On Friday, 26th February, Chris Bowen, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy didn't have to travel far to visit One Stop Warehouse in Sydney because the Warehouse is located in his Electorate of McMahon.

On entering the western Sydney office Chris was given a tour by staff lead by Anson Zhang, CEO of One Stop Warehouse and Discover Energy, located in Erskine Park, the warehouse is more than 3000 square meters in size and houses the largest distribution center of Solar power equipment like PV panels, storage batteries and inverters in Australia. Chris clearly expressed his delight at the size of the facility and was also impressed that during Covid-19 One Stop Warehouse expanded its employment numbers over the last year.

He also mentioned “It is not a choice between the economy of the environment, we have to do both and solar and wind are ways we can create jobs right where we are. We need to do more of that, more manufacturing and more activity credited in Australia. I didn't realise that Australia's largest solar distributor was here in Erskine Park.”

Founded in Brisbane in 2013, One Stop Warehouse and Discover Energy’s CEO and COO, Anson Zhang and Jeff Yu’s first company. Since its inception, OSW has grown to five offices in five capital cities across Australia, and employs more than 150 individuals. Last year, OSW reported an annual revenue of more than $515 million and was named No.16 of Top Fast 100 companies in Australia, according to the Australian Financial Review. Today, OSW is widely known as Australia’s largest solar distributor. 

During the visit, the new Shadow Minister for Energy, spoke of the essential role that Australian businesses such as OSW and Discover Energy play in the transformation of energy from carbon emission-heavy, coal-fuelled energy to the clean and sustainable energy of household solar and battery, as well as the power of sustainability focused business in driving jobs and growth. In a brief speech to attendees, Bowen said “Solar is a great opportunity to create jobs in the suburbs and in the regions. Every step is creating jobs.” 

With OSW playing a crucial role in the process of installing solar technology for hundreds of thousands of households across Australia, Discover Energy too is helping usher the future of energy through the development of state-of-the art software that helps households sell their excess battery energy at optimised prices while also contributing to a greater influx of green energy into the traditional energy grid..