LAVO’s hydrogen batteries are leading the renewable energy transition

The company is unlocking the full potential of renewables with support from the Research and Development Tax Incentive.

20 June 2024

Case study

4 min read

LAVO is a company making hydrogen batteries to support a renewable energy future.

Working with researchers from the University of New South Wales, LAVO has been developing its hydrogen energy storage technology for over a decade.

Long-term renewable energy storage is important for the times the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing.

LAVO’s long-term batteries can support a more secure energy system and help Australia meet our net zero emission targets. Products like LAVO’s batteries benefit the environment while also having a positive impact for the Australian economy.

Show transcript

Jacques Markgraaff, Chief Operating Officer, LAVO:
Without the R&DTI assistance, LAVO would have taken a lot longer to achieve some of the incredible groundbreaking milestones that we have as a business. Name is Jacques Markgraaff, I’m the chief operating officer for a company called LAVO here in Sydney.

LAVO has developed a pioneering storage and digital solutions to help unlock the full potential of renewables. As you know, renewable energy is variable in nature, so what do we do when the wind's not blowing or the sun's not shining?

We need to be able to dispatch energy when and where it's needed, not when and where it's generated. And this is where storage becomes really critical to help unlock that full potential. LAVO’s proprietary technology developed with UNSW over ten years ago helps us really start to stretch a much more flexible envelope of storage beyond just a few hours into days, weeks and months at a time.

The program has been absolutely instrumental in helping us accelerate our production and our commercialisation of this technology into the real world.

Having come from the big end of town myself, I can attest to the fact that in larger established organisations there tends to be a real risk aversion, certainly in Australia, to take risk and to venture out into new territories, either as new products, new markets, new capabilities, etcetera.

What this program offers, I believe, is a de-risked opportunity to start to play around with some of those innovations that may otherwise not have seen the light of day.

Collaboration for us is absolutely critical to unlocking the full potential of renewables and the development of the products that we're bringing to market. Using a research service provider is absolutely fundamental to help bridge the gap and actually develop innovation in a faster manner for both established and emerging businesses.

And in Australian particular, we do need to improve the way in which we translate early-stage technology into later stage commercial solution. And so, the RSP is absolutely fundamental to that and I’d encourage both established and emerging businesses to certainly leverage that to the extent possible.

Prof. John Fletcher, Energy Systems Research Group, UNSW:
The product we're developing with LAVO will have a huge impact environmentally because it's one of the first of its kind in hydrogen energy storage systems. So it's really blazing a trail for the use of hydrogen in decarbonising our society. My advice to an industry partner would be to definitely consider working with a research service provider, they can solve some of their technical challenges and deliver new technologies and innovations.

Jacques Markgraaff, Chief Operating Officer, LAVO:
Our technology helps to unlock the full potential of renewables, providing the sorts of solutions that are both technically feasible today and commercially viable and can make a real difference in the fight against climate change and the energy transition that is so fundamental to the future of our society.

The Research and Development Tax Incentive (R&DTI) gave LAVO the financial support it needed to reduce the risk of researching new ideas that may not have been viable without the incentive.

The R&DTI is the Australian Government’s main way of promoting industry investment in research and development (R&D).

The incentive aims to support innovation that creates economic and social benefits for all Australians by:

encouraging industry to conduct R&D that may not otherwise happen
offering a greater incentive for smaller firms to do R&D
helping companies access reliable research services.

Any Australian company can benefit from the R&DTI, with its program covering all industry sectors and business sizes.

R&D benefits the broader economy through ideas, skills and knowledge transfer. R&D plays an important role in Australia’s technological progress and economic growth.