SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: 5B, a pioneer in prefabricated, rapidly deployed utility-scale solar, has completed first close of its AUD 30 million Series B capital raise, co-led by existing investors The AES Corporation (NYSE: AES) & Artesian Venture Capital.

The capital raise will support 5B’s continued local and international market expansion, supply and delivery chain development and execution of its technology and product roadmap - to unlock the full potential of its Maverick solution to drive massive scale, ultra low cost rapid solar deployment, globally. 

5B has over 50MW of its Maverick solution deployed across more than 100 sites and five continents globally, along with an order book of more than 100MW. Last month, it set a new speed record for solar deployment, of 1.1 megawatt deployed in a single day with a total crew of 10 people at AES’ Andes Solar II B facility in the Atacama Desert, Chile.

5B Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Chris McGrath said, “It has been an incredible couple of years for us, in spite of the state of the world, we have successfully launched our Maverick solution into the United States, Latin America, Europe and India, while building a global supply chain and deployment ecosystem to support this.”

Over the next phase of its growth, 5B will bring the power of automation and advanced manufacturing to bear across its technology platform. This is expected to drive a further step change in speed and capacity increase, as well as cost reduction, and see 5B break through its first gigawatt of sales. 

Mr McGrath says, “Our next generation deployment vehicle for Maverick is going to take our current solar deployment record, and 10x it again. This will completely remove the speed of deployment as a constraint in solar projects. The challenge will then become other parts of the project development, supply chain, and build cycle.”

“The ongoing support of our investors is a strong validation of our vision to transform the way solar power plants are built and define the next generation of speed, scale and efficiency for solar deployment, along with our ability to execute on this. Building the technology platform to enable deployment of terawatts of solar fast enough to save the world from climate change can sometimes be a daunting challenge, however we are privileged to be supported by such amazing partners in AES Corporation and Artesian on this mission.”

Media contact:

Bernadette Jolley

+61 404 311 044

bernadette.jolley@5b.com.au

About 5B

5B is a Sydney-headquartered, clean technology innovator on a mission to accelerate the planet’s transition to fast, easy, ultra-low-cost clean energy by harnessing the full power of the sun. 5B has transformed the delivery of solar projects with its prefabricated, modular, scalable, rapidly-deployable flagship 5B Maverick solar technology. It has a growing base of more than 50 customers served by a global network of 5B Ecosystem Partners. 

www.5b.co

Acknowledgement of country

This media release was issued from 5B, which is on Eora land. In the spirit of reconciliation, 5B acknowledges the traditional custodians of country throughout the land we call Australia and their culture, identity, community and connections to land and sea. 5B pays respect to their Elders past, present and future, and extends that respect to all Indigenous peoples globally. 5B endeavours to learn from and build relationships with these peoples, along with reciprocate opportunities.