For the past 20 years, Palladium has committed 1.5% of our profit before tax to our global giving platform, Let’s Make it Possible. Through this platform and in partnership with the Kyeema Foundation, Palladium funds humanitarian relief efforts, supports community projects nominated by employees, and runs an annual Challenge Fund to tackle a major global problem.

When reliable electricity reaches a rural clinic, lights stay on through the night and vaccines remain safely cold, these are basic services that depend on not just a generator but on steady power. Globally, access is still uneven: the latest SDG7 tracking shows about 666 million people remain without electricity, with progress too slow to reach universal access by 2030. Clean cooking lags even further; around 2.1 billion people still rely on polluting fuels, contributing to an estimated 3.2 million premature deaths each year from household air pollution.

In this context, sustainable energy storage is pivotal—storage provides the flexibility needed to make variable renewables reliable for clinics, schools, farms, and enterprises in off grid and weak grid settings.

This year’s Palladium Challenge Fund backs practical solutions to that problem. Under the theme “Rural Energy Revolution – Efficient Energy Storage for Remote Communities,” the fund is seeking innovations that improve the reliability and usability of renewable power in off grid areas, with grants of up to AUD 100,000 for shortlisted pilots.

“After a rigorous selection process, nine projects from across the globe have been shortlisted for funding,” explains Jabulani Nyenwa, Palladium Senior Director and Chair of the Challenge Fund Committee. “Each of these projects aligns with global guidance that decentralized renewables—paired with appropriate storage—are among the fastest, most cost-effective ways to extend modern energy to last mile communities and ultimately creating the most impact.”

Below is the shortlist of projects advancing resilient, people-centered energy access:

• FeXEnergy (Canada)
Thermochemical energy storage technology. Testing specific use cases to demonstrate value creation for remote First Nations communities.

• Helco Solutions Limited (Kenya)
Phase change materials for energy storage. Designing double reflector solar cookers with an integrated phase change storage unit.

• PowerWells Pty Ltd. (Australia)
Developing and field testing an improved home solar unit enclosure made from plastic waste streams prevalent in Vanuatu and the Pacific.

• Let’s Be Transformed (MAGUFINA) (Malawi)
Training refugees in solar battery maintenance and installing energy storage systems to benefit 1,000 people, aiming to reduce household charcoal use by 30%.

• Bhairaj Organics Pvt. Ltd. (India)
AI-integrated energy storage units. A self sufficient cold chain combining solar chillers, AI guided energy management, and smart storage batteries to equip 100+ dairy farms.

• Acate Amazon Conservation (Peru)
Anaerobic digestion. Turning food and farm waste with aquatic plants into biogas for electricity and cooking; gas compressed into tanks for on demand use.

• Gridstreak (Kenya)
Converting plastic waste into clean thermal energy via a zero waste process to power portable sand “brick” batteries; deploying five community systems, each storing 1 MWhₜₕ of solar + thermal energy.

• Karaa Solutions Limited (Uganda)
Developing affordable, modular batteries compatible with e bikes so farmers can power irrigation pumps and household electronics.

• James Cook University (Australia)
Piloting a Community Hybrid Energy Storage System (CHESS) that combines slow response thermal with fast response batteries for reliable, cost-effective access.

These projects exemplify the transformative potential of energy innovation in driving social and economic progress. By investing in scalable, sustainable solutions, the 2025 Challenge Fund is helping communities leapfrog into a cleaner, more resilient energy future. Watch this space for further announcements.