HUNTER firm Ampcontrol has long had a reputation for innovation. In recent years, with backing from Australian investment company Washington H. Soul Pattinson, Ampcontrol has kept up that reputation, which is now coupled with the financial heft of one the country's stock exchange success stories.
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At Ampcontrol's Tomago operation yesterday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was taken on a guided tour of a handful of its recent innovations, which it carries on beside its trademark transformers and other high-voltage electrical equipment.
One of the shipping container style projects on display yesterday was the self-powered water purification unit known as "Gilghi" - a joint venture with engineering advisory group Aurecon.
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Equipped with solar panels, diesel backup and battery storage, Gilghi can process up to 250,000 litres a day of otherwise undrinkable bore water, and has run at Gillen Bore, a hamlet near Alice Springs, for two years.
Gilghi was recently recognised by Fortune magazine in its "Change the World" list for this year.
Ampcontrol is also proud of its Solar Cube, a standalone power system developed with WA utility Horizon Power that fits inside a shipping container for easy transport and can be ready to provide power within 45 minutes of set-up.
An Ampcontrol spokesperson said yesterday that the Solar Cube was already replacing "poles and wires" in isolated and bushfire prone parts of Western Australia.
But it was the "hydrogen energy storage system" (HESS) battery, developed in a joint-venture with green energy company Lavo, that probably drew the most interest yesterday. (Lavo is named after Antoine Lavoisier the scientist who named hydrogen.)
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Ampcontrol says the solar-powered "hybrid" system has a fuel cell to extract hydrogen from water, which can then be stored for use, and a battery for electricity storage. Boundary Power - a joint venture between Tomago and Horizon Power - is also involved.
Think tank Beyond Zero Emissions yesterday welcomed federal funding of the Port of Newcastle's hydrogen hub feasibility study as a "welcome first step".
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Ian Kirkwood
Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.
Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.
