UNSW has created a new Centre for Energy Research and Policy Analysis, called CERPA. It is a multi-faculty institute focused on innovation which pursues cutting-edge research in renewable technologies, alternative liquid fuels, carbon capture as well as storage and energy efficient design among other initiatives. Seven UNSW faculties have come together to form CERPA. They include the Faculties of Engineering, Science, Law, Arts and Social Science, and the Faculty of the Built Environment as well as the Australian School of Business and the Australian Defence Force Academy. CERPA builds on 30 years of energy research leadership at UNSW, which has seen the University's pioneering energy technologies taken up around the world.

For a quarter of a century, the UNSW ARC Photovoltaics Centre of Excellence has led the world in the science and technology of converting the sun’s energy into electricity using silicon solar cells. Led by Professors Martin Green and Stuart Wenham, the Centre has held the world record for solar-cell efficiency and licensed its technology to solar cell manufacturers with global sales exceeding $1 billion.

While coal is the key energy source for Australia and much of the world, hydrogen is seen as the fuel of the future. Professor Janusz Nowotny and Dr Leigh Sheppard from the Centre for Materials Research in Energy Conversion (CMREC) are working to develop solar hydrogen as a commercial fuel source and technology to create solar methanol or “clean coal”. The research is so significant it’s backed by the US Department of Energy.