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British financiers say NT indigenous renewable venture could lure $50 billion
By Latika Bourke and Miki Perkins
British financial services company Octopus Group will partner with Aboriginal communities in northern Australia on plans for renewable energy projects it says could attract investments of as much as A$50 billion over the next decade.
Octopus Group, which operates out of Melbourne as Octopus Australia, has announced a plan to invest £26 billion ($49.15 billion) over the next 10 years in Desert Springs Octopus, a company which it says will be majority Indigenous-owned and led.
Desert Springs Octopus ultimately plans to become a green hydrogen generator, exporting to landlocked Asian countries that can’t generate their own solar, wind or hydrogen power.
Any projects to fire up renewable energy in the Northern Territory would need to build up the grid across vast expanses of land. Credit: Istock
Octopus Australia managing director Sam Reynolds predicted investment would come from the UK as well as superannuation funds that already invest in Octopus Australia.
Octopus Australia employs 25 people and is based in Melbourne. It is part of the British-based Octopus Group which is a private company and does not disclose its value but manages a £12.4 billion portfolio for retail and institutional investors.
The Group’s subsidiary Octopus Energy is now the fifth biggest power supplier in the UK after taking on new customers following the collapse of smaller suppliers.
The British government heralded the partnership as another example of collaboration between Australia and Britain to diversify the world’s energy supply, which has been thrown into sharp focus in recent weeks because of Europe’s reliance on Russian gas.
From left to right: Rohan Mannix, Hakon Dyrting, Naomi Antess, the general manager of the Northern Territory Indigenous Business Network, Jerome Cubilo, its CEO, Lumi Adisa, of Octopus Australia, Bevan Mailman, of Jaramer Legal and co-chair of Desert Springs Octopus, Sam Reynolds, co-chair of Desert Spring Octopus, Deborah Anstess-Vallejo and Donald Betts Jr of Jaramer Legal.
The announcement was one of several made by Number 10 Downing Street in lieu of Boris Johnson’s trip to Australia which was shelved when the Prime Minister opted to stay at home in Britain.
The northern Australia plan stemmed from a chance meeting at a wedding between Octopus Australia’s head of energy markets, Lumi Adisa, and ex-US senator Donald Betts. Mr Betts is part of the world’s largest indigenous law firm, Jaramer Legal, and introduced Dr Adisa to his colleague Bevan Mailman.
Mr Mailman and the Northern Territory Indigenous Business Network had long been searching for a financial suitor to realise his dream of transforming northern Australia into a community-led economic powerhouse, Mr Reynolds said.
“They just couldn’t find anyone with the right culture and focus on the community, [but] at Octopus, that is what we are all about; we invest in the ideas, industries and people that will change the world,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Mr Mailman and Mr Reynolds will co-chair Desert Springs Octopus, with hopes they can start building its first solar site early next year. Desert Springs Octopus would be building an energy grid for the NT as well as off-grid projects, Mr Reynolds said.
Bevan Mailman, who will co-chair Desert Springs Octopus, said renewable energy technologies offered potential in northern Australia that hadn’t been “unlocked”, and new companies with an understanding of working with Indigenous people were needed.
Traditional owners are known as custodians and stewards of the land, he said. “When you talk about this renewable space and things going green, it seems a natural fit - in carbon trading, in traditional burning and in renewable energy.”
The brother of actor and singer Deborah Mailman, Mr Mailman has worked as a legal counsel for the National Australian Bank and as a corporate lawyer has negotiated for traditional owners in their dealings with mining companies.
A Bidjara man from south central Queensland, Mr Mailman is the director of Jaramer Legal. He said Desert Springs Octopus would look to announce its first project soon, in the Northern Territory.
“They’ve got a great trade body in the Northern Territory, strong community organisations and a growing presence with defence that AUKUS is going to propel. It just seems to be the right place.”
The Clean Energy Council, which represents companies who work in the clean energy sector, said Australia had an enormous opportunity to capitalise on the clean energy transition because of its abundance of sun and wind.
“The Clean Energy Council welcomes genuine, respectful collaboration with First Nations communities and opportunities for employment and benefit-sharing while protecting ancient cultures,” a spokesperson said.
Desert Springs Octopus plans to start with solar and battery storage, data centres and infrastructure to link the supply to mines, then develop wind farms before introducing green hydrogen in the longer term, the company said. It will also build water and energy infrastructure and look to develop tradeable technologies which could be exported to other countries, including Britain.
Jerome Cubilo, the chief executive of the Northern Territory Indigenous Business Network, said it would play a critical role in connecting Octopus Australia into communities.
“We want to guide them through this journey and make sure they engage in culturally appropriate ways,” Mr Cubilo said. “That doesn’t always happen in the early stages - it’s always an afterthought or something that happens at the end.”
The Northern Territory government has been contacted for comment.
with Reuters