Australian clean energy company, Endua, has secured $11.8 million in funding as it prepares to scale new hydrogen generation and storage technologies that can deliver affordable and reliable renewable energy to power communities, remote industries and off-grid infrastructure.
Contributing a combined $7.5 million in pre-series funding, among the new investors supporting Endua’s vision and commercialisation are Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC), Melt Ventures and 77 Partners. Other returning strategic co-investors include the deep tech fund founded by CSIRO, Main Sequence; and the country’s largest transport energy provider, Ampol.
Endua notes that he pre-series capital is in addition to the $4.3 million in grants Endua has received, including the Entrepreneurs’ Programme Accelerating Commercialisation Grant and the Cooperative Research Centres Project (CRC-P) provided by AusIndustry, as well as the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre Grant (AMGC) provided by the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre Ltd.
“Clean hydrogen will play a crucial role in our transition to renewable energy, but only with the right technology and business models to make it cost-effective. Our solution will allow off-grid industries like agriculture, water and energy utilities and remote infrastructure to run sustainable power any time of day, regional communities to become self-sufficient, and businesses to have more options to source the power they need,” says Paul Sernia, CEO and Founder of Endua.
Sernia says Endua is focused on the microgrid and standalone power markets, particularly where off-grid diesel power is widely used. Its versatile technology will make it possible for regional communities, towns and industries like farming and agriculture, telecommunications infrastructure, energy distributors and remote infrastructure to become self-sustaining.
“The global transition to modern energy sources presents new and difficult challenges. There are places and situations where renewable sources can’t be relied on all of the time. To truly achieve emissions reduction ambitions, we need power that is renewable and available at any time. We’ll use our latest investment to turbocharge Endua’s role in providing a solution that tackles multi-day energy resilience, especially for industries like communications, water and energy services, agriculture and farming, and resources which have huge opportunities for emissions reduction,” adds Sernia.
The Brisbane-based Endua launched in 2021 having developed a new approach to storing renewable energy, with its modular hydrogen power banks that can drive power loads of up to 100kW in a single module — enough to power a water pump, farm shed or standalone telecom infrastructure. This renewable energy is stored as hydrogen and then converted back to electricity by fuel cells, while the modularity allows for solutions to be scaled according to on-site needs.
Matthew Halliday, Ampol Managing Director says: “Ampol’s work with Endua is part of our broader strategy to build new energy solutions that can support our customers with energy transition. Endua’s technology lays the foundation for off-grid and diesel energy users to meet decarbonisation commitments and become self-sustaining. We look forward to working with customers as the technology is scaled to further explore applications across our economy,” says
Melt Ventures, Trent Bagnall, Managing Partner says: “Endua’s unique technology has enormous potential to support the uptake and transition to clean energy. The energy transition for power generation, remote industries and off-grid infrastructure is a huge challenge and one that requires us to rethink the way we capture and store energy. The adoption of Endua will be critical to plug this gap.”
CSIRO, Sarb Giddey, Group Leader (Thermal and Electrochemical Technologies Group) says: “Our collaboration with Endua, and the hydrogen technology we have devised, can lead to a major reduction in the cost of hydrogen-powered energy storage and delivery. Taking a green hydrogen approach offers the flexibility to scale the electrolyser, storage and fuel cell independently in order to store energy in larger quantities for longer periods of time cost-effectively.”
Main Sequence, Martin Duursma, Partner says: “In the race towards net zero, creating a decarbonised power generation market requires new energy solutions with long-duration storage. Endua is at the forefront of renewable energy innovation, having identified innovative electrolyser technology from Australian research, the company has embarked on its mission to build products that deliver multi-day energy storage solving one of the critical challenges that intermittent renewables bring. We’re excited about the potential of Endua and its ambitious plans to drive affordable and reliable renewable energy.”
Brent Watts, 77 Partners, Founder and Managing Partner says: “Endua’s technology is the key to unlocking the potential of renewable energy with smart hydrogen generation and storage. Enabling affordable and reliable green power supply on-site supports a myriad of industries to decarbonise, from remote infrastructure to critical services, including construction, agriculture, resources, telecommunications and urban utilities. As an investor in high-growth ventures, we look for founders and frontier technologies that can scale to markets around the world to create sustainable value for all, and Endua is uniquely positioned to do just that as it ushers in a new era in green energy supply.”
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