Australia’s green investment scheme faces obstacles

Govt’s plan to support local manufacturers risks long-term dependency on subsidies

- Jonathan Pearlman

At a production plant in southern Sydney, a start-up technology company is working on a new type of solar panel that it hopes will one day generate electricity around the world.

Unlike standard solar cells, which use silver, the company - SunDrive Solar has produced cells that use copper, which is cheaper and more abundant than silver.

The company's innovation, which emerged from a PhD research project at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), has led to it producing some of the world's most efficient solar cells.

But achieving global success will depend on overcoming some looming hurdles: The company must deal with Australia's relatively high manufacturing and labour costs, and will also need to compete with established solar industry giants in China and elsewhere.

"We want to go big," SunDrive's chief commercial officer Maia Schweizer told The Straits Times.

"But manufacturing here is expensive. And we are competing with China, which dominates solar manufacturing. They are really good at it." To support new green technology such as SunDrive's solar cells, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on May 14 unveiled details in the annual budget of a 10-year, A$22.7 billion (S$20.3 billion) scheme, dubbed Future Made in Australia.

It seeks to provide support to local manufacturers, particularly in the renewable energy sector.