Investing in the Hunter’s future: The Melt is empowering the next generation of innovators
In the energy heartland of New South Wales, the Hunter region is home to a major clean energy transformation.
At its forefront is The Melt, an innovative company that has been helping businesses grow since 2019.
The Muswellbrook-based organisation is Australia’s first hardware accelerator and industrial prototyping hub. It provides a springboard for the region’s innovators, start-ups and scale-ups.
The Hunter region is rapidly becoming a clean energy precinct, and The Melt is central to that ecosystem. By enabling local start-ups and manufacturing, The Melt is supporting homegrown innovation, maintaining regional capability and leveraging the Hunter’s existing industrial strengths towards a net zero economy.
Collaboration across the Hunter
‘Our model is unique,’ says Brett Thomas, Partner and COO. ‘We invest in start-ups and offer them all the support they need to build their physical products in our prototyping hubs and then get their products to market. We have financially backed and accelerated some of the region's most exciting innovators and new businesses.’
Those businesses include Allegro Energy, which creates water-based, fully recyclable, long duration renewable energy storage batteries and Refilled, whose smart drink dispenser can pour over 100 combinations of drinks on demand without producing single-use plastic waste.
The Melt’s achievements shine a light on innovation in the Hunter, in partnership with other key players in the region. The Melt and Allegro Energy’s partnership received significant recognition in 2025, winning Best in Class at the Good Design Awards. The team took out the top honour for their world-first Microemulsion Flow Battery, an innovative battery design can store energy for up to 8 hours.
The Melt collaborated with Allegro Energy to develop a design from the ground up that would support them to scale, foster sovereign capability and build a local supply chain. Allegro Energy also won Innovation Challenger at the AFR Energy Awards and Best Startup at the Australian Manufacturing Awards in 2025.
These awards are recognition of the power of collaboration when commercialising world-first technology. They are proof that regional Australia is rich with resources, world-leading talent and innovation.
Investing in future generations
The Melt ensures students and local talent are part of the Hunter’s clean energy shift. With support from BHP and Muswellbrook Shire Council, The Melt is supporting the next generation of innovators through its educational initiatives. The Melt’s INDUSTRY EDGE Maker Projects are STEM workshops designed for high school students to innovate, design and build. The initiative prepares young innovators and high school leavers for future careers in new and traditional industries and creating a talent pipeline for the net zero economy.
Seth Fitzgerald is one of many young innovators backed by The Melt’s expertise to turn a renewable energy idea into reality. With insights, design advice and guidance from The Melt’s technical specialists, Seth used state of the art tools and 3D technologies to bring a prototype wind turbine to life. This involved learning new skills and exploring renewable technology innovation in the process.
By opening the door for the next generation and bringing together existing expertise, the Hunter is preparing for a renewable future, shaped by its people and communities.
Brett Thomas says the Hunter is the perfect place for The Melt, ‘most of Australia's key and largest energy coal mines and power generators are here. As they diminish over time, we need to find ways to re-employ or re-skill those people to keep them here,’ he says.
‘The vision for this region is for it to remain the energy heartland of NSW. To do that, we’re creating the next generation of start-ups and scaleups.’
Find out how the Authority is supporting the Hunter transition to a net zero economy on our Hunter region page.