Cleantech Investor

First published in Cleantech magazine, October 2010. Copyright Cleantech Investor Ltd 2010

By John O’Brien, Australian CleanTech

After much discussion, Australia finally has a new national Government and there are positive signs with respect to the growth of cleantech and, in particular, utility scale renewable energy projects.

The new Labor Government did a deal with the Greens that will deliver the upper house and finally managed to win over two independents to control the lower house. The Liberal/National Coalition would have required all three of the independents to support it into office, but failed despite some good efforts at pork barrelling. Labor’s victory is undoubtedly a win for environmental investments.

First published in Cleantech magazine, May/June 2010.

John O’Brien, Australian CleanTech

In my work within the cleantech sector in Australia, I am often asked which sectors have the best chance of flourishing here. This question is often followed by another: which companies in those sectors are the ones developing global technologies? It can be a dangerous game to give direct answers to these questions, as the only certainty about predictions is that they will be wrong!  

The wave sector is more difficult to predict than some sectors. The relatively immature nature of most of the technologies means that it is likely to be some time before positive cash flows are strong and it starts to become clear which of the many development technologies may dominate global installations. Who will be the Vestas and Suzlon of the seas and estuaries? What does seem likely is that, over the next five years, only a handful of technologies will move ahead of the pack and start to be seen as the industry leaders. Will any of those technologies be Australian?

By John O’Brien, Australian CleanTech

The story of biofuels in Australia is not a straightforward one. The conventional biofuels industry collapsed in 2006 and has continued to decline ever since. Whilst the rest of the world is focusing on the great promise of cellulosic biofuels, as detailed elsewhere in this publication, Australia appears uninterested. However, there is one area of biofuels in which Australia has a presence in the leading pack of global developers: the integration of carbon capture and algae biofuels.

First published in Cleantech magazine, November/December 2009. Copyright Cleantech Investor 2009

Water, water…

By John O’Brien, Australian CleanTech

Australia is blessed with many natural resources to assist the growth of its cleantech sector. Some of the wind resources are exceptional, the wave resources are world leading and the hot rocks are driving big investments into the geothermal sector. Most of all, Australia is synonymous with solar radiation and much of the country has a ridiculous amount of solar resource to play with. There are of course issues with respect to NIMBY complaints for sites near communities and the fact that the best resources are never closest to those population centres – luckily the desert has few back yards to worry about!

Australia has another natural competitive advantage in the cleantech space: one that is not so apparent. The climate is highly variable with respect to its rainfall and, as such, there can be long periods of drought followed by long ‘wets’. Much of south-eastern Australia is still suffering from the effects of a drought which started in the first years of the decade and has led to severe water restrictions in many areas. This variability, which is likely to be exacerbated by climate change, has made the Australian water industry innovate to survive.