Acknowledging a project or program that has enhanced efficiency, productivity, or competitiveness through implemented or near-commercialised innovation. 

Energy finalists

Amplitude Energy
Project/Program: Orbost Gas Processing Plant: transformational productivity through targeted improvements

When South Australian-headquartered Amplitude Energy assumed operatorship of the Orbost Gas Processing Plant (OGPP) in 2023, it inherited one of Australia's most challenging gas processing assets. Despite a design capacity of 68 TJ/d, the plant was producing just 47 TJ/d on average and was constrained by recurring fouling, foaming, unplanned outages and intensive maintenance requirements.

Through a targeted productivity improvement program focused on eliminating bottlenecks, increasing reliability and unlocking latent capacity, Amplitude Energy transformed the facility into a high-performing asset. Just three years later, OGPP is consistently operating at and beyond its original design capacity, achieving record production of 75 TJ/d, reducing downtime by more than two-thirds and delivering significantly more domestic gas supply to Australia's east coast energy market.

Santos
Project/Program: Autonomous production optimisation in the Cooper Basin

In South Australia's Cooper Basin, a mature gas province, Santos has built and deployed an autonomous system that is changing how an ageing field is run.

The system provides a live digital model of the whole basin, from reservoir to plant, It continuously finds where production can be lifted or protected, predicts problems before they cause a loss, and adjusts hundreds of wells automatically, around the clock. In 2025 it was responsible for roughly 6% of the basin's production, cut running costs while beating its savings target, and tripled the optimisation opportunities engineers act on each year.

By curbing the natural decline of an ageing field, it helps keep South Australian gas flowing and the basin economic for longer. Developed for the Cooper Basin and proven at full scale across around 1,000 wells, it is now Santos' standard way of operating, and points the way for mature fields everywhere.

Venergy Solar
Project/Program: Unlocking rooftop solar for embedded-network communities

More than 1.5 million Australians live behind embedded electricity networks, where individual rooftop solar has long been considered financially impossible as conventional grid-protection hardware costs about $5,500 per home. Venergy Solar, an Adelaide-headquartered renewable energy engineering company, re-engineered the problem, using each community’s existing fibre internet network and Power Line Communication to deliver utility-grade network protection at roughly one-tenth of that cost.

Deployed in partnership with Stockland (ASX: SGP) across four lifestyle communities, the model has 1,120 homes (4.4 MW) under contract, with 439 homes (1.72 MW) installed, commissioned and generating by June 2026. Audited results show average first-year household savings of $1,528, payback inside three years, and protection infrastructure engineered down from $6.16 million to $615,400, a 90% reduction.

The South Australian-designed blueprint is already replicating with Ingenia Communities Group (ASX: INA) commencing its Sunbury development in July 2026.

Resources finalists

BHP
Project/Program: Prominent Hill Traffic Control

Prominent Hill has implemented traffic control to transform autonomous loading from a single loader process into a connected, multi-loader production system. Previously, only one loader could operate within an automated area, and a level could not be divided into separate sections and remotely operated at the same time.

Traffic Control, supported by major underground network upgrades, now allows multiple loaders to share production infrastructure while maintaining safe separation. Operational records show average tonnes increasing by 53% and median tonnes by 50%. In the first measured days, combined productivity increased from 176.5 tonnes per hour to 222.3–273.2 tonnes per hour. The capability also supports one operator supervising multiple loaders, improves coverage of unplanned leave, makes better use of experienced personnel and increases the rate at which material is presented to trucks.

This is a repeatable operating model for future underground production areas.

Hillgrove Resources (now known as Kantra Copper)
Project/Program: Kanmantoo Grade Control: combining AI with traditional geological practices

The development of the Kanmantoo Underground Copper Mine provided an opportunity to rethink how geological information is collected and used. Kantra Copper developed an innovative grade-control system that combines traditional geological expertise with rapid onsite analysis, spectral scanning and artificial intelligence to estimate copper grades in near real time.

For high-priority drill-core samples, the system cuts turnaround times from four to twelve weeks to less than 12 hours, enabling material-classification decisions within an hour. Developed in partnership with Plotlogic, it delivers faster, more consistent results while reducing testing costs by around $30,000 per drill rig each month.

By giving mining teams quicker, more reliable information, the system reduces geological risk, improves production decisions and helps maximise the value recovered from the Kanmantoo copper resource.

Maxmine
Project/Program: Retiring the weighbridge: trusted real-time payload data delivering an 8% productivity gain

Haul trucks are the largest cost driver at any surface coal mine. At one Tier 1 operation in South Africa, every truck sent to the weighbridge lost over two productive hours and it was the only way the site could confirm whether its existing dispatch system's reported payloads were real.

MaxMine, an Adelaide-headquartered fleet management and mining performance company, replaced the inefficient system with a proprietary payload algorithm and automated online strut-health monitoring, verifying every load on every truck continuously, without leaving the circuit. For the first time the mine trusted its payload data, and lifted average payloads from 93% of target to a sustained 101%. Together, bypassing the weighbridge and raising payload returned 812 truck operating hours a month, contributed to an 8% increase in total material moved, and created value the operation puts above R100 million a year (approximately AUD8.5M).