Agrisolar News #11
A HUGE welcome back to Agrisolar News!
We know – it’s been a minute!
After a long wait, we have some brilliant news for our partners and supporters.
Our Bid has been deemed successful in moving forward to Stage 2 of the CRC process!
We received news of this outcome on August 29, and are now delighted to send this onto all of you. We would like to thank Senator the Hon. Tim Ayres, Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science, who has determined which applications are progressing to Stage 2. The full list of successful Stage 1 applications will be updated on business.gov.au shortly.
Our progression to Stage 2 is a testament to the strength of our submission for Stage 1 which, in turn, reflects the strength of our partnerships and clear vision to move forward and establish Agrisolar as a home-grown Aussie sector.
We would also like to thank the CRC Advisory Committee for the time they have taken in engaging with our application.
What’s next for Stage 2?
Our working group, led by Prof. Ben Smith, WSU, is meeting imminently to discuss our next steps. Our Stage 2 application is due on 5:00pm (AEDT) on Thursday, 9 October 2025 SO, the countdown is on! Prof. Smith will shortly be in touch with Bid partners directly, to discuss input required.
Stage 2 includes completing:
The Impact Tool
CRC Budget and Milestones Spreadsheet
Signed Partner Declarations for all additional partners listed in the Stage 2 application or where partner contributions have changed since Stage 1. (This means that if you are a still considering signing with our bid, there IS STILL TIME. Please reach out to Ben as soon as possible, if you wish to formalise your partnership.)
Stage 2 Interview
Our exciting Team Addition!
Our team has been joined by a wonderful new Project Officer, Christine Hosking who will be here to support the engine room to keep running. Partners: please ensure you keep an eye out for any correspondence for Christine at this address: Christine.Hosking@westernsydney.edu.au.
Before we sign off:
A special hello to Farmers for Climate Action and all those attending the Farming Forever National Summit 2025 in Canberra. The summit is now sold out, but we wish a meaningful and impact-driven two days to all our partners heading to the summit, and hope you’ll be meeting in person to celebrate our happy Agrisolar news while you are there!
The Agrisolar CRC Bid Team