New propulsion and energy technology for heavy-haul rail and mine fleets, cutting total cost, lifting performance and resilience, and reducing diesel and emissions. The most public proof that the method works under real pressure, over more than six years.
“Damien and his team built a decarbonisation strategy grounded in real-world data from our locomotive fleet. He modelled energy requirements across a diverse business and the total cost of ownership across different locomotive platforms and hauls, to define a credible, costed pathway to net zero. Damien supported my team for over six years and has a rare ability to turn complex transition challenges into practical, executable strategy. I’d recommend him without hesitation.”James Petty, Independent Executive Advisor and former Head of Asset Management & Strategy, Aurizon.
“We brought Damien and his team in to help deliver two challenging fleet programs, shifting us from reactive maintenance to strategic asset management. The ‘Fleet Asset Management Program’ improved safety, risk, cost, fleet availability, and the delivery of the ‘IVMS Program’ has been recognised as industry leading, being awarded the 2023 AfMA Fleet Safety award. Damien combines strategy with execution, and I highly recommend him.”Chris Dhu, Former Head of Fleet, Essential Energy.
This program set Aurizon's net-zero fleet direction, and after more than six years it is still running. It charted a complete, costed zero-emission transition across a heavy-haul network of 600+ locomotives. The network runs on standard and narrow gauge, with wide variation in haul length, terrain and energy demand. We have led the strategy and techno-economic analysis throughout. The work spans:
It identified battery-electric platforms as the lowest-cost path, and defined the prototype program that followed across every corridor to 2050.
Six years of corridor-by-corridor analysis has left us with something the models alone can't give: we know which technologies work in which applications, and why. That judgement now arrives on day one of an engagement.
We led the concept development, energy modelling and detailed design behind what Aurizon calls Australia's first zero-emissions-capable freight locomotive. It is a Class 4000 heavy-haul unit, converted with Progress Rail to a 4.1 MWh battery-electric platform with regenerative braking and a ~250 km range. The lead platform in the fleet's battery-electric transition is now in build for an on-track trial at South32's Worsley Alumina operations in Western Australia.
Coverage: Aurizon · project video
We led the concept development and energy modelling for a range-extending battery tender. It couples to a diesel or battery-electric locomotive to carry extra onboard energy. The prototype is being developed with Alta Technology, with funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), and will operate at an Alcoa site in Western Australia. Paired with a modified diesel-electric locomotive, it opens low- or zero-emission haulage across most of the network.
Coverage: Aurizon & Alcoa agreement
We conceived the hydrogen-electric tender: a fuel-cell range extender for a BEL, designed to carry extra onboard energy for the longest, highest-energy corridors. We originated the concept and developed it to techno-economic feasibility, first with Anglo American and then with First Mode.
Coverage: Aurizon & Anglo American
We originated the Locomotive Regenerative Battery (LRB): a modular battery retrofitted onto existing diesel locomotives. It captures braking energy and delivers double-digit diesel savings with no charging infrastructure. We developed it to techno-economic feasibility and presented it at Heavy Haul Rail 2025 in Perth.
We originated the Tender-Ready Hybrid (TRH): a new diesel-battery hybrid platform. It pairs a downsized diesel engine with a large battery that recovers all regenerative braking energy and eliminates idling. Our detailed energy modelling tested its viability as a 1:1 replacement for diesel locomotives with significantly lower diesel burn. The TRH can also plug into a BET to displace more diesel traction, hence "tender-ready". We expect it to become the platform for new-build locomotives.
We assessed the motive-power pathways and freight-operations integration for a major new freight corridor serving one of Australia's largest cities, delivered with a global engineering partner.
An underground gold miner faced pressure to fund a major feasibility study on converting its haul fleet from diesel to battery-electric trucks. Before committing, the general manager asked whether electrification was even worth exploring. We answered with a Level 1 eStudy: a physics-grounded techno-economic screen built from public data and the mine's own metrics, delivered in weeks. A mass-and-energy model resolved the true work of hauling ore from face to surface, then applied diesel and battery-electric efficiency overlays. A full-factorial financial model ran 243 scenarios across diesel price, battery cost and density, subsidy and revenue. None returned a positive net present value (NPV) over the mine's remaining seven-year life. The recommendation was clear: do not fund a Level 2 study. The general manager kept a transparent, client-owned Excel model to rerun, and a clear battery-density threshold to watch.
We helped a critical-minerals producer tackle the hardest part of its climate transition plan: Scope 1 emissions from its mining fleet and operations. We built and pressure-tested around 60 decarbonisation initiatives. They covered HME (trolley assist, regenerative retrofits, hybrid, battery-electric, hydrogen, LNG and renewable diesel) and mine-optimisation levers. We modelled each on a consistent techno-economic basis (capex, opex, NPV, carbon and Safeguard Mechanism costs) with multi-criteria ranking. The result was a first-pass Scope 1 roadmap aligned to fleet renewal and the existing power strategy.
A major global mining-services contractor runs a large fleet of drills, excavators, loaders, haul trucks and ancillaries. We turned its crowded field of competing technologies, OEMs and proposals into a prioritised, defensible portfolio. We designed a tailored Value-Ease framework and drew on our experience across decarbonisation technologies to strengthen the project list. An intensive workshop with asset-management and decarbonisation leadership then scored each project on value (emissions, NPV, strategic fit) and ease (maturity, cost, operational change). Each project was placed in lead, fast-follow or monitor, with a recommendation on how to proceed.
We helped a tier-one miner's low-emissions team decide where innovation investment would cut the most Scope 1 and 2 emissions. We set an emissions-weighted order of priorities: diesel mining fleet first, then power, fugitive methane and process gas. We critically reviewed its external technology scouting, exposing missed breakthroughs and the first-principles analysis it lacked. For example, batteries deliver about 67% of renewable electricity to the wheel, compared with about 22% for hydrogen: roughly three times more. We then wrote an innovation operating model that matches broad technology fields to the real problems. It runs expert-led sprints to value, prioritise and road-map the best options, and we proved it end to end on a worked biotechnology platform.
The same method, a different problem: see how it travels to mining and mineral processing decisions.