PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Australian government has unveiled new regulations to empower the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) with a broader mandate to allow the agency to support energy efficiency and electrification technologies that can reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Arena noted that the transition to net zero will require technological changes across the whole of the Australian economy. Electrification of industrial processes and increasing energy efficiency are two approaches that will reduce emissions, when supported with increases in renewable generation.

These new regulations replace the previous regulations, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency Amendment (Clean Energy Technologies) Regulations 2022 which were introduced by the previous government and commenced in April 2022.

The earlier regulations broadened Arena’s power to support clean energy technologies including carbon capture and soil carbon, as well as blue hydrogen.

Arena is no longer able to support these negative emission technologies as a consequence of the new regulations.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said that Arena had a crucial role to play to support Australia’s energy transformation and to reach Australia’s 43% emissions reduction target by 2030.

Under the Australian Renewable Energy Agency Amendment (Powering Australia) Regulations 2022, the agency will be given an additional targeted mandate to maximise the take-up of renewable energy.

Bowen said the new regulations for Arena would help it deliver more renewable energy for Australian households and businesses.

“The best way to put downward pressure on energy prices is to ramp up investment in renewables and that is exactly what we are doing. This government is delivering on the Powering Australia plan that we took to the election, which included a major boost to renewable energy supplies to help create jobs, reduce emissions and revitalise Australian industry.

“These regulatory changes will help Arena work with industry on accelerating electrification as well as increasing energy efficiency that will support the overall transition to renewables.”

Decarbonisation of the economy will require large-scale electrification, which may not be exclusively powered by renewables initially, but will draw increasingly on renewable energy over time, Bowen said.

The electrification of industrial processes in the food manufacturing and mining sectors will support the phasing out of fossil fuel technologies and also support new infrastructure such as electric vehicle chargers, he added.

Energy efficiency technologies help reduce energy demand, which in turn reduces costs for consumers and enables the grid to incorporate more renewables.