Tony Vassallo- Energy

Sustainable Energy Development

Professor Vassallo’s research spans sustainable and distributed energy technologies, including how energy storage can lead to greater use of renewable energy systems. He believes widespread use of energy storage will transform the way we produce, deliver and use electricity, and be the key technology linking transport with renewable energy systems. Vassallo’s research includes the use of supercapacitors in high power/low energy applications such as electric vehicles, the use of regenerative fuel cells in domestic, commercial and precinct electricity storage, and the role of distributed storage in electricity networks.

One focus is on developing energy storage solutions to facilitate the widespread uptake of renewable energy sources, such as large and medium-scale photovoltaic (PV) technology. These, and other renewable energy systems, will play a significant role in reducing Australia’s dependence on fossil fuels, but without integrated energy storage, their impact will be constrained.

With long-life, efficient energy storage, renewable energy systems will be capable of providing continuous, reliable power beyond sunlight hours. For example, efficient storage would allow PV technology to meet typical late evening and night-time electricity demand. The electricity grid of the future will be based on distributed and diverse technologies, incorporating large, medium and micro scale stationary and mobile energy systems. Energy storage and the associated technology to use it as both a source of energy supply and as a load will be a key challenge for our network operators.

Vassallo’s research has been recognised with the CSIRO Medal for Research Achievement as joint team leader of the High Power Supercapacitor Team in 2004. In 2000 he received the CSIRO Chairman’s Medal for the Low Emissions Vehicle Team (joint award). He is also a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.