Melbourne-based Allume Energy has received a significant grant for its solar sharing technology as part of the Federal Government’s Industry Growth Program.
The vast majority of the over 4 million solar panel installations in Australia are in detached or semi-detached homes; while apartment dwellers largely miss out. Allume Energy’s SolShare addresses this problem by allowing multiple homes to share a single solar system.
This is how SolShare works
In short, when electricity is transferred from a solar system, it enters the SolShare unit, which “splits” that energy across the building as needed. It automatically distributes electricity throughout the building, which can be distributed equally or in different proportions depending on your needs.
SolShare connects to any circuit behind a home’s existing smart meter, and excess energy not used by a home is fed back into the grid, where feed-in tariff credits can apply. The solution is compatible with multi-family buildings with 5-60 units.
Ronald from SQ wrote a SolShare review a few years ago where he goes into more detail about it. Kim added his 2 cents on whether SolShare is worth it last year – by examining the pros and cons of installing SolShare versus individual rooftop solar systems. From these two articles and the comments that follow, you can get a pretty good idea of how it all works.
Industry Growth Program Cash
Yesterday, Allume Energy hosted Federal Minister of Industry and Science Ed Husic at its SRXGlobal manufacturing facility and announced that the company will receive $3.8 million through the Industry Growth Program (IGP). The money will help expand SolShare’s local production in Melbourne.
“This funding represents a significant step forward for our company and will help us grow, create local jobs and drive a cleaner, greener future,” the company said.
The IGP provides an advisory service to startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in one of the seven priority areas of the Australian Government’s National Reconstruction Fund (NRF), which includes renewable energy and low-carbon technologies. After working with an industry growth program consultant, companies can apply for funding – grants of $50,000 to $250,000 to support early-stage commercialization projects or $100,000 to $5 million for commercialization and growth projects.
Allume An Australian Solar Success Story
Allume Energy has received many accolades for its technology and has won a number of awards including the Victorian Premier’s Sustainability Award in 2021.
The company recently announced that more than 1,000 apartments were approved using its SolShare technology in Round 1 of the Victorian Solar for Apartments program. With the second round underway and soon to be completed, the company undoubtedly hopes to achieve good results here too.
Allume Energy has also expanded its operations beyond our borders and has offices in the UK and USA. The company says it now provides shared solar energy to over 4,000 homes in five countries and three continents.
But there is also a huge potential market for Allume locally.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 2021 Census, there were 10,852,208 private dwellings counted – an increase of almost one million since 2016. Detached houses accounted for 70 percent of dwellings, apartments 16 percent and townhouses 13 percent.
“The share of housing continues to increase, with apartments accounting for almost a third (30.9 percent) of the increase in private housing since 2016,” ABS said.
According to the FBI, more than 2.6 million people, or 10.3 percent of us, lived in apartments.
Comments are closed.