The global energy crisis has hit, and the world is faced with the dilemma of how we solve it.

The NSW State Government is making moves to explore what energy in the future can look like. They announced an investment in clean manufacturing precinct projects launching both in the Hunter where Ampcontrol Head Office is based, and in the Illawarra.

“Part of Net Zero Industry and Innovation Program’s Low Carbon Foundations, the first stage will help regions identity and develop decarbonisation plans that recognise their unique economies and business communities.”

Full media release from the NSW Department of Planning and Environment can be found here.

The Next Five to 10 Years

There is talk around a future state. Hydrogen. Net Zero. Carbon Neutral. Carbon Free. All lofty and necessary aspirations, but what happens before we can get from here to there?

Rod Henderson, Ampcontrol Managing Director & CEO was a guest speaker at the inaugural Hunter Hydrogen & Energy Symposium, hosted by NewH2, 20 to 22 February 2023 in Newcastle, NSW.

“There is a world of opportunity in the next five to 10 years to fill the gaps. We cannot forget about the interim. There is work to be done in the in between,” says Rod.

The Hunter Region: Energy Manufacturing Powerhouse

At Ampcontrol, we are supporting the national energy and low carbon economy transition, positioning the Hunter Region as an energy manufacturing powerhouse.

We believe this will come out of collaboration from across the region. Ampcontrol thrives on collaboration. Within the Hunter, we’re involved with Hunter Innovation Foundation, HunterNet, Committee For The Hunter, Beyond Zero Emissions, Business NSW, Business Hunter, and NewH2 to name a few.

“There is so much potential and so much happening within the Hunter region in the renewable energy space. Some of our most innovative products within the renewable energy space have come about due to collaboration and partnership with other companies in the industry,” says Rod.

Beacon on the Hill

Within Ampcontrol, we refer to hydrogen as a ‘beacon on the hill’. It’s a future state, one we’re already making great in-roads into the development of commercial products to be applied across the industry.

“We believe very strongly as we get to that beacon in the hill of hydrogen, that new energy is what helps to get us there,” says Rod.

Beyond talking about it, Ampcontrol is well underway in the doing.

Already our dedicated people of Ampcontrol, alongside industry partnerships, have created solutions to these growing problems.

Solar Qube, a stand-alone power system (SAPS) created by Boundary Power, our joint-venture with West Australian utility Horizon Power, was born out of Horizon Power saying “there has to be a better way”.

Already we’ve deployed more than 60 units already installed, with more than 120km of powerlines removed. The market is ready for off-grid power suppliers to solve the growing energy crisis.

Steps to Electrification

In addition to stand-alone power systems, Ampcontrol has developed solutions for electrifying mine sites and reducing diesel emissions.

There’s the creation of DRITEX, a battery electric vehicle for use in underground mining applications, removing the use of diesel. Our battery, developed in partnership with Tritium, can be charged in only 10 minutes.

There are around 2000 underground diesel vehicles being using across Australia; what could the introduction of DRIFTEX mean for reducing diesel emissions?

We have teams of dedicated research and development engineers at ResTech, our joint venture with The University of Newcastle.

“How do we optimise existing infrastructure as we move to fully electrify mine sites?”

Ampcontrol is here to support our customers through this.

“One of the areas Ampcontrol identified as a need of the industry was assisting businesses with the next steps to get to the future state of electrified mining operations. When businesses think ‘I need energy’ to perform certain functions, the first instinct is often to acquire more energy. Our expertise at Ampcontrol is to help businesses use the materials they already have available, in a different way,” says Rod.

How Collaboration Gets Us There

We recognise the importance of partnerships and collaboration in developing technology solutions to enable a competitive advantage in a net-zero carbon environment.

“It is important to demonstrate we work alongside other businesses to contribute to the low carbon economy transition and to the responsible sourcing of prime materials to enable a competitive advantage in a net-zero carbon environment,” says Rod.

This means more manufacturing jobs kept within Australia, collaboration between Ampcontrol and other businesses within the industry who are all looking to achieve the same goal.

 

Ampcontrol and Boundary Power, our joint venture with West Australian utility Horizon Power, has successfully deployed the first onsite Solar Qube® in regional NSW.

This marks the first time an off-grid Stand-Alone Power System (SAPS), manufactured onsite by Ampcontrol, has been deployed on the Australian East Coast.

Solar Qube® is a self-sufficient renewable power generation unit that incorporates solar photovoltaic panels, inverters, battery storage technology and a backup generator.

The solution is fully workshop assembled, with all electrical testing and commissioning completed before the unit arrives at the deployment site.

The innovative solution is designed to withstand extreme Australian conditions and will provide the end user with the confidence of continuous, reliable renewable power throughout the year.

