Governments

Mojo co-founder Darren Miller gets top job at ARENA

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Darren Miller, the co-founder of electricity retailer Mojo Power has been named as the new chief executive of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, taking over from founding CEO Ivor Frischknecht from August 27.

The appointment was announced by environment and energy minister Josh Frydenberg on Tuesday. Miller co-founded Mojo in 2015, was also a director of asset finance at Sungevity Australia (which closed its doors) and founder and CEO of technology and services company Sumwise.

“Mr Miller has 25 years of professional experience across a range of sectors including in chief executive positions and investment advisory roles,” Frydenberg said in a statement.

“His experience in the renewable energy and electricity retail sectors as well as in start-up companies aligns well with ARENA’s development of local renewable energy technology.”

Frischknecht announced in February that he would not seek a third time, having overseen 370 projects that leveraged $2.8 billion dollars of investment, and helped reduce the cost of large scale solar, underpin the rollout of battery storage technologies and encourage new business models at retail level based around energy sharing.

“Mr Frischknecht has helped to make ARENA a success by utilising his expertise in energy, innovation and early stage investment,”Frydenberg said in his statement.

“Under his guidance, ARENA has developed a clear set of priority investment areas consistent with the Turnbull Government’s emphasis on affordable and reliable energy.”

“I thank Mr Frischknecht for the significant contribution he has made in helping the Government to deliver a more affordable and reliable energy system and I look forward to working with Mr Miller over the coming years.”

Miller will begin his three year term on 27 August 2018.

 

Giles Parkinson

Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of Renew Economy, and of its sister sites One Step Off The Grid and the EV-focused The Driven. He is the co-host of the weekly Energy Insiders Podcast. Giles has been a journalist for more than 40 years and is a former deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review. You can find him on LinkedIn and on Twitter.

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