In a rare piece of positive news for the cleantech investment market in Australia, K2 Energy has managed to complete its targeted $3.9 million rights issue after placing the $1.9 million shortfall with private investors. The success was unexpected, as Foster Stockbroking had only sought to place $1 million of the shortfall.
Among those to buy into the stock was Asia Union Investments, a vehicle owned by Chris Abbott, from the fund managers Maple-Brown Abbott, who picked up $700,000 of the shortfall and now holds a 6.7 per cent stake in the company, while K2 chairman Sam Gazal picked up an extra $100,000 worth, after subscribing to a similar amount in the rights issue. Trevor Kennedy had also taken up stock in the rights issue.
K2 has secured the global rights to technology developed by photonics expert Robert Mears, who believes he has found a way that could increase the optical absorption of silicon, potentially leading to an 80 per cent cut in the amount of silicon needed in solar cells, and thus significant reduction in costs for solar PV. Crucial testing is expected to take place later this year.
Mixed bag for Australian companies
Australian companies got mixed results in the latest edition of the Carbon Disclosure Project, a report card prepared by institutional investors with more than $64 trillion of assets under management on how boards are preparing their companies for measuring and dealing with carbon exposures. Australia’s banks performed well, all getting an “A”, with NAB ranking the best – and ninth overall – with a score of 93 out of 100, and ANZ, CBA and Westpac following closely behind. News Corp also got an “A”.
The big miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto only managed a “B” rating, as did Wesfarmers and Westfied, while CSL and Telstra both scraped in with a “C” ranking and scores of 71 and 72 respectively. Woodside did not meet the threshold to receive a score. The project found 85 per cent of leading companies now assigned climate policy to senior executives and board members, but Australian companies lagged the rest of the world in emissions reduction targets, with only 40 per cent of the ASX200 including them, compared to 70 per cent of the global 50.
All the cars in China
EDay Life has announced plans to become the first company to import and distribute battery-powered electric vehicles from China into the Australian market at volume. The Australian-owned company – headed up by Dr Laurence Sparke, ex-head of Innovation at GMH – says it plans to launch a range of city vehicles under its EDay brand, including one with a potential range of up to 160 kilometres on a single overnight charge.
EDay says it has a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese EV-maker and is in the process of identifying the technical changes necessary to meet Australian design rules. The cars will be made available through the company's own outlets and online, and plans to lease both the cars and the charging equipment and manage the life of the vehicle "right through to its eventual recycling." At the end of an initial two-year lease period, the cars will be reconditioned and upgraded to meet latest technological standards and then leased again.
‘‘We believe people would like to see clean, green cars available on payment terms similar to a mobile phone plan; effectively a two-year lease rental eliminates the resale risk with affordable monthly or weekly repayments," said EDay managing director Robert Lane. "The electric car and bike market is much more advanced in China than Australia, so it makes sense to take advantage of that development and to commence importation in significant volume’’.
As for funding, EDay is short listed to provide the Victorian state government's $5 million, five-year EV trial with cars. It is also raising up to $5 million through the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board (ASSOB) to acquire the starting inventory of EVs for certification and to launch the EDay brand in Australia. The company is also developing Home Power Manager technology, that uses solar panels to provide green energy and the car battery to store energy. It purchases energy from the grid off-peak, sells it back at peak times, and manages home energy to minimise usage and cost.
In a League of their own
Rooty Hill RSL, the largest club of its kind in Australia, is forging its own path on energy saving technology, with the unveiling today of its completed installation of a tri-generation power plant – a first for any Australian venue. "The government has backflipped on the emissions trading scheme, made no firm commitments on carbon emissions reduction and are yet to achieve a carbon price," said Rooty Hill RSL CEO Richard Errington.
“The reality is that climate change is a serious issue and action needs to be taken to reduce carbon emissions, support clean energy and minimise pollution levels. Rooty Hill RSL is taking the future-proofing step of managing its own growing power requirements in the greenest, most efficient way possible. Where are the Australian government’s priorities and why after all this time hasn’t decisive action been taken to address this issue?”
