Alcoa looks to first MVR advantage for greener alumina
Alcoa has been awarded $11.3 million in Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) funding to support a $28.2 million project demonstrating renewable energy in process heat for alumina refining.
Vaulta to develop products with Canadian battery makers
Brisbane battery casing technology company Battery Graphene Corp, also known as Vaulta, is to develop new battery products with three Canadian companies specialising in high performance lithium ion batteries. Vaulta has signed a memorandum of understanding with Braille Energy Systems, Focus Graphite and Grafoid to conduct market analysis on co-developed projects. Braille produces batteries used…
Australia needs a Chief Technologist: CEDA
The Australian government should appoint a Chief Technologist to drive its digital agenda and provide leadership and guidance in the face of “ministerial musical chairs”, according to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia.
The awful waste of Morrison’s subsidised gas plant
Comment by Peter Roberts The federal government has come good on its threats to direct Snowy Hydro power to build a $600 million gas-fired power plant in the Hunter Valley, ignoring science, the market and investment reality. With the private sector unwilling to invest in what are already stranded assets, Snowy Hydro will build a…
Australia’s minerals key to renewable energy – CSIRO
Australia’s mining and manufacturing sectors working together is key to unlocking our potential as a renewable energy powerhouse according to a report released today by CSIRO. CSIRO’s Critical Energy Minerals Roadmap highlights the potential to reshape mining to turn resources such as lithium and silicon into products for renewable energy, like electric vehicles, solar panels…
SPEE3D claims Australian SME defence innovation award
Darwin-based additive manufacturing company SPEE3D will be presented with the SME Innovation Award at the Land Forces 2021 event next month.
Graphene Manufacturing Group plans aluminium-ion batteries
Brisbane’s Graphene Manufacturing Group is using graphene to produce aluminium-ion batteries utilising a patent-pending surface perforation technology developed by the University of Queensland. The company, which is listed on the Canadian TSX Venture Exchange following its’ merger with Cuspis Capital, is focusing on producing aluminium-ion coin cell battery prototypes for customer testing later this year.…
GMH Fishermans Bend reborn as industrial innovation precinct
The Victorian government will allocate $179.4 million in the upcoming state budget to begin work converting the historic Fishermans Bend site once occupied by GMH into an advanced manufacturing, engineering and design precinct. The first stage will see remediation of the 32 hectare site – where Australia’s first Holden rolled off the production line in…
How Australia rates a zero on electric vehicle adoption
Australia’s antagonistic policies towards electric vehicles has left us in the dust as the rest of the world transitions to less polluting vehicles, according to figures compiled for Visual Capitalist, Global sales of electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV) surpassed three million for the first time in 2020, despite the economic headwinds imposed by…
Manufacturers’ appreciation of cyber-security “patchy”: NTT
NTT’s 2021 Global Threat Intelligence Report gave Australian manufacturers a cyber-security maturity score of 0.76 (down from 1.4 in 2019), below the APAC average of 1.98 and global average of 1.21 for the sector. (NTT’s assessment defines between 0 and 0.99 as “non-existent.”) Brent Balinski spoke to John Karabin, Senior Director of Cybersecurity at the company’s Australian operation, about the results and their context.