The Federal Government, through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), is committing up to $10 million to help Australian companies monitor and manage their operations through a new Internet of Things (IoT) network focused on cutting energy use.
One company that will benefit from the CEFC commitment is Australian company Thinxtra.
The CEFC commitment will help Thinxtra scale up its Sigfox Low Powered Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology, as part of a global network connecting countless devices to the internet while using as little energy as possible.
LPWAN technology is cheaper, produces less emissions and provides longer battery life for devices which only need to transmit small amounts of data and require intermittent internet connectivity.
The technology provides businesses with a low-cost solution to track and monitor equipment such as large volumes of pallets, waste containers, gas canisters, farm gates and livestock.
Thinxtra is aiming to connect 17 million objects by 2022 and is on track to provide a network that covers 95 per cent of Australia’s population by the end of 2017.
More than 150 Australian business have already started using Thinxtra’s IoT network.
The IoT refers to a network of electronic devices, for example smart water meters, which connect via the internet to collect and exchange data. This technology can replace the large amounts of time and energy currently used to physically monitor and manage such devices which can often be spread over a wide area.
The CEFC investment is being made through the Clean Energy Innovation Fund which is operated by the CEFC in conjunction with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to drive innovation in clean energy technologies.
