Green Gravity, Wollongong deal aims to position region as “global centre for innovation in clean energy storage”

Green Gravity, a company seeking to use legacy mineshafts to store and release renewable energy, has signed an MoU with Wollongong City Council which the pair say “aims to position Wollongong and the broader Illawarra as a hub for world-leading clean energy solutions.”

According to a statement from Green Gravity on Thursday, the MoU covers a 24-month period. It combines the company's technology with the council’s leadership in “local sustainability, policy, and community  engagement”, and is timely given April’s NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Beneficial and Productive Post-Mining Land Use.

“Wollongong has both the legacy mining assets and the industrial demand profile to make it the natural home for our technology,” said Mark Swinnerton, Green Gravity’s CEO. 

“By partnering with Wollongong City Council, we can unlock the region’s potential as a global centre for innovation in clean energy storage while creating lasting economic and community benefits.” 

The MoU covers activities initiatives including that align Green Gravity’s innovation pipeline with Council’s Wollongong 2025 Investment Prospectus priorities in clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and technology; enhance coordination with industry, research institutions, and government agencies  to drive decarbonisation at scale; and position the Illawarra as a centre of excellence for gravity energy storage solutions. 

The company describes its invention as offering a “long-duration, low-cost, and environmentally sustainable form of energy storage” and using the “gravitational potential of heavy weights lowered and lifted in legacy mineshafts to store and release renewable energy.” 

According to Swinnerton, there are approximately 100,000 legacy mine shafts around Australia.

Green Gravity was established in 2021 and opened an R&D site, the Gravity Lab, in 2023 at the Port Kembla Steelworks.

It announced a $9 million funding round last October, with investors including HMC Capital, BlueScopeX, Pacific Channel and Sumisho Coal Australia Holdings.

Picture: Swinnerton and Greg Doyle, General Manager of Wollongong City Council (supplied)

Further reading

Green Gravity looks to energy storage in Mt Isa

Investors weigh in behind Green Gravity energy storage

Green Gravity set to store energy in Romania

Green Gravity to test mineshaft energy storage system