AES invests in Australia’s 5B, furthering a solar design for less intrusive deployments

Australian solar technology company 5B received a major boost to its pre-wired, pre-fabricated, mobile deployable solar design, Maverick, last week thanks to an investment from the AES Corp.

MAVERICK proposes a bold possibility at a time when companies across the world are increasingly transitioning to greener energy: the ability to add solar resources three times faster, while providing more energy within the same land as other facilities. With everything about it pre-made for shipping, Maverick allows flexibility and streamlined construction efforts for companies looking for a quick switch.

“Our Maverick solution is defining the next generation for solar power and the true potential of solar power in terms of how fast, simple, flexible and low cost it should and will be,” Chris McGrath, 5B’s co-founder and CEO, said. “5B has delivered the speed and efficiency benefits of our MAVERICK solution in the Australian market, and now AES is bringing its strength to bear as we scale our solution globally.”

AES participated in an $8.6 million investment round for 5B. That investment will, according to AES, help it to achieve 2 to 3 GW of annual renewables growth, and it is already eyeing projects on which to deploy the MAVERICK solution. Such projects include AES Panama, a 2 MW project, as well as AES Gener in Chile, which will deploy 10 MW for expansion of the Los Andes solar facility.

“Solar is the most abundant clean energy source in the world, and 5B’s innovative design produces twice the energy for any given area,” Andrés Gluski, president and CEO of AES, said. “In addition, a project using 5B’s technology can be built in a third of the time when compared with conventional solar. These significant advantages will help us meet our customers growing needs in today’s ever changing environment.”