Partnership aimed to build renewable energy research and teaching facility
A step to support Australia’s low-carbon energy transition
Monash University, an Australian university has collaborated with Woodside Energy, an Australian petroleum exploration and production company, to develop a hi-tech “living laboratory”. The building is named as the Woodside Building for Technology and Design and is situated in the Monash Technology Precinct. Woodside Energy will contribute $16.5 million for the construction of the building. This long-term research partnership is about supporting Australia’s low-carbon energy transition.
Teaching and energy research building
The Woodside Building for Technology & Design and Woodside Monash Energy Partnership will build on the foundation FutureLab collaboration, established by Woodside at Monash in 2015. The building will be one of the world’s most efficient and innovative teaching facilities after its construction, which is due for completion in early 2020. Through this partnership, Monash and Woodside will explore the possibilities of hydrogen and carbon abatement, with a focus on materials, electrochemical and thermal chemical research. Moreover, over the next seven years, both Woodside and Monash will invest more than $40 million into the ongoing research partnership.
Professor Margaret Gardner, Monash University President and Vice-Chancellor, stated, “With generous support from Woodside, we are excited to see the next iteration of FutureLab take shape. This will be a place where industry interacts with students, researchers, and academics to produce job-ready graduates and provide solutions to some of the biggest challenges in our future. In partnership, we are committed to leading the world with our research and study programs to achieve sustainable, positive change.”
Sustainable path to a lower-carbon economy
The goal of Woodside Monash Energy Partnership is about ensuring that future is achievable and sustainable for industry and for a resource-rich nation like Australia by maintaining a strong economy and the employment that goes with it.
Peter Coleman, Woodside CEO, stated, “Woodside and Monash share a commitment to developing innovative responses to real-world challenges and we recognize that finding a sustainable path to a lower-carbon economy is one of the biggest we face. This challenge can only be solved by companies like Woodside, which is applying disruptive data-driven technologies to our operations, working with the best and brightest minds at universities such as Monash.”
