EcoJoule Energy has completed the first export of its EcoVAR low-voltage distribution STATCOM to Portugal, opening a new European market for the Australian manufacturer.
The 40 kilovolt-amperes reactive (kVAR) three-phase units were built at EcoJoule’s Brisbane facility and dispatched this month. With the sale, EcoVAR technology is now in service across four continents — Oceania, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.
EcoVAR is a low-voltage distribution STATCOM, supplying dynamic reactive power, balancing load across phases, and filtering harmonics directly on the distribution network. It installs without interrupting work supply and is designed to help distributors hold voltage within limits and connect more rooftop solar to existing feeders, deferring or avoiding conventional network augmentation.
Founder Mike Wishart says he started EcoJoule after seeing how quickly rising solar exports push voltage outside limits on the low-voltage network.
“The EcoVAR was designed to correct that at the point where it occurs, without taking customers off supply,” Wishart says.
The export milestone follows a $15 million capital raise EcoJoule completed in 2025, as well as a $3 million commitment from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) through its Powering Australia Technology Fund.
CEFC Head of Growth Capital Malcolm Thornton says the company supported EcoJoule through the Powering Australia Technology Fund to help a market-leading Australian technology company scale up and get its grid solutions to more customers.
“Seeing that technology now exported to Europe shows Australian clean energy innovation competing on the world stage, and at the same time helps networks here at home and abroad integrate more renewable energy,” Thornton says.
EcoJoule CCO Martin van der Linde says that, with CEFC’s support, the company’s aim is to keep making it straightforward for networks anywhere to access the technology.
“Portugal is the newest market to adopt the EcoVAR, and it shows technology designed and built in Australia is competitive globally,” van der Linde says.
The CEFC is Australia’s specialist climate investor, helping cut emissions in the race towards net zero by 2050.
EcoJoule Energy is a manufacturer of low-voltage grid equipment. Its EcoVAR distribution STATCOM and EcoSTORE pole-mounted battery energy storage system help electricity distributors manage voltage, congestion, and power quality on the low-voltage network.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: EcoJoule Energy
