Deakin Vice-Chancellor Professor Iain Martin was joined by Dr Alan Finkel AO, Special Adviser to the Federal Government on Low Emissions Technology, to turn the key on the industrial-scale Microgrid, the largest solar farm ever built on an Australian university campus. Professor Martin delivered an impassioned address, using American President John F Kennedy's Rice University speech in 1962 as an inspiration, likening NASA's Apollo program to the scale of ambition required to achieve global carbon neutrality. For further information see the IDTechEx report on Energy Harvesting Microwatt to Gigawatt: Opportunities 2020-2040.
"Australia is in a strong position to benefit from moving rapidly in this endeavour, and at Deakin, we believe we have a duty to use our capabilities and assets to demonstrate both ambition and leadership on the issue of renewables," Professor Martin said.