Low cost printed solar fast-tracked in Australian “trailblazer” program

Two New South Wales universities have won federal government funding to fast-track the commericalisation and manufacture of cutting edge clean energy and recycling technologies, including the production of ultra-low cost printed solar.

The University of Newcastle and the UNSW announced this week that they would work together with 27 industry partners and CSIRO to develop and commercialise world-leading technology in solar, hydrogen, storage and green metals.

The partnership – called the Australian Trailblazer Recycling and Clean Energy (ATRaCE) Program – will include a total investment of more than $200 million including university and industry investment, backed by $50 million from the Morrison government’s Trailblazer program.

The University of Newcastle (UoN) said on Wednesday that funding would bring together the nation’s best researchers and businesses to create an “innovation ecosystem” for recycling and clean energy “stretching from the Hunter to Sydney.”

UoN vice-chancellor Professor Alex Zelinsky said the new partnership aimed to drive the sort of cultural shift needed in Australia to take world-leading technological innovations out of labs and into production.

“Working in partnership with major energy and recycling companies, SMEs, end-users and international entities, ATRaCE will transform the way research is commercialised,” Zelinsky said.

“It will provide clear pathways for academics and industry partners to work together to supercharge their capabilities and deliver new technologies, faster to Australians.”

Professor Nicholas Fisk, UNSW deputy vice chancellor, research and enterprise, said the ATRaCE Program was targeting the commercialisation of at least 63 new products that would help Australia achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

“Our projects, partnerships and investment under this initiative will accelerate a decade’s worth of change in just four years and create a legacy in industry-university collaboration.

“It is truly national, with projects in metropolitan and regional areas, and in all Australian states and territories, and beyond.”

Among the clean energy projects highlighted by the government in its announcement of the grant for ATRaCE is the construction of Australia’s first at-scale printed solar manufacturing plant.

This might involve the water-based solar paint being pioneered at the UoN’s Centre for Organic Electronics, which laboratory tests have shown can be printed at high speed and low cost using basic roll to roll processing techniques.

The universities said areas of focus for the program included to extend the success of green steel technology to other metals; to develop Australian-first zero emissions aviation for regional aircraft, and; to develop ultra-low-cost solar with cutting-edge engineering.