Australian solar innovator SunDrive strikes manufacturing pact with Chinese PV giant

Australian solar innovator SunDrive Solar – backed by some of the country’s richest and most famous people – says it has struck an agreement with Chinese solar giant Trina Solar to develop manufacturing opportunities in Australia.

SunDrive has been trying a new approach to solar PV tecnhonologies, essentially trying to substitute more abundant and lower cost copper for silver – and the landmark agreement with Trina suggests it is getting close to making this a commercial reality.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the two companies will result in a joint venture that will be majority Australian owned, and will seek government funding through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to back a first commercial-scale manufacturing facility in Sydney, using the SunDrive technology

The two companies hope to build a facility with two lines of production, with annual capacity of 1.2 gigawatts of production and with around 300 employees. Two sites are being considered.

The two companies will also pursue the previously flagged major manufacturing plant at the site of AGL Energy’s shuttered Liddell coal generator in the Hunter Valley, which will also include facilities that expand up the value chain, including cell production and Sundrive’s copper metallisation tech.

The deal is potentially a major fillip to the federal government’s Made in Australia green technology ambitions, particularly in light of recent setbacks to various green hydrogen projects and the financial failure of other local innovators such as EV charing company Tritium and flow-battery maker Redflow.

Solar is an obvious technology to pursue, and part of the Made in Australia program is dedicated to the Solar Sunshot ambitions, which aims to bring the cost of the technology down even further.

Solar PV is already expected to be the dominant energy technology in global grids in coming decades, and particularly so in Australia, which is already setting records for the rate of PV adoption on the nation’s rooftops and a rapidly expanding number of large scale projects.

Over the weekend, rooftop PV delivered more than 50 per cent of grid demand for the first time, and the amount of rooftop PV is expected to quadruple in coming decades.

And that is just on the rooftops of homes and businesses, and does not include some of the other massive projects being contemplated by the likes of Mike Cannon-Brookes with the Sun Cable project. Cannon-Brookes is one of the key shareholders in SunDrive, along with former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

“This collaboration with Trina Solar, one of the world’s largest and most respected manufacturers, is a testament to SunDrive’s position as a world leader in solar innovation,” SunDrive CEO Natalie Malligan said in a statement.

“(It) demonstrates SunDrive and Trina Solar’s mutual belief that Australia’s engine of solar innovation can drive a global solar manufacturing powerhouse, producing the future of clean energy from right here at home.”

The announcement comes just a few months after SunDrive was forced to cut job numbers as part of a review that also saw Malligan appointed as CEO and co-founder Vince Allen shifting over to chief technology officer.

“We founded SunDrive with the vision of developing and deploying the world’s best solar technology, right here in Australia for Australian homes and businesses,” Allen said in a statement.

“Collaborating with Trina Solar, the world’s leading solar manufacturer, turns that vision into reality. Together, we’re combining home-grown innovation with experience to scale Australian-made solar panels that will drive the future of Australia’s clean energy transition.”

Edison Zhou, the head of Trina Solar in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific said SunDrive had developed “world class” technology. Trina has delivered more than 225 GW of solar modules worldwide and has been in the Australian market since 2009.