Smart Energy Lab

21/09/2026

05/08/2026

My work email was compromised yesterday morning.

If you received an email from [email protected] today with the subject "Re: New Requirements/ Proposal", do not click the link. Delete it. It did not come from me.

The account is secured and cleaned up. Apologies to everyone who copped one.

Two things worth passing on, because I have spent years telling installers to lock down their systems and I did not check this one on my own account.

The way in was not a guessed password. Someone authorised a third party app on my Google account. Changing your password does not revoke that. The app keeps its token and keeps reading your mail. You have to go into your account security page and remove the connection by hand. Microsoft 365 works the same way.

And the mailbox is rarely the target. Your invoices are. The attacker sits in your sent folder, waits for a real job to land, then emails your client the same invoice with different bank details. So if any supplier emails you asking to update remittance details, ring them on a number you already had. Not the number in the email.

Go and check your third party app access today. Takes two minutes.

Glen

28/07/2026

Jumper leads for electric vehicles. That's the short version of what Mark Wexler from Alpine Energy EV showed me when we charged my neighbour's car directly from his, using their vehicle to vehicle charger.

In this studio chat we go well beyond V2V. Mark walks through Alpine Energy's containerized DC fast charging, built for capacity constrained sites like a rural service station on a three phase 80 amp supply that wants DC fast charging.

The battery trickle charges from the grid, then fast discharges into the EV. Two day deployment.

Mark's background explains a lot. He grew up at the base of the Victorian Alps (hence the name), tested power transformers up to 500 MVA, then spent years at United Energy where he built the world's first pole mounted battery and drove the Australian rollout of covered conductor after Black Saturday. Three world firsts so far, and he tells me a fourth is on the way.

We also get into the safety side of V2V charging (same connection standards as a stationary charger, and you can't drive off mid-charge) and why ISO 27001 cyber security matters for connected chargers.

Full interview on the Smart Energy Lab YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/iWOI-3jqtYU

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27/07/2026

Big thanks to Standards Australia for hosting a "Recognition" event for contributors to standards committees over the years. I was in the "newbie" group of only 15 years on EL-042, some were celebrated for 50 years of voluntary service!

25/07/2026

What if the EV charger could come to you? In this video, I chat with Mark Wexler, who introduces MGEN by Alpine Energy EV — the world's first V2V® (vehicle-to-vehicle) mobile EV charging platform, designed and built in Melbourne, Australia. Think of it as one big jumper lead for your EV.

11/07/2026

I'm in Wenzhou, China for the opening of Fox ESS's latest battery factory — a facility producing a huge volume of battery storage systems per year. Suit up with me (cleanroom gear and all) and take a look inside.

Forget what you think you know about Chinese factories. This place looks more like a five-star hotel with robots — roughly one person per 200 square metres, and their job is either advanced robot technician or making sure nobody touches the robots. I also caught up with John Grimes from the Smart Energy Council to talk automation at scale, why "cheap labour" is a myth, and what Australia's Cheaper Home Batteries Program (almost 12GWh installed since 1 July last year!) means for demand.

Also making an appearance: the Fox ESS CQ7 high-voltage battery — 7kWh modules stacking to 52kWh in a footprint shorter than me, with a double-base option taking a single unit past 100kWh.

CHAPTERS
0:00 G'day from Wenzhou, China
1:25 Suiting up for the cleanroom
2:00 On the production line
2:36 Star of the show: the CQ7 (52kWh, shorter than me)
3:03 Chatting with John Grimes, Smart Energy Council
3:38 "There isn't cheap labour" – the automation reality
4:01 The Cheaper Home Batteries Program & global demand
4:24 Wrap-up

29/06/2026

Installing the Sigenergy APAC SigenStack 110kW/253kWh C&I system at the Smart Energy Lab.

NB. I have since been told that the 500m ocean exclusion is no longer required.

22/06/2026

EP Cube has brought something genuinely different to the Australian battery market — and at Smart Energy 2026 in Sydney I got hands-on with their new single-phase and three-phase BESS, including a feature I've never seen before on a home battery: it's partially submersible.

I sit down with two people who know the product inside out: Chun Lee, Product Manager at Canadian Solar EP Cube, and Susanne Pflug, Chief Commercial Officer at Canadian Solar EP Cube. We dig into the new single-phase and three-phase line-up, what the partial-submersion rating actually means for installs in flood-prone and high-water-table sites, how it's been engineered, and where EP Cube sees the Australian market heading.

Filmed at the Smart Energy Council Conference & Exhibition, ICC Sydney (6–7 May 2026).

🔋 In this video
• EP Cube's new single-phase and three-phase BESS
• The partially submersible design and why it matters
• Engineering and safety behind the system
• Canadian Solar EP Cube's plans for Australia

👇 Useful links
EP Cube: https://www.epcube.com/en-AU/
Smart Energy Council: https://smartenergy.org.au

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This is independent coverage from the Smart Energy Lab. Always design and install to AS/NZS 4777, AS/NZS 5139 and AS/NZS 3000, and follow the manufacturer's installation manual and local requirements.

22/06/2026

Post total hip replacement surgery - I'm home and feeling great. Thanks to all the well wishers. I'm looking forward to being 100% mobile in month or two.