Sun Cable co-founder urges “big bets” on solar and battery recycling, and green exports

One of the co-founders of the giant Sun Cable solar and battery project in the Northern Territory has urged Australia to make “big bets” on solar and battery recycling, sustainable aviation fuels and green exports, part of an estimated $6.6 trillion of green energy ideas in the Asia-Pacific.

Dr Fraser Thompson, a co-founder of the Sun Cable project now being led by software billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes is also the co-founder of development and advisory firm Cyan Ventures, which has released a white paper on Australia’s green industry opportunities.

“We need investors to take the lead and build the lighthouse projects to create momentum,” Thompson says

But for big ideas to get off the ground, investors and governments must back themselves to support still-early stage technologies and businesses. 

“Take the circular economy for example. Establishing clear pricing mechanisms, such as extended producer responsibility schemes for key waste streams, is crucial to attract investment,” he told RenewEconomy. 

One of his big bets is on “sustainable” aviation fuels, also known as (renewable) power to liquids, which has already got some government backing in Australia. 

In July last year applications opened for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s $30 million fund for the federal government’s Jet Zero initiative, and in May Qantas said it had set aside $400 million to invest in sustainable aviation fuel projects and research.

The white paper eyed off Power-to-Liquid (PtL), where renewable electricity is used to make green hydrogen that is in turn used in concert with carbon dioxide to produce a sustainable aviation fuel.

Alternatively, CSIRO and Boeing identified farm waste as having significant potential in their Sustainable Aviation Fuel Roadmap report in August last year. 

“Australia has all the prerequisites to be a global leader,” the Cyan Ventures report said. 

“Lowest cost renewable energy resources…land availability… and a significant domestic market to help early scale.”

But what is required to move the industry forward more quickly is a plan outlining what it will take to be a global leader in power-to-liquid production.

This would involve initial projects to prove the potential – the report said partnerships with airlines and Defence would be necessary – more R&D funding, and policies such as mandates for airlines to buy a certain amount of sustainable fuel to encourage investment. 

Recycling and a circular economy is an area which would require a lot more government help to get off the ground from banning products such as timber or e-waste from landfills to lifting state landfill levies to fund recycling infrastructure. 

Already researchers are pointing out the potential for solar panel recycling, saying it’s a 680,000 tonne a year opportunity by 2030.  

Three solar and battery recycling companies won a Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) grant in the last round, as a solar panel industry begins to emerge with the likes of Reclaim PV, PV Industries, and Elecsome, and the government continues to suggest it will include the sector into its product stewardship scheme. 

And the white paper’s clean exports idea is another which is often talked about, given Australia’s natural abundance of solar and wind and critical minerals. 

Possible exports include green steel and iron, or exported electrons via long distance High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission lines.

Thompson and his co-author and Cyan Ventures cofounder Shaun Chau say the government should be directing incentives towards industries operating in clean exports, such as through production tax credits or contracts for difference that would provide short term support for new entrepreneurs.

And they return to the perennial bugbear of the broader renewable energy industry – approval times. 

“New approvals process that would be more timely, robust and prioritise onshore value-add,” they write.

“The approvals process is currently too slow and does not prioritise the most important opportunities for Australian industry. Australia could provide priority environmental assessments and approvals for projects deemed material for realising Australia’s exporting superpower vision.”