MGA Thermal Awarded Accelerating Commercialisation Grant
MGA Thermal is excited to announce we have successfully secured an Accelerating Commercialisation Grant from the Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. The $495,600 in grant funding will contribute to a state-of-the-art pilot manufacturing plant which will showcase the manufacture of modular thermal storage blocks at a commercial scale.
Pictured: Engineer Benjamin Fraser, Engineer Mark Copus, Engineer Dominic McAtamney, Business Development Officer Arden Jarrett and CTO Dr. Alexander Post.
The Accelerating Commercialisation Grant provides matched funding to our seed investment round secured earlier this year with CP Ventures.
The Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Karen Andrews, announced the 21 projects and companies which have been selected to share over $10 million in funding on Monday 13 July 2020. Minister Andrews said the projects are perfect examples of the dynamic business thinking we need to drive Australia’s COVID-19 economic recovery.
In MGA’s case, the operation of our pilot facility will immediately create several full-time jobs, as well as the potential for a whole new local industry manufacturing high value thermal storage material for renewable energy projects. This is ideal to the Newcastle and Hunter region’s background as a centre for industry and wide access to raw materials.
The Accelerating Commercialisation grant provides small and medium businesses, entrepreneurs and researchers with access to funding and expert advice to help get a novel product, process or service to market. “This is Aussie ingenuity at its best - solving real world problems, while driving economic growth and creating jobs,” Minister Andrews said.
The program has stringent merit criteria and is highly competitive; the aim is to support innovation with the ability to positively impact key sectors that are important to Australia’s economy.
CEO of MGA Thermal, Professor Erich Kisi, commented “We’re delighted to have support from the Department of Industry, Science and Technology through the Entrepreneur’s Programme. Securing funding is highly competitive, especially the Accelerating Commercialisation grant. We’re thrilled that MGA Thermal has been recognised for its ability to make a positive impact on a national and global scale.”
Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind are intermittent and currently Australia doesn’t have the resources to support the volume of energy storage required to meet demand and run entirely on renewables.
Prof. Kisi explained how the novel material’s ability to store energy as heat could be the missing link to make the renewables switch. He said, “Most energy generation and utilisation involves heat. Therefore, storing and managing heat imparts great versatility. Our MGA storage technology can capture energy from diverse sources such as electrically from renewables, the heat of concentrated sunlight in concentrated solar power (CSP), and even waste heat from industrial manufacturing. The stored energy can be used directly as heat or converted into electricity using conventional infrastructure. This allows repurposing of power station infrastructure to become grid scale energy storage. We know our technology can help make meaningful change and a sustainable future; we look forward to making this happen.”
