Following its election win in 2022, one of the Albanese government’s first actions in Parliament was to enshrine Australia’s climate targets in law.
Australia has an official goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, and to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
This large-scale transition of Australia’s energy system is well and truly underway, but much more needs to be done to ensure these targets are met.
According to forecasts from CSIRO and AEMO, up to 95 per cent of the National Energy Market would need to come from variable renewable energy to meet Australia’s emissions reduction goals.
To make this possible, Australia will need to draw on long duration energy storage, which can provide on-demand energy for more than eight hours, and ensure an energy grid can withstand temperamental weather and other shocks.
But the long duration energy storage market has long been dominated by expensive and complicated technologies that have major limitations.
Newcastle-based company Allegro Energy has developed a revolutionary water-based energy storage technology that aims to overcome these barriers and help Australia and the world address the challenge of renewable energy intermittency.
The company is pioneering microemulsion electrolyte technology which combines water, oil and surfactant used in redox flow batteries and supercapacitors in order to deliver strong performance at lower costs.
Its energy storage systems can last for between four and 24 hours for utility-scale applications, power plants and solar and wind farms, meaning they can continue to function when the sun isn’t shining, and the wind isn’t blowing.
The technology offers one piece of the puzzle in making renewable energy storage economically competitive with fossil fuels, and aims to support Australia’s net zero emissions ambitions.
Allegro Energy is a finalist in the InnovationAus 2025 Awards for Excellence in the Energy and Renewables category. The InnovationAus 2025 Awards for Excellence winners and finalists will be celebrated at a black-tie gala dinner at Sydney Town Hall on Thursday, November 27. You can book your tickets here.
The Energy and Renewables Award is proudly sponsored by the University of NSW. The category rewards ambition and innovation in renewable energy, recycling and the circular economy sectors, spanning everything from hydrogen extraction technologies to innovations in re-manufacturing.
The foundational research underpinning Allegro Energy came from the Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, and the commercial company was established in Newcastle in 2021.
The technology is being piloted at Origin Energy’s Eraring Power Station, scaling from 800kWh to 60MWh capacity, aiming to demonstrate a real-world deployment at the country’s largest coal-fired power station.
The company has landed a Commonwealth Industry Growth Program grant of $1.85 million, and closed a $17.5 million Series A funding round.
The 2025 InnovationAus Awards for Excellence will be held on November 27 at the magnificent Sydney Town Hall. You can secure individual seats or book a table here. Purchase a table of 10 and have your logo displayed on screens across the venue and in the event programme as a ‘Table Sponsor’.
The InnovationAus 2025 Awards for Excellence are proudly supported by ACS, PEXA Group, the CSIRO ON Program, Griffith Hack, TechnologyOne, Q-CTRL, National AI Centre, University of New South Wales, KPMG, AgriFutures Australia, Investment NSW and IP Australia.
Protecting your great ideas with intellectual property (IP) rights can lead to lasting benefits for your growing business. IP refers to creations of the mind, such as a brand, logo, invention, design or artistic work. Head to the IP Australia website to find out more about IP, and how it might help your business.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.