Redefining how businesses manage energy
Jed Durdin believes Australia can be the global leader in developing the energy system of the future, including the social opportunities the energy transition will create.
"The challenging times create an opportunity to build trust and stronger relationships with employees, by being honest and transparent," Jed Durdin says. Photo Samuel Graves.
Born and raised in country South Australia, Durdin’s goal is to help businesses, governments and communities around the world transition to 24/7 sustainable energy through his sustainable energy business Circular Energy Group (CEG), which is made up of four related companies.
“I’m determined to do everything I can to make sure our children and future generations aren’t the victims of inheriting a climate change problem and they have the same wonderful opportunity to grow up in our great state of South Australia,” the 33-year-old father said.
Like most businesses, the pandemic was a significant challenge to his venture.
“We were one year into developing our 24/7 Sustainable Energy certification and software platform and our project revenue halved overnight for a six-month period and our development capital had quickly dried up,” Durdin said.
“But we knew we had an important first-to-market advantage we had to capture and we needed to find a way to keep our people employed, so we could continue development but we had to be extremely focused on our development costs.”
He shifted to a home office model and built a new partnership with employees that allowed the company to better manage cash flow and keep everyone employed.
“We had to learn fast and we were able to lean on our advisors and build a strong agile business online,” Durdin said.
“Now, two years down the track we have a global product with huge potential to scale.”
CEG is a signatory of the United Nations 24/7 Carbon-free Energy Compact, a global program working to accelerate the decarbonisation of electricity grids.
Durdin said he sees a lot of potential for Australia to become a global leader in sustainable, clean energy, and wants to be a part of the next steps in finding pathways to “real zero” emissions.
“CEG has a five-year plan to completely redefine how businesses globally view and manage energy within their business and help them become an important asset on the energy system transition,” he said.
“We are doing that through our 24/7 Sustainable Energy Commitment Certification and software platform.
“The product is active across Australia, Europe and the United States, with expansion plans soon for the entire APAC region. But the focus will be on Australia for the next six months, scaling into the other regions over the next 12-18 months.”
He said the CEG management team plans to grow the business for five years and look to exit to a local or international firm.
