The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has embarked on a groundbreaking initiative with the launch of the $100 million Solar ScaleUp Challenge. This ambitious program aims to catalyse innovation and collaboration across the global solar industry, inviting participation from innovators, developers, engineers, financiers, and solar customers worldwide.

Announced in a news release, the Solar ScaleUp Challenge seeks to accelerate large-scale solar innovation and drive down costs in installation, operations, and maintenance. This initiative aligns closely with ARENA's Ultra Low-Cost Solar (ULCS) vision, crucial for reducing electricity costs and decarbonizing challenging sectors such as industry and transport.

"Ultra low-cost solar is critical for reducing electricity costs and decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors such as industry and transport," highlighted ARENA CEO Darren Miller. "It is also a key factor in Australia becoming a renewable energy superpower, playing a major role in supplying our key trading partners with low-emission products such as green iron and hydrogen."

In collaboration with Greenhouse Tech, ARENA aims to foster the formation of multidisciplinary teams and facilitate global collaboration. "Teaming up with Greenhouse Tech allows us to bring in more expertise to achieve the objectives of the Challenge," added Miller.

The Solar Lab initiative by ARENA has already brought together influential figures from the solar sector to outline strategies that will drive ULCS. Focus areas include innovation in solar farm installation, operations, and maintenance. Mark Rowland, Chief Collaboration Officer at Greenhouse, emphasized the importance of uniting stakeholders to swiftly scale innovative solutions.

"Bringing together all stakeholders involved in solar projects is key to solving these problems innovatively and quickly scaling the solutions," said Rowland.

ARENA has set ambitious targets to drive the solar sector forward. The agency aims to reduce the installed cost of solar projects to 30 cents per watt and achieve a levelised cost of electricity below $20 per megawatt hour by 2030. These goals are part of a broader strategy to unlock a total installed capacity of 1 terawatt by 2050.

Participation in the Solar ScaleUp Challenge is open to anyone involved in solar farm construction and operation, welcoming ideas aimed at reducing the cost of large-scale solar installation or improving operation and maintenance efficiency.

The Solar ScaleUp Challenge complements ARENA's existing $1 billion Solar Sunshot Program, which focuses on expanding Australia's solar photovoltaic manufacturing capabilities and commercializing local innovations.

The Challenge is set to run for eight weeks, inviting global innovators to contribute their expertise and ideas towards advancing the solar industry's capabilities and sustainability goals.