2018 Energy Hack winners announced

For the third year running, The University of Melbourne and Powershop Australia have hosted industry, academics, professionals, students and start-ups for Energy Hack — an innovation event where teams compete to create the most compelling new energy project or business model.

Energy Hack is one of Australia’s largest energy hackathons. The event brings together students and professionals from all walks of life to look into the future and drive innovation towards stable, abundant and affordable energy for Australians.

Teams had two days to develop their ideas around aiming to improve energy affordability, reliability, and/or reduce emissions and pitched their concepts to a panel of industry expert judges. Hack team Powershop Rangerz won the $5000 first prize for their smart meter-enabled app which gamifies energy efficiency for schools — saving schools money and educating the next generation of energy consumers.

“Powershop is proud to partner with The University of Melbourne to bring the Energy Hack back for the third year in a row,” said Powershop Australia CEO Ed McManus.

“Since the first Energy Hack we have launched Powershop Labs to mentor and support renewable energy start-ups. We’re looking forward to working with this year’s teams over the weekend to build ideas that could help shape the future of the energy industry.”

“The Energy Hack has given our students and the other participants a chance to work with experienced professionals on some of the big problems facing the energy sector,” added Professor Michael Brear, Director of the Melbourne Energy Institute. “The calibre of projects developed during the Energy Hack shows how talented and passionate our community is about building a lower emissions energy future.”

Pictured: Powershop Rangerz, the winners of the 2018 Energy Hack.