In a rare piece of positive news for the cleantech investment market in Australia, K2 Energy has managed to complete its targeted $3.9 million rights issue after placing the $1.9 million shortfall with private investors. The success was unexpected, as Foster Stockbroking had only sought to place $1 million of the shortfall.
Among those to buy into the stock was Asia Union Investments, a vehicle owned by Chris Abbott, from the fund managers Maple-Brown Abbott, who picked up $700,000 of the shortfall and now holds a 6.7 per cent stake in the company, while K2 chairman Sam Gazal picked up an extra $100,000 worth, after subscribing to a similar amount in the rights issue. Trevor Kennedy had also taken up stock in the rights issue.
K2 has secured the global rights to technology developed by photonics expert Robert Mears, who believes he has found a way that could increase the optical absorption of silicon, potentially leading to an 80 per cent cut in the amount of silicon needed in solar cells, and thus significant reduction in costs for solar PV. Crucial testing is expected to take place later this year.
Mixed bag for Australian companies
Australian companies got mixed results in the latest edition of the Carbon Disclosure Project, a report card prepared by institutional investors with more than $64 trillion of assets under management on how boards are preparing their companies for measuring and dealing with carbon exposures. Australia’s banks performed well, all getting an “A”, with NAB ranking the best – and ninth overall – with a score of 93 out of 100, and ANZ, CBA and Westpac following closely behind. News Corp also got an “A”.
The big miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto only managed a “B” rating, as did Wesfarmers and Westfied, while CSL and Telstra both scraped in with a “C” ranking and scores of 71 and 72 respectively. Woodside did not meet the threshold to receive a score. The project found 85 per cent of leading companies now assigned climate policy to senior executives and board members, but Australian companies lagged the rest of the world in emissions reduction targets, with only 40 per cent of the ASX200 including them, compared to 70 per cent of the global 50.
All the cars in China
EDay Life has announced plans to become the first company to import and distribute battery-powered electric vehicles from China into the Australian market at volume. The Australian-owned company – headed up by Dr Laurence Sparke, ex-head of Innovation at GMH – says it plans to launch a range of city vehicles under its EDay brand, including one with a potential range of up to 160 kilometres on a single overnight charge.
EDay says it has a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese EV-maker and is in the process of identifying the technical changes necessary to meet Australian design rules. The cars will be made available through the company's own outlets and online, and plans to lease both the cars and the charging equipment and manage the life of the vehicle "right through to its eventual recycling." At the end of an initial two-year lease period, the cars will be reconditioned and upgraded to meet latest technological standards and then leased again.
‘‘We believe people would like to see clean, green cars available on payment terms similar to a mobile phone plan; effectively a two-year lease rental eliminates the resale risk with affordable monthly or weekly repayments," said EDay managing director Robert Lane. "The electric car and bike market is much more advanced in China than Australia, so it makes sense to take advantage of that development and to commence importation in significant volume’’.
As for funding, EDay is short listed to provide the Victorian state government's $5 million, five-year EV trial with cars. It is also raising up to $5 million through the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board (ASSOB) to acquire the starting inventory of EVs for certification and to launch the EDay brand in Australia. The company is also developing Home Power Manager technology, that uses solar panels to provide green energy and the car battery to store energy. It purchases energy from the grid off-peak, sells it back at peak times, and manages home energy to minimise usage and cost.
In a League of their own
Rooty Hill RSL, the largest club of its kind in Australia, is forging its own path on energy saving technology, with the unveiling today of its completed installation of a tri-generation power plant – a first for any Australian venue. "The government has backflipped on the emissions trading scheme, made no firm commitments on carbon emissions reduction and are yet to achieve a carbon price," said Rooty Hill RSL CEO Richard Errington.
“The reality is that climate change is a serious issue and action needs to be taken to reduce carbon emissions, support clean energy and minimise pollution levels. Rooty Hill RSL is taking the future-proofing step of managing its own growing power requirements in the greenest, most efficient way possible. Where are the Australian government’s priorities and why after all this time hasn’t decisive action been taken to address this issue?”
-- Giles Parkinson