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The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has put its weight behind a Townsville project led by Stellar PV with $4.7 million in funding to help onshore a vital component of solar panel manufacturing.
Sydney-registered Stellar PV is advancing a feasibility study for a 2 GW low-emissions facility at the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct in Townsville to produce high-purity mono-crystalline silicon ingots and wafers, which are key parts of the global production of solar panels.
"We're excited to be bringing solar manufacturing back to Australia where it all began," says Stellar PV principal Ted Szpitalak, a founding member of Professor Martin Green’s pioneering team in the 1980s that helped commercialise the solar cell technology that changed the world.
"Australia has the mineral resources so it makes sense to process them here rather than sending them offshore."
Today, Szpitalak is joined by a team of leading scientists and engineers at Stellar PV who continue to evolve the technology.
“We were there at the earliest stages of the solar technology revolution when it all began,” says Szpitalak. "And now we’re ready to bring it back home."
Szpitalak claims that more than just a factory, the project is "spark that will reignite Australia’s leadership in solar innovation", contribute jobs in the Australian economy and create a lasting impact on the global renewable energy landscape.
"Building this facility will support Australia's energy security, economic resilience and export potential," he says.
"We're processing critical minerals' and creating an alternative solar supply chain that embraces renewable energy production and the exceptional ESG standards that Australia can be proud of."
Stellar PV CEO Louise Hurll, who is a shareholder in the company alongside Szpitalak, says the facility will provide an alternative supply chain for both global and domestic solar markets.
"ARENA shares our commitment to creating a better future for people and the planet, and our partnership brings the right expertise and vision to make it a reality," Hurll says.
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