Australian solar innovator 5B has snagged a high profile new CEO, with David Griffin – the co-founder and former chief of Sun Cable, the originator of the world’s largest solar and battery project proposal – taking up the role.
5B, whose highly successful prefabricated and rapid-deploy 5B Maverick PV solution was tapped by Sun Cable as the preferred technology partner for its 20GW solar plans, announced Griffin as the “right leader at the right time” for the New South Wales-based company.
“There is no better person than David to lead 5B through this time of transformation,” said 5B’s co-founder and out-going CEO Chris McGrath in a statement on Thursday.
“He is a veteran of the renewable energy industry in Australia and around the world, with in-depth working knowledge of the complexity of the clean energy transition.”
Griffin, who is a long-time member of 5B’s board and became a seed investor in 2015, is best known in Australia as the founding CEO of Sun Cable and co-originator of its plans to develop the world’s biggest solar and battery storage project.
Sun Cable’s original vision was to run a 4,200km sub-sea cable to Singapore, supplying that country with Australian solar generated by a 20GW project in the Northern Territory, backed by up to 42GWh of battery storage.
These plans came under the microscope when Sun Cable was placed in administration earlier this year following a dispute between the two main original financial backers – Grok Ventures, the investment vehicle of billionaire Mike Cannon-Brooks, and the private interests of fellow billionaire Andrew Forrest.
The dispute ended with a newly formed consortium comprising Grok and Australian-based renewables giant Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners taking control of Sun Cable and effectively splitting its flagship $30 billion project in two.
Quinbrook has taken charge of the domestic solar and storage component of Sun Cable, using its expertise in large scale renewables developments to secure supplies, customers and co-investors.
The change in ownership of Sun Cable also reported led to “dozens” of staff being shed from the company, managed by the administrator FTI Consulting.
Among the redundancies were Sun Cable’s three founders – Griffin, Mac Thompson and Fraser Thompson – who were said to have stepped aside from executive roles, with Griffin’s role described as “special advisor.”
5B, which first unveiled its “game-changing” Maverick solar technology in July of 2017, had initially envisaged targeting Australia’s booming commercial market, including remote and off-grid industrial applications.
But the company soon showed that its pre-fabricated, modular plug-and-play solar technology was well suited to grid-scale projects – and even mega projects. In 2019, 5B’s Maverick solution was tapped by Griffin as the “simplest and lowest risk” way to realise the solar component of the huge project.
“We developed the Maverick solution precisely to allow solar deployment that is simpler, faster and smarter and by doing so, opening new opportunities for solar,” said McGrath at the time.
“Our solution streamlines engineering, procurement and construction and transfers cost, time and risk from the construction site to our factory.
“The fact that our Maverick solution is now driving a cost of solar energy so competitive that Australia can export that energy from the Outback to Singapore, is tremendously exciting and marks a significant tipping point for the energy market.”
Sun Cable aside, 5B has been very busy, including with a number of significant solar projects deployed to power off-grid mines in remote outback locations.
Last week the company marked the installation of 342 5B Mavericks at Liontown Resources Limited Kathleen Valley solar farm. The project, developed by Zenith Energy, will take the mine to 60% renewables with a combination of 30MW of wind, 16MW of solar and a 17MW battery system.
And in April, 5B started construction of its Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Line (AMPL), a high-volume, scalable, and mostly automated manufacturing, assembly, and deployment process line for its Maverick technology.
Once operational, 5B expects the AMPL will be capable of producing a 50-70kW solar array every 30 minutes with minimal labour.
“The opportunity ahead for 5B is vast,” said Griffin on Thursday.
“We will concentrate on profitable segments in our home market and abroad, where our customers have a deep understanding of the unique benefits of 5B’s Maverick technology and related services, and servicing our strategic partners.
“5B is truly revolutionising the renewable energy sector with its 5B Maverick prefabricated solar array technology and I couldn’t be more honoured to have been chosen to lead the company.”
