From resource endowment to energy superpower: Aligning policy, industry, and AI-powered R&D to accelerate Australia’s clean energy transition

Abstract

Australia stands at a pivotal juncture. It possesses world-class solar and wind resources, a strong research base, and abundance of critical minerals, yet resource endowment alone does not make an energy superpower. True leadership demands the deliberate alignment of policy certainty, infrastructure scale-up, industry commitment, and frontier research. This article argues that achieving energy superpower status within the next 10?15 years is attainable, but only through an integrated national strategy that harnesses the transformative power of artificial intelligence to accelerate materials discovery, reduces the cost of clean hydrogen production, and embeds a cross-sectoral collaboration model that moves discoveries from laboratory to commercial deployment at unprecedented speed. More broadly, Australia's clean energy transition offers a model for how resource-rich nations can convert natural advantage into lasting technological and economic leadership and, in doing so, help drive global innovation in materials and systems for clean energy that the world urgently needs.