Australian Energy Tech Leading the Global Clean Energy Revolution

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How homegrown innovation is solving the world's grid challenges – and where Orkestra fits in.

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Australia is quietly becoming the world's go-to destination for energy technology solutions. While public debate often gets stuck on nuclear versus renewables, a growing ecosystem of Aussie tech companies is solving the real challenges of our clean energy transition – and the world is taking notice.

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Writing for Inside Story, Ben Potter highlights how Australian firms are developing practical solutions to the complex grid management problems created by our shift from centralised fossil fuel generation to decentralised renewables. These companies aren't just solving local problems; they're exporting their expertise globally as other countries face the same challenges Australia encountered a decade ago.

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The real heroes of energy transition

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"This is an Australian industry that's been developed here, and the government doesn't seem to recognise that," says Richard McIndoe, chairman and founder of Edge Zero, which tracks voltage and power quality across electricity networks.

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In his article Ben showcases several innovative Australian companies including, Edge Zero, Neara, Gridsight and Infravision - but there's a critical gap these companies don't address: helping commercial and industrial customers navigate the complex world of energy investments.

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This is where Orkestra comes in

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This is exactly the challenge Orkestra was built to solve. As Potter explains, commercial and industrial customers lag far behind residential customers in adopting rooftop solar and batteries, despite consumption patterns that better match solar supply.

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The problem isn't just about landlord-tenant incentives – it's about expertise. Small and medium enterprises simply don't have the skills to analyse their options across different solar arrays, battery capacities, and tariffs.

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Orkestra's software tackles this skills gap by helping installers model hundreds of combinations of solar panels, batteries and tariffs for commercial and industrial firms — and identify the best options — at a fraction of the cost charged by large consultancies for the same work.

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Making complex energy decisions simple

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Our approach addresses what co-founder James Allston identified as the biggest knowledge gap: modelling battery business cases against tariffs for commercial and industrial firms. But we go further, modeling solar panels, EV chargers, virtual power plant participation, and energy market opportunities.

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The results speak for themselves. The software was used to model 500 kilowatt one-hour batteries and virtual power plant participation for RACV's Torquay and Inverloch resorts, which already had solar panels and EV chargers. It's also been used to model projects for Origin Energy, commercial solar installer GEM Energy and residential installer Energy Locals.

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What makes this particularly exciting is the efficiency gain: "We can train a salesperson or a junior analyst to be able to produce a high quality, bankable feasibility study for one of these investments in about fifteen to twenty minutes of work. And we're trying to take that to being about five minutes of work using AI."

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Australia's energy tech moment

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As Audrey Zibelman, former CEO of the Australian Energy Market Operator, puts it: we're looking at "a Silicon Valley for energy." The traction Australian companies are getting internationally proves "that Australia is leading the transition technically, and is a fertile ground for developing the technologies."

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The opportunity is massive. While flagship grid-scale projects face delays and community objections, commercial and industrial customers can accelerate renewables adoption right now by installing their own energy resources.

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At Orkestra, we're proud to be part of this Australian energy tech revolution – democratising access to sophisticated energy modelling and helping unlock the commercial sector's massive potential for clean energy adoption.

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Read Ben Potter's full analysis on Inside Story to learn more about how Australian energy tech is reshaping the global landscape.

Read the full article →

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