PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The federal government, through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) will invest A$43-million into an Industrial Energy Transformation Studies Program, to help industry reduce emissions, adopt renewable energy, lower energy costs and become more energy efficient.

The A$43-million in funding will be provided into two streams to support feasibility studies and engineering studies to examine opportunities for the uptake and integration of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies in key industries, including agriculture, mining, manufacturing, gas supply, water supply, waste services and data centre sectors.

Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said the program would help identify opportunities to reduce energy costs in industries and lower emissions in hard-to-abate sectors.

“The program will support the next generation of energy technologies to cut emissions across industry consistent with the government’s emission reduction strategy.

“The Arena grants will help industrial emitters to find innovative ways to cut their energy demand, adopt renewable energy, save on their energy bills, and help Australia meet its emissions reduction targets.”

Industry is the largest user of energy in Australia, with around half of that energy used to produce heat for industrial and other processes.

Grants will be available for between A$100 000 and A$500 000 for feasibility studies or A$250 000 and A$5-million for engineering studies.

Arena CEO Darren Miller said the program would create a pathway for emissions abatement among some of Australia’s largest industrial energy consumers. 

“Helping large energy users to reduce emissions is essential to decarbonising the economy and helping Australia meet our emissions reduction goals.

“Whether it’s by integrating renewable energy into existing processes or increasing energy efficiency to minimise energy demand and cost, the Industrial Energy Transformation Studies Program will identify credible and innovative solutions to the challenge of reducing emissions in industry. 

“As Australian industries look to decarbonise, we must now find smart, replicable solutions to help cut energy costs and reduce emissions in hard-to-abate sectors. Through this program, Arfena is looking to support solutions that can provide blueprints for business across energy intensive industrial sectors.”