“To have Boundary Power’s very first Solar Qube® deployed into New South Wales, a market that is seeing significant growth, is exciting for the team who designed the product here in the Hunter Valley,” says Rod Henderson, Ampcontrol Managing Director & CEO.

“We look forward to seeing the increase in demand from the east coast as they follow in Western Australia’s footsteps and embrace off-grid renewable SAPS to deliver energy into remote communities.”

The award-winning Solar Qube® was recently featured on Channel 10’s innovation showcasing series, Australia ByDesign where Ampcontrol Chief Technology Officer, Tim Wylie and Project Manager Jessica Irvine-Brown showcased the under 90-minute deployment ability of Solar Qube®. You can watch the episode here.

Download Media Release

The energy transition is here and it’s not going away. With businesses built around fossil fuels and high-emission sources of energy, the thought of transition is overwhelming. Especially when you consider what it takes to get from here to there. But change doesn’t have to happen all at once. It can be as simple as a single step.

Take an idea that seems crazy and break it down into a bite-size chunk.

What would it look like if every business in Newcastle NSW opted into ‘Transformation Tuesday’, an idea from Dr Glenn Platt, Ampcontrol Non-Executive Director, Chairman of the Ampcontrol Innovation Steering Committee, and Executive Director – Strategy and Innovation at the Emergent Group.

Transformation Tuesday is where every business commits to an entire day each week where their business is carbon free, getting all their energy from renewable energy sources found here in the Hunter Region NSW.

It seems almost too big, but is it? With the right planning and restructuring of business activities, why couldn’t this concept be achievable? And once you’ve done it on a Tuesday and adapted your business to work within this change, it’s easier to do it on a Wednesday and then a Thursday.

Opportunity right here in the Hunter

Ampcontrol has been around for 54 years and our roots are steeped deep within the Hunter where we were founded by a crew of incredible engineers who saw the potential of this region to service all of Australia, and the world.

We could see as far back as 2007 that there would be a shift in energy sources, a little bit earlier than was achievable for traction. From 2014, we shifted our business strategy with our sights firmly set on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on the horizon.

Innovation is at the heart of Ampcontrol, in fact it’s one of our core values.

Take a look at the creation of DRIFTEX, the world’s first intrinsically safe vehicle Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) for use in the mining industry. It was developed in collaboration with our joint venture with the University of Newcastle, ResTech, where a team of dedicated R&D engineers worked together to create a solution for a problem.

It was born out of a conversation with a customer where we asked the simple question: what’s your biggest challenge in the next few years? The answer was a need to be greener and make the mine site safer for workers through reduced diesel emissions. Enter DRIFTEX.

DRIFTEX was recently on show in Wheeler Place, Newcastle as part of the Hunter Innovation Festival with both Ampcontrol and ResTech in attendance.

Do Something

There doesn’t need to be an all or nothing approach when it comes to innovation. Doing something is better than doing nothing and every small step taken makes innovation and change less daunting.

“The Hunter couldn’t be any better positioned for leading the energy transition. We have infrastructure to reutilise, we have a great university which is graduating incredibly gifted students. I’m sick to death of talking about what we could be doing—just do it. We won’t get bigger opportunities than we have right now,” says Rod Henderson, Managing Director & CEO of Ampcontrol.

The opportunity is here; and the transition isn’t happening in the future, it’s happening right here, right now. The only question left: what are you going to do?

Thanks to our partnership with Austmine, Ampcontrol has joined their trade mission to Canada this month to showcase the iMAC monitoring and control system which recently received Canadian Standards Approval (CSA).

Representing over 630 METS companies nationally, Austmine are Australia’s leading not for profit industry association for the Australian Mining Equipment, Technology and Services (METS) sector. Austmine provide opportunities to build relationships, understand industry needs, and boost industry profile.

Ampcontrol Strategic Sales Manager Stephen Sneddon is part of the Austmine delegation to Canada where he is speaking to miners and suppliers about our Canadian Standards Approved (CSA) iMAC monitoring and control system.

Achieving Canadian Standards Approval

Canadian Standards Approval is another achievement to add to iMAC’s growing list which includes a National Engineering Excellence Award won when it was first developed in 1998.

Having more than two decades of use within Australia, iMAC helps to meet the challenges of maintaining safety within a mine site, while maximising productivity on complex conveyor systems.

What sets Ampcontrol products apart is how they are tailored to meet the unique needs of each client. Our unique iMAC system is customised and includes features such as emergency stop, prestart warning, intercom, and broadcast messaging functionality.

Complex conveyor systems are easily controlled using the iMAC remote I/O modules, so high integrity E-stop can be undertaken even with multiple drive locations. The system is designed to minimise conveyor downtime and streamline work processes with advanced self-diagnostics assisting in maximising conveyor equipment availability.

iMAC is our first Canadian Standards Approved product. It will be used for the first time at a large Potash mine in Saskatchewan Canada with work commencing on this conveyor system in late 2022.