We’re proud to announce that Unleash live in collaboration with Worley, has won the 2025 Australian Financial Review AI Award in the Productivity and Efficiency category.
This national recognition highlights the real-world impact of our machine learning video analytics platform—starting with wind farm inspections and expanding across solar, utilities, and grid infrastructure. It’s a powerful validation of how AI is transforming asset-intensive industries with smarter, faster, and safer operations.
We were honoured to be selected from a strong shortlist of finalists that included Nasdaq, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), NSW Department of Education, and Dext—and to emerge as the winner in such a competitive and high-impact category.
Award-Winning Innovation: Driving Measurable Results in Energy
The AFR AI Awards celebrate applied AI that delivers meaningful outcomes across the economy. Unleash live was recognised for enabling:
- Up to 80% cost savings over traditional wind turbine inspection methods
- Up to 90% reduction in revenue loss from downtime for offshore wind operations
- 5x increase in inspection throughput using autonomous drones
- Safer operations by eliminating rope access for high-risk inspections
- Real-time fault detection and predictive maintenance using Machine Learning AI computer vision
Our platform integrates with off-the-shelf drones to inspect turbine blades for erosion, cracks, and lightning damage—before these lead to system failures. Partnering with leading energy services providers, we’ve replaced manual workflows with scalable, AI-driven analytics.
Scaling AI Across Wind, Solar & Utilities
Australia’s wind sector includes over 90 wind farms and nearly 4,000 turbines, generating more than 11 GW of power. The need for fast, high-quality inspections is only growing. Our platform is hardware-agnostic, automating both flight and analytics—giving operators rapid, sub-centimetre-level fault detection.
But our impact doesn’t stop at wind!
In the solar sector (as demonstrated in the Tilt Renewables case study), we detect panel degradation and thermal hotspots to enable smarter preventative maintenance.
In Utilities, we’re working with Endeavour Energy, Ausgrid, and Essential Energy to inspect transmission lines, substations, and pole-top assets—cutting inspection times from weeks to days while improving field safety and data quality.
From Reactive to Predictive: The Utility of the Future
In collaboration with one of Australia’s largest energy providers, we’ve modernised their aerial inspection program—combining autonomous drone capture, AI-based analytics, and real-time data streaming. The results:
- Thousands of assets inspected per week
- Reduced manual overhead and field crew risk
- Data-driven insights for smarter maintenance decisions
We’re helping utilities shift from reactive asset management to predictive, data-informed operations.
Celebrating Progress, Shaping What’s Next
The AFR AI Awards Cocktail Event was held on June 3, 2025, at the Hilton Sydney, bringing together innovators driving real-world AI applications. We’re honoured to stand among them—and proud of the work our team, partners, and customers are doing to accelerate the energy transition.
Winning against world-class organisations like Nasdaq, CBA, NSW Department of Education, and Dext makes this achievement even more meaningful. It shows that Australian-founded innovation can compete—and lead—on a global stage.
🔗 Read the AFR Article
Want to see the technology in action?
🔗 Watch our Wind Inspection Demo
🔗 Watch our AI Product
