Renewable Energy and Battery Innovator Professor Lachlan Blackhall Receives 2025 ACT Chief Minister's Pearcey Award

The Pearcey Foundation today announced Professor Lachlan Blackhall as the recipient of the 2025 ACT Chief Minister's Pearcey Entrepreneur Award. The award was presented at an event in Canberra last night by ACT Chief Minister, Andrew Barr.

Prof. Blackhall is the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation) at the Australian National University (ANU) and a Director of Engineers Australia, and has been recognised for his contributions to IT systems for renewable energy, particularly battery storage and grid integration. He was appointed to his current role in February 2024 after successfully establishing the ANU Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program as an Entrepreneurial Fellow. Prof. Blackhall has been a serial entrepreneur, founding or co-founding multiple businesses over the last 15 years, including Reposit Power, a local start-up that uses software control for electricity grid management.

"We are proud to recognise Lachlan Blackhall as this year's ACT Chief Minister's Pearcey Entrepreneur. His contributions to the ACT and national IT and energy industry are significant and ongoing. He has shaped open-source and public interest technologies, national standards, and institutional collaborations, which are critical as Australia's energy system transitions to renewable and distributed energy resources," said Dr Tim Turner, ACT Pearcey Foundation Chair.

Prof. Blackhall's entrepreneurial and innovation contributions have been widely recognised. He has led the development of world-first capabilities to monitor, optimise and control residential solar generation and battery storage, as well as the development of virtual power plant technology to aggregate energy storage to deliver services to energy networks, markets and utilities.

Prof. Blackhall is a Fellow of both Engineers Australia and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) - he was the youngest ever member of ATSE when he was elected in 2017 at the age of 33. He has also received several of Australia's highest peer awards, including ATSE's Batterham Medal and Engineers Australia's M A Sargent Medal.

The Pearcey Foundation ACT Chief Minister's Entrepreneur Award is an annual award presented as part of the broader Pearcey Foundation awards program, which recognises outstanding Australian individuals in the technology and entrepreneurial sectors. This specific award acknowledges individuals in the ACT who have demonstrated innovation, success, and leadership in entrepreneurship, especially in the field of information and communications technology (ICT). It aims to highlight local achievements and promote the entrepreneurial culture within Canberra.

As the ACT Pearcey Award recipient, Professor Blackhall will represent the territory in the Pearcey National Awards to be held in November.

For more information about previous ACT Pearcey Entrepreneur Award recipients, go to https://www.pearcey.org.au/awards/state/act.

Other State Awards

NSW Awards: to be presented at a free event in Sydney on 14 October 2025. Register here to attend.

Queensland Awards: the awards will be presented in Brisbane at a dinner on 22 October 2025. Tickets include pre-dinner canapés, a 3-course meal and drinks. Corporate tables will have signage with the organisation's logo. 

South Australian Awards: nominations can be submitted at https://www.pearcey.org.au/awards/nominations/state-nomination-form. 

Tasmanian Awards: the awards will be presented as part of Enterprize Elevate 2025 in Hobart on Tuesday, 28 October 2025. More event details and registration at https://luma.com/hh4gr3uu.

Victorian Awards: the award was presented to Sam Kroonenberg, the co-founder and co-CEO of Cuttable, founding partner of Glitch Capital and co-founder and CEO of A Cloud Guru. More details on PRWire here.

Western Australian Awards: Chris Morrissey, founder and CEO of Ever Nimble, was the recipient of the 2025 Western Australian Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The award was presented as part of the 34th annual WAITTA INCITE Awards, Western Australia's longest running tech awards program. More details on PRWire here.

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About the Pearcey Foundation
The Pearcey Foundation Inc. is a non-profit organisation established in 1998 to raise the profile of the Australian Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry and profession. It was created in the memory of one of the greatest pioneers of the Australian ICT industry, Dr Trevor Pearcey. By celebrating the heroes in our industry, past present and future, the Foundation is looking to attract and encourage young Australians into this most exciting of global high technology sectors of our nation.
Web: www.pearcey.org.au

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