$70 million Powering the Regions Fund: Industrial Transformation Stream opens for applications

The federal government’s Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) opened a second round of the Powering the Regions Fund: Industrial Transformation Stream (ITS) program on Friday, with $70 million allocated to assist industrial businesses to decarbonise.

Following Thursday’s announcement of a $39.8 million grant awarded through the fund to the nation’s only silicon producer, Simcoa Operations, ARENA said the second round is currently open to expressions of interest until July 15. 

The ITS program’s second round will cover two focus areas. These were given as “Innovation in industrial decarbonisation”, and “Advancing commercial deployment”. These cover:

• Support for “highly innovative, first of a kind technologies and solutions that have the potential to significantly reduce emissions”; and
• Accelerating commercial deployment of technologies and solutions “that may be technically demonstrated but are not yet commercially viable or where widespread adoption remains limited.”

“Heavy industry accounts for approximately 44 [per cent] of Australia’s total emissions and 45 [per cent] of our energy use,” said ARENA CEO, Darren Miller. 

“Decarbonising industry is critical in meeting Australia’s short and long-term emissions reduction targets and reducing industrial environmental impact”

Powering the Regions is budgeted at $1.9 billion in total, with ITS worth $400 million of this. 

The first round of ITS, worth $150 million, has closed. ITS “will run until 2027 or until funds are exhausted”, according to ARENA’s website.

More information on the second round and its two focus areas is available here.

Picture: credit Simcoa

Further reading

Australia’s only silicon manufacturer awarded $39.8 million grant

Incitec Pivot, Boyne Smelters among winners of $91 million in grants for hard-to-abate industries

Grant to accelerate decarbonisation of cement for ADBRI

Government announces $200 million for “clean, green Aussie made steel”