Huge crowds and new technology at All Energy point to scale of green energy transition

The All Energy Australia exhibition and conference has wrapped up for another year, and what a year it was! The “biggest and best, yet” according to the Clean Energy Council, which has confirmed more than 10,000 people attended, exhibited or spoke at the 2024 event over the course of Wednesday and Thursday.

“What an incredible couple of days,” the CEC said on Facebook on Thursday evening. “It’s events like these that highlight how bright Australia’s renewable energy future is, with more than 10,000 passionate and knowledgeable attendees and speakers.”

According to All Energy Australia organisers, it was quite a bit more than 10,000 people, with early figures indicating more than 15,000 attendees and 3,000 exhibitors.

“Reflecting the enormous opportunity and momentum in the Australian clean energy sector, this was the biggest and best All Energy Australia yet, with a massive exhibition, over 400 speakers coming together to network and explore the big challenges and how to overcome them to ensure we deliver Australia’s clean energy potential,” said Clean Energy Council chief Kane Thornton.

“From these strong results, we very much look forward to an even more successful event in 2025.”

Renew Economy had a small, far-flung booth at the conference again this year and can confirm that it was, indeed, huge – a few of the conference sessions we had hoped to attend were packed to capacity, with queues of up to 50 people lined up waiting to get in.

And while the conference sessions were, as usual, a highlight, the exhibition floor was mind blowing, with a record number of stands and some fascinating new products and technologies on display.

Here are some highlights and key takeaways…

Bigger business

While in previous years the focus of All Energy has tended to be on either residential solar and battery offerings or technologies used in utility-scale projects, this year there was a distinct pitch to the commercial and industrial (C&I) sector, including from smart energy management, electric vehicle charging and battery storage specialists.

Among the commercial battery offerings on display is the unit below from Australian outfit, Redback Technologies, which brought an impressive number of new products to All Energy 2024 after a pretty tough year.

Redback’s C&I battery, which the company hopes to bring to market in the last quarter of 2025, has 215kWh of capacity per unit, with a 100kVa AC-coupled PCS, liquid cooling and built in fire protection, and VPP compatibility.

Another impressive product was on display at the stand belonging to Ampcontrol, a New South Wales-based business that specalises in electrifying and decarbonising industry, with a particular focus on the mining sector.

Pictured below is Ampcontrol’s NSW business development manager of energy solutions and renewables, Adam Champion, showcasing a prototype of the company’s 1MW electric mining truck charger, which can be delivered to remote sites and plugged into the existing energy systems. Very cool.

Less is more

US-based microinverter and energy storage giant Enphase specialises in packing cutting edge tech into small and efficient packages, and took this approach to All Energy this year with a fully recyclable cardboard trade show stand.

Designed in partnership with sustainable packaging manufacturer Opal, the stand featured a cardboard life-size house and is 100% recyclable, eliminating over 80% of waste that traditional expo stands generate.  

“Enphase is transforming exhibitions and setting a new standard for environmental responsibility across industries,” said Patrick Matweew, general manager at Enphase Energy ANZP.  

“In addition, the stand, arguably the largest cardboard structure of its kind currently built in Australia, [was] leveraged as a training space to educate solar installers about our solar, battery, and EV charging solutions,” Matweew said.

“This life-size cardboard house shows what’s possible when innovation and sustainability join forces,” adds Chris Daly, executive general manager of packaging at Opal. “It’s more than just reducing waste, it’s about creating a practical, reusable structure that can serve as a model for future events.”

Electrification of everything

Electrification of the home and of vehicles was also a big theme, with much attention on the sort of smart inverter technology and smart energy management platforms that can be paired with solar and batteries – and batteries of wheels – to make energy use significantly more efficient and a great deal cheaper.

As smart energy management technology veteran Andrew Mears put it recently, “the first battery storage conference I went to … people were very excited about storage but they could not understand what a software company was doing [there]. …A year or so later, at a similar event, they knew exactly.”

These days, batteries must be smart and limber and ready for anything – and other appliances are also expected to be intelligent and responsive, like hot water heat pumps and air conditioners. This year is the first All Energy to have an air conditioner taking up one of the display booths.

It is also the first to feature an electric semi-trailer, which sat parked next to the Yarra River outside the conference – minus the trailer.