​1414 Degrees has been successful in its application for a $2.2 million grant from the Australian Federal Government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI) to accelerate the commercialisation of its SiBox thermal energy storage technology.

The grant will be used to support the commercialisation of the SiBox technology through the construction, commissioning and testing of the circa 1 MWh SiBox demonstration module validation project which begins construction in 2022. It will also fund commercialisation activities including market research and technoeconomic evaluation of brown-field integration opportunities for SiBox.

The grant funding complements the agreements with Woodside Energy Technologies Pty Ltd for up to  $2m for the demonstration module, announced in October 2021.

Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said: “The Government is taking action to reduce Australia’s emissions and secure our economic future, and our investments will help our manufacturers be part of the solution. This funding will help some of our most innovative businesses unlock private investment, drive more opportunities in manufacturing as well as create new local jobs. While helping our businesses embrace new technology and scale up their production, this funding will also help to turn more of our waste into valuable products.”

 1414 Degrees Chief Executive Officer Matt Squire said: “This $2.2million Federal Government MMI grant is further recognition of the importance of long duration, thermal energy storage for any sustainable renewable energy transition. This was also an area of considerable focus in the recent COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow.The funding will provide us with further support for advancing the technical and commercial development of our SiBox Silicon based energy storage technology. We believe the SiBox is a robust, scalable and flexible design that will enable the use of affordable and abundant renewable energy for the delivery of clean, high temperature heat. This can then be used in a vast array of industrial applications that currently rely on fossil fuels. In addition, SiBox could be utilised by thermal power stations, minerals processors and renewable energy developers as they look to de-carbonise their future operations and design. We are delighted the potential of our SiBox design has been recognised with this grant and look forward to constructing our demonstration module next year. We believe that a successful commercial trial of SiBox could provide us with the opportunity to establish 1414 Degrees as a world-leading advanced manufacturer based locally in Australia.”