CANBERRA May 28, 2013 – Windlab Celebrates 10 Years of Success

It’s a classic decade-long-overnight-success: an Australian company started by scientists that’s developed world-leading technology and has now expanded into exciting global markets.

Windlab celebrated a decade of operation last week. The Canberra-based global wind energy development company was established in 2003 as a spin-off of Australia’s pre-eminent research organisation, the CSIRO (the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation). Windlab owns and utilises WindScape, the world-leading atmospheric modeling and wind energy prospecting tools to identify and efficiently deliver ready-to-build wind farm sites.

It’s that technological advantage which has enabled Windlab to secure a portfolio of wind farm sites across Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in less than four years. It now plans expansion into Africa.

Simon Corbell, Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, congratulated Windlab on 10 years of innovation and said the company is a key part of the technological and advanced academic hub that has been created in Canberra.

Minister Corbell noted the ACT government’s Climate Action Plan 2 sets out a clear strategy to meet 2020 greenhouse gas reduction targets and sets the territory on the path to becoming a sustainable and carbon-neutral leader. He added that this is “both affordable and achievable” and that “the ACT government is aiming to having 90% of the government’s power demand covered by renewable energy by 2020.”

Simon Corbell, Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, congratulates Windlab

Minister Corbell pointed out “that the use of wind energy will be critical in meeting the renewable energy and the greenhouse gas reduction targets.”

“For an Australian start-up spun out of the CSIRO 10 years ago this is an amazing achievement, competing with the world’s best.” This has been recognised by the numerous awards that Windlab has won over the years, including Canberra Business of the Year, among the Business Review Weekly Fast 100, a Cleantech Entrepreneur of the Year, a Top 100 Global Cleantech Company and Emerging Exporter of the Year.

Windlab CEO Roger Price said: “In the science of wind energy resource assessment, Windlab is an international leader. We deploy unique technology to discover the best worldwide wind resources. This allows us to be much more certain that sites we work on become a reality, delivering long term benefits to communities and the environment,” he explains.

“We’ve mapped much of Africa with great accuracy and high resolution; down to a 100m x 100m, compared to around 10km achieves by other mapping activities. This dramatically reduces risk and uncertainty from what is otherwise a typical resources prospecting activity. Imagine panning for gold, but knowing where it is before your start!” says Price.

He adds that as Windlab expands, “Canberra remains soundly our headquarters.  We have found Canberra to be a terrific place to build a technology business.  It has a strong innovation eco-system, an active and interested investor base, good government support programs and very importantly a pool of very smart, hardworking loyal employees.  Windlab has benefited from all of these elements.

“More than half of the wind-farms in Australia have been identified by Windlab or from wind-maps created by Windlab. Whilst the current market dynamics and political climate for renewables development in Australia are challenging, there’s still considerable opportunity.

“It is the sort of innovative initiatives, like the ACT’s Climate Action Plan 2, that are important not only in managing our sustainability but in creating an environment in the territory where innovative technology companies like Windlab can flourish.”

And flourish it does: Windlab’s portfolio totals more than 7,000MW of potential capacity; with more than 270MW in operation, 220 in construction and a 500MW fully approved and undergoing financing negotiations.

For more details, contact

Roger Price, CEO +61 411 222 044

or

Peter Venn, MD – Africa +27 836 893 063