SECTOR: CLEAN ECONOMY
Breakthrough Victoria is investing $20 million in Victorian company RayGen Resources to enable the State’s transition towards clean sources of energy.
Breakthrough Victoria’s investment in RayGen supports home grown innovation and will help the technology expand into more markets. The investment is another example of BV helping to commercialise Victorian IP, enabling RayGen to continue growing and expanding while remaining in their home state.
THE INVESTMENT
Type: Growth |
Stage: Series D |
Investment vehicle: Preference shares |
BV investment: $20,000,000 |
WHO ARE RAYGEN RESOURCES?
RayGen was founded in 2010 by John Lasich. At that time, the company consisted of three people and one big idea: to develop the world’s lowest-cost, highest-efficiency solar technology. By focusing sunlight onto a small area, RayGen’s approach to solar captures almost all of the sun’s energy as electricity (via high-efficiency solar cells) and heat (via water used to actively cool the solar cells).
By 2019, the market needed bulk storage that could soak up low-value, excess renewable energy. Work began on integrating RayGen’s photovoltaic technology with an electro-thermal energy storage solution that would cater to customers day and night.
THE PROBLEM
Energy storage is a crucial enabler of the energy transition, coupled with significant increases in intermittent renewable generation. International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that an over 100x increase in storage capacity is required by 2050 to facilitate the required levels of power. Victorian government has a target of 95% renewable power by 2035 and at least 6.3GW of energy storage by 2035.
THE SOLUTION
RayGen’s innovative solar PV and thermal water-based energy storage solution is crucial to supporting the increasing penetration of intermittent renewable energy and the removal of fossil fuels-based energy. The Victorian company’s technology achieves 70 per cent round-trip efficiency, which is significantly higher than other electro-thermal storage technologies on the market.
RayGen uses proprietary photovoltaic solar modules that generate nearly 2,000 times more power than traditional photovoltaic systems under a concentrated beam of sunlight.
Combined with their thermal water-based storage system, which uses heat captured from water that is used to cool the modules, RayGen have developed a world leading high efficiency, low-cost long-duration energy storage solution.
RayGen’s solar technology has been operating at a test facility in Newbridge, Victoria, since 2015. Their flagship solar and storage project, which consists of 4 MW solar and 3 MW/50 MWh (17 hours) storage, is located in Carwarp, Mildura.
BENEFIT TO VICTORIA
Breakthrough Victoria’s investment in RayGen will create job opportunities, lead to cheaper energy costs for Victorian’s, and help the Victorian Government reach 95% renewables by 2035.
It will do this by providing cleaner, more affordable, and more reliable energy while also contributing to a sustainable future for generations to come.
In addition, RayGen’s technology is part of a long duration energy storage market that Global Management consulting firm McKinsey and Company forecasts to reach US$140-$280b p.a. by 2030.
As RayGen establishes a global footprint, it will continue being headquartered in Victoria in Hawthorn East.
Other benefits include:
Victorian jobs
- RayGen currently employees ~85 FTE, with the majority based in Victoria. It has plans to grow its workforce by 90 FTE.
Victorian manufacturing
- New 170MW manufacturing facility being commissioned in Hawthorn East. This line will employ 30 staff at full production. It replaced RayGen’s first 25MW manufacturing facility which was based in Nunawading.
- $12m investment in heliostat assembly line with Bosch Australia in Clayton.
- Potential 1GW manufacturing facility in planning.
Victorian renewables & storage
- Commissioned first solar and storage project in Carwarp, Mildura.
- Deployment of the first automated heliostat assembly line to be located in Carwarp, Victoria.
R&D collaboration
- Collaboration with Monash University’s Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication and Department of Materials. A seven-year collaboration which is focused on improving RayGen’s module manufacturing technology including encapsulants, metal fatigue and plasma treatment to enhance bonding.
- Currently evaluating the possibility of supporting an Industry PhD related to Solar cell encapsulation.
- CSIRO – a joint demonstration project characterising the key elements of a ‘Solar to Hydrogen’ system which has the potential to double the efficiency of producing hydrogen from sunlight.