Business Leader Series

Invest Wollongong sat down with Mark Swinnerton to discuss the motivation behind building Green Gravity and the impact they’re having in the clean energy space.

Read the full interview below.

Tell us about the business you’re building here in Wollongong.

We're on a mission at Green Gravity to radically accelerate the world's renewable transition. We've spent two years here in Wollongong developing a technology that we are now increasingly convinced can make a radical change to our future climate and can leave our world better for our kids.

That's exciting! For those of us not in the clean tech industry, how would you explain Green Gravity to a 5-year-old?

I recently had the opportunity to road test this with the year four class in Bulli. These kids are just amazing. They get it. The 50+ questions I got from them achieved the same understanding as 12 months of diligence from lawyers and investors!

In simple terms, when the sun shines, we produce renewable solar energy, but we need energy at night too. Our simple technology lets us store excess energy by lifting heavy objects up a mine shaft during the day, then releasing that energy by lowering them down at night and turning a motor to generate electricity. The energy just changes its form from potential energy when we lift the object to kinetic energy when we lower the object.

How did you land on repurposing mines?

My background is in mining, but after COVID I chose to focus on climate change and ended up in the fabulous startup space working on innovative energy solutions.

I didn't realise there were so many mine shafts ready to be repurposed in Australia -and the world- until a paper from Monash University highlighted that Australia has 100,000 legacy mines! I was really surprised by that number, so I reached out to the professors involved and struck up a relationship with them.

Why did you choose to build Green Gravity in Wollongong?

It's a simple choice. Wollongong possesses all the ingredients that we need to build this business.  Firstly, we have an excellent workforce with a lot of experienced professionals in the area and graduates coming out of a Tier 1 university. Secondly, we've got a great lifestyle - when I lived in big cities, my commute had often been an hour. Now, I'm less than 15 minutes’ drive to the office, kids’ school on the next street and we've got access to the beach and parkland. We’re finding that more people want to stay here and be part of our business.
Plus, we have old mine shafts, world-class facilities and demand for renewable energy here just one hour from Sydney. We shouldn't ignore Wollongong's industrial legacy, it's a strength that we're building on. It’s ideal for our business.

What inspired you to start Green Gravity?

I'm worried about climate change and what our kids are going to inherit. I'm also worried that there's not enough being done about it, but I couldn't complain if I wasn't doing everything I could to help. That's why we started Green Gravity. Everybody in our company is aligned around one simple mission; we are here to knock climate change out of the park, and we measure ourselves on that every day.

Have there been many challenges as a start up?

You have to balance a lot of challenges when you start a company. Firstly, we’re developing new technology, so we have a level of risk there. We’re also a hardware business, and building physical tech is more expensive than building software or services so we've had to work very hard across the spectrum to get support. Fortunately, we’ve recently closed a large capital raise with some absolutely Tier 1 Capital Partners. It's super exciting to be able to progress to the next stage.

Wow, congratulations! So your impact is reaching beyond Wollongong?

Thanks, yeah, we are servicing national and international markets from the comfort of Wollongong. We’re working with the federal government of Romania to help the transition of coal mining regions using our technology, right through to far North Queensland where we are working with the city of Mount Isa and Glencore to understand how we can repurpose mine shafts in that region to bring renewable energy to northwest Queensland. We've been able to show that clean energy technology can be developed and deployed from regional Australia.

Are you finding the workforces in these areas are receptive to the clean energy transition?

The clean energy transition poses significant workforce challenges, especially in high-carbon areas where industries like coal mining are winding down. At Green Gravity, we’re proud to support clean energy job creation in engineering and trades where renewable energy jobs overlap with traditional mining and manufacturing skills. Increasingly, clean energy jobs are emerging here in the Illawarra, and engineering fields like electrical, mechanical, computer are crucial for this shift.

Are you seeing interest from younger generations in this field?

We engage local schools to teach kids about the technology we’re developing to show that science and engineering lead to real career opportunities in clean energy transition. That includes engineering and trade jobs, that we’re going to need long term and not just in Australia. We're really keen on exporting this technology to the world and creating the jobs here from Wollongong.

That sounds very rewarding, is that what you're most proud of?

I’m proud of our team and the impact that we've been able to have even in a pre-revenue state. We're changing the conversation in a lot of locations about what it might take to tackle climate change and energy storage. No one company or person is going to solve every problem, but I think we've got the ability to solve our bit of the problem and help inspire others to do the same.

If there are any aspiring leaders reading this, do you have any advice to share on their journey?

Start with ‘why’. We've been able to build what is now becoming a great business on the basis that we have a principle of what we're trying to do.

'Why' we’re doing this is more important than the how and the what for us early in the journey. The ‘why’ can inspire people and create the space for you to get support and ultimately achieve your objectives.

We've been able to show the clean energy technology can be developed in regional Australia, can be deployed in regional Australia and ultimately we can change the world with these technologies.

Thanks for sharing Mark, we're very proud that Green Gravity is a home-grown business in Wollongong and we’re excited to watch you continue to accelerate the renewable energy transition.