By BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
RECOGNISED at this year’s Clean Energy Council Awards, Andy McCarthy has gone from a trailblazer of renewables in Gippsland to supporting the next wave of trendsetters.
Taking out the Outstanding Contribution to Clean Energy Award, the founder of Gippsland Solar continues to be a key figure in the industry.
However, Mr McCarthy acknowledged that he didn’t expect to receive the honour.
“I had absolutely no idea it was happening, and I didn’t realise that a few people at the Clean Energy Council had coordinated the whole thing,” he told the Express.
“I blinked and did a bit of a shake of the head and looked at them, the rest of the people on my table, and then someone said ‘go on mate, get up on stage!’
“So, yeah, I was shocked and I’m still shocked.”
Now the Chief Strategy Office of renewable energy and storage fund CEP.Energy and the head of AJ McCarthy Consulting, Mr McCarthy wished to thank all that got him to this point.
“I just want to stress that it’s really just a testament to having a great partner and great family to support, but also just having amazing people that came with us on that journey that have just done so much to build the business and ensure that we had this success,” he said.
The Mirboo North local released his first book last year, an autobiography titled Here Comes The Sun, detailing that journey, arriving in the coal-dominated area of Latrobe Valley and Gippsland, eager to leave his mark in his own way.
From high school drop-out to renewable energy pioneer in the region, his story is one of perseverance as he faced tides of ridicule.
“For someone that didn’t finish Year 10 and couldn’t get their solar business off the ground in coal country back in 2010, all I wanted to do was make enough sales in the Valley to be able to pay a couple of staff,” Mr McCarthy said.
“I never had any ambition beyond that really in the early days, (and) fair to say I just couldn’t imagine where it would’ve gone from there.”
Now being in the game for 15 years, Mr McCarthy is proud to be someone that youngsters look to for business advice within the clean energy industry.
“One of the things I enjoy most of this phase of my career is taking that positive energy and that support that I received and paying it forward to others,” he said.
“Since I’ve received the award, I’ve had a number of people reaching out, young ambitious entrepreneurial people in this industry, and I’m really quick to take them under (my) wing and give them support, because I just received so much of that myself.
“It’s a beautiful thing to be a part of this sort of next phase, this next cycle of the transition that’s only just going to create more jobs and more opportunity for our country.”
Mr McCarthy highlighted that this was his next mission now, pointing out that this was possible for the next generation with the path that he’d set.
