Brisbane-based startup Planet Ark Power has been recognised as the leading global energy transition pioneer by winning at the Startup Energy Transition (SET) Awards 2019. 

The awards, a part of the 5th Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue, were hosted by the German Energy Agency (dena) in cooperation with the World Energy Council. 

Planet Ark Power won the category of ‘Intelligent Grids, Platforms and Cyber Security’. Their pitch on their innovative grid-transforming solution received the unanimous support from the jury of global energy and climate change experts. 

Richard Romanowski, Executive Director, Planet Ark Power described the award as a milestone for Planet Ark Power. “To be recognised as pioneers and have the global energy transition community validate our solution at the SET Awards inspires us to continue innovating and contributing to this dialogue,” he said. 

Planet Ark Power’s Executive Director Richard Romanowski pitch to the global energy transition forum at Startup Energy Transition Awards 2019 received unanimous support. Source: Planet Ark Power

A relatively new player, Planet Ark Power was formed in 2017, when Planet Ark, one of Australia’s leading environmental not-for-profit organisations, partnered with GoZERO Energy.  Since then, Planet Ark Power has been committed to overcoming the barriers Australia is facing in transitioning from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy sources. 

New, de-centralised energy generation sources like rooftop solar cause voltage disruption issues to the electricity grid. These issues are solved by Planet Ark Power’s power management technologies, which utilise artificial intelligence, enabling thirteen times more clean energy to flow onto the electricity grid at no cost to either the grid or end-consumer. 

This paves the way for large-scale adoption of solar in the commercial and industrial context, enabling the creation of virtual power plants and facilitating future peer-to-peer trading – democratising the electricity grid overall. 

The grid-transforming device was conceptualised by Planet Ark Power’s team of multidisciplinary engineers who specialise in network and transformer design, computer intelligence, microgrid distribution design, data simulation, and more. 

“Australia is the first in the world to experience large-scale voltage disruption due to rooftop solar, with the rest of the world to follow as rooftop solar becomes more popular. Planet Ark Power’s engineers had the foresight and acumen to pre-empt and solve a global challenge,” said Romanowski. 

As winners from 15 finalists, Planet Ark Power takes home €10,000.00 (c. $AU16,000) which will add to the startup’s research and development initiatives, as they look to expand both their technology as well as their business. Within the next few years, they hope to be a publicly listed enterprise and will start building a pool of investors throughout 2019. 

In September 2019, Planet Ark Power will exhibit their game-changing technology alongside other innovators committed to a clean energy future at the 24th World Energy Congress hosted by the World Energy Council in Abu Dhabi as a #SET100 Startup.

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