Traditional Owners across the Pilbara are set to lead more clean energy projects and infrastructure developments on Country through a new partnership-based initiative.
Sovereign Energy Australia (SEA) announced the community-driven model on Friday in Karratha, aimed at uniting local businesses and national partners to explore clean energy and infrastructure opportunities in Western Australia's renewables-rich North West region.
The SEA plan seeks to streamline energy, infrastructure and industrial capability and was designed to ensure Traditional Owners were actively involved to ensure benefits flowed to communities.
Sovereign Energy Australia's projects included solar and battery systems, modular housing and infrastructure. Co-founder Jon Dai said its model would challenge existing issues across the sector, where projects were often disconnected, complex and lacking input from local communities.
"Business and community integration is really important in this region," Mr Dai said at the launch.
"This isn't just about engagement: it's about participation, ownership and long-term opportunity."
Key to success was working with Traditional Owner groups and local organisations to maximise employment and contracting opportunities, and community involvement to help secure long-term economic benefits.
Indigenous-owned business The Cryogenics Group has welcomed the initiative, calling it a "major opportunity" for Aboriginal businesses.
Co-director Marcia Edwards — whose company is 100 per cent Aboriginal and female-owned — said SEA's platform would create long-standing opportunities for communities and give Indigenous leaders more control of projects and their outcomes.
"This is not black cladding. This is Traditional Owners ... leading from the top," she said.
"We're in charge of our destiny. We lead with that, and we bring other Aboriginal people with us."
The new model would focus heavily on connecting capability partners from across Australia and overseas with local businesses already operating in the region.
Experienced businesswoman Jane Tittums, a Nanda Naaguja woman from the Gascoyne Murchison Region, would focus on community and Indigenous engagement.
"My role is to connect with Traditional Owners and their communities to ensure they are a part of the journey," she said.
Her aim was to build capacity via training, employment and partnerships, and ensure project development was environmentally responsible.
"We'll make what we do in the Pilbara great," Ms Tittums said.
"But we'll also make it environmentally friendly, with a very small footprint."
