About us

Key Energy

About Us

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We organise, operate and optimise turn-key 20+ year life Hybrid Energy Storage Systems in Australia.

A 100% Clean Energy Future

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The electricity and renewable energy industry is at an inflection point. Durable, reliable and cheap energy storage is the key to unlocking more renewable energy installation. But in the words of Bill Gates “It is incredibly hard to store energy”. Our vision is to unlock a 100% clean energy future – where our whole electricity grid is provided by renewable, emissions free energy. We’ll help achieve this by providing our range of smart energy storage solutions to support renewable energy projects and help them improve their return on investment.

History

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2018Founded in 2018.
2019Accepted into EnergyLab’s Pre-Acceleration Program.
Accepted into EnergyLab’s Acceleration Program.
2020Received NSW MVP grant.
Graduated from EnergyLab’s Acceleration Program.
Received City of Sydney Innovation Grant for Feasibility Studies.
2021The Armidale School (High School) – First Commercial On-grid Hybrid Mechanical Battery System, and first Australian multi-unit site commissioned
Received City of Sydney Environmental Innovation Grant Demonstration.
2022Received the competitive Accelerating Commercialisation Grant from the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources
APA Group – World-first Commercial Off-grid Long Duration Flywheel Project Commissioned
Sydney Test Site – World-first above ground long duration M32 flywheel
2023First Off-grid Residential Mechanical Battery System Commissioned
First On-grid Residential Mechanical Battery System Commissioned
Received the Australian Research Council Linkage Project Grant in collaboration with UTS
2024First Off-grid Eco-Accommodation Commissioned
Added Deye inverter brand to the supported inverter list
Coming Soon – Market Pricing and Arbitrage platform launch

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Meet the Team

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Howard Leong​​ – General Manager​

  • Certified Chartered Accountant (CA) with the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australian and New Zealand
  • Member of Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD)
  • Bachelor of Accounting & Finance (Distinction), University of NSW
More about Howard

Howard brings over 20 years experience in helping large organisations solve their most complex problems from strategy through to execution to Key Energy. He previously worked in PwC’s strategy consulting division, Strategy&, in the energy industry. He has helped large gen-tailers to form their strategy based on analysis of market trends and competitive strengths, with a particular focus on the energy storage market. Prior to that he attained and practised as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). He has previous experience in data analytics, blockchain product management, business case development, entrepreneurship, recruitment, team leadership, commercial acumen and more.

Eddie McDonald – Operations Manager

  • Certificate IV in Lean Manufacturing
  • Qualified book binding licence
  • 35+ years of manufacturing and operations experience
More about Eddie

With over 35 years of experience in the manufacturing industry in Australia, Eddie brings depth of operational expertise in lean manufacturing, corporate cost control and team management.

He has managed teams of 200 people to produce end to end products rapidly without compromising on quality while managing and communicating with staff and customers to achieve outstanding results.

Hayden Griffiths​​​ – Business Development Manager & Electrical Consultant

  • Star of Courage Award (2018)
  • Royal Humane Society of NSW Award (2017)
  • NSW Ambulance Commendation for Courage (2016)
More about Hayden

With over 10 years of experience in the electrical industry, Hayden specializes in energy solutions, business development, and team leadership. He has a strong background in solar and battery systems, along with experience in residential, commercial, and industrial electrical installations. In his last role, he served as both Business Development Manager and Sales Representative, leading a team and working directly with customers to provide solar and battery solutions.

Denver Shearer​​​ – Engineering Technologist

  • Master of Science in Engineering – Physics & Nanotechnology for Energy & Sustainability
  • Bachelor of Science – Physics, University of Leeds
More about Denver

Denver brings over 5 years working in the development of renewable energy technologies. He previously worked as an R&D engineer for Oxford Photovoltaics, helping them develop world-record breaking solar technologies. After moving to Australia, he has helped advise customers on ideal energy storage and renewable solutions to reduce their bills and improve their carbon footprint and power reliability with a focus on value for money solutions. 

Tor Wei Lim – Control Systems Engineer

  • Bachelor of Engineering – Mechatronic (Distinction), University of Technology Sydney
  • Bachelor of Science – Nanotechnology, University of Technology Sydney
More about Tor

Tor Wei began his career as an intern in Key Energy in early 2024 and now brings his growing experience in control system, communication networks and software programming to the team.

Pwint Shwe Yi (Hannah) Oo – Graduate Software Engineer

  • Bachelor of Computer Science and Data Science, The University of Sydney
More about Hannah

Hannah began her career as an intern at Key Energy in 2024 and works as a graduate developing cutting edge new innovations and maintaining existing projects and products with a variety of programming languages. Hannah also uses her machine learning knowledge and experience for exciting new developments at Key Energy.

Yuka Toshima – Graduate IT & Web Engineer

  • Master of Information Technology at King’s Own Institute
  • Higher Diploma of Information Technology at Coder Academy
More about Yuka

Yuka began her career as an intern with Key Energy in 2024 and now works as a graduate front-end engineer and UX designer in developing new user dashboards, interfaces and experiences, web design and maintaining websites and system uptime.

Recruit

Installers and Resellers

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Are you a solar / battery qualified installer? Do you care about the long term sustainable relationship with your customers and not just a transactional one-off sale?

Or maybe you are an energy advisor looking to get involved in unlocking a clean energy transition for you or your customers?

We are looking for like-minded installers and agents/resellers of our solution. Contact us today using the enquiry form and we will be in touch to discuss further.