with its Terang battery in Victoria after a $1.2 billion portfolio refinancing; the piece also recalls a state grant and the 2021 project purchase from Ace Energy.

Also RenewEconomy

Meat processors pick up renewable energy grants

Two Australian red meat processors, G&K O'Connor and Bindaree Food Group, have been awarded government grants under ARENA's industrial decarbonisation program, funding feasibility studies into renewable energy and waste-to-energy options at their plants.

Arena backs trials to help households and businesses flex their demand response muscle

ARENA grants nearly $1 million to Birdwood Energy's flexible demand report card project with ANU and the Energy Efficiency Council, plus $3.54 million to United Energy for grid flexibility trials.

Could a white powder deliver the holy grail of low cost green hydrogen exports?

University spinout Kotai Energy is developing a powdered hydrogen carrier for cheaper exports, and has secured an ARENA grant plus funding from Velox Energy Materials and Curtin University.

Vast wins backing of global energy giant to push multiple solar thermal projects

French energy company EDF has committed €10 million to back Vast Renewables' concentrated solar plans across Australia, adding to earlier government grants for its plants and an agreed-but-unclosed Nasdaq listing deal with Nabors' SPAC.

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#StartuptoScaleupStories: PowerTec Creates 100% Renewable Power Generation in Grids

A profile of PowerTec, the battery-systems company Michael Jansen founded in 2014, covering its grid projects, an award-winning trial, ARENA-backed work, and ambitions in a market it values at hundreds of millions.

Australia’s biggest solar thermal plant takes “big step forward” with digital twin

Vast has brought in CYD to begin early engineering on its VS1 solar thermal project in Port Augusta, simulating the storage tanks digitally; the piece also recaps earlier ARENA backing.

Largest vanadium flow battery in Southern Hemisphere ready to go live at Port Pirie

Yadlamalka Energy's South Australian solar and vanadium battery project has finished civil works and started commissioning, with grid supply expected from August; the piece also explains flow battery chemistry and ARENA's funding role.

Macquarie Uni spinout HydGene Renewables raises $6 million

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily

Two more retailers collapse under the weight of inflated coal and gas prices

Two small electricity retailers, Mojo Power and QEnergy, have been wound up by a Queensland court and suspended from the national market, with regulators transferring thousands of their customers to other providers.

Also RenewEconomy

Pioneering community wind farm wins federal funds to add a big battery

Hepburn Energy, behind Australia's first community-owned wind farm, has won a federal grant of as much as $500,000 toward a battery at its Victorian site, with Yarra Energy Foundation recently funded under the program.

“Mighty sun, wind and water:” New partner and funds for green hydrogen mega project

Queensland's CQ-H2 hydrogen hub advances with $117 million in new funding from ARENA, the state government and consortium partners, while Singapore's Keppel joins the consortium to pursue a Gladstone ammonia facility with Incitec Pivot.

Preloved wind turbines from Netherlands help power remote outback microgrid

Refurbished Dutch turbines have reached Advanced Energy Resources' Moora microgrid project in WA; the piece also recalls the Port Gregory microgrid, which received ARENA support and a $1.8m state government grant.

Recipients announced for Australia-Germany HyGATE Initiative

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Dirty panels are cutting output from solar PV by up to five per cent

An IEA report finds solar soiling cuts panel output and causes multi-billion-euro losses, and ARENA has awarded $2.5 million to a UNSW project building an automated solar plant management platform.

Brookfield-backed metering firm buys assets of “smart pool” retailer sunk by energy crisis

Metering firm Intellihub has bought the assets of Pooled Energy, a NSW smart pool retailer that entered administration amid electricity price rises. The article also recalls Intellihub's April purchase of GreenSync and Pooled's ARENA grant.

Climate solutions powerhouse emerges to “demystify” clean energy and carbon markets

Renewable Energy Hub has bought carbon brokerage TFS Green APAC from Tradition Asia in a deal worth more than $50 million, creating Core Markets, a climate solutions business built around carbon and energy software.