What were the five biggest stories of the week? Here’s what visitors to @AuManufacturing were reading. 5) Green Gravity says former Wollongong Resources coal mine to host world’s first demo deployment of “breakthrough technology” Green Gravity and Wollongong Resources have announced execution of a binding agreement for gravitational energy storage trials at the Russell Vale mine. The pair…
Federal government lowers fees for offshore wind developers The federal government said on Tuesday that it’s “cutting financial burdens and red tape for offshore wind development”, and for the next two years will reduce application fees for transmission and infrastructure licences from $300,000 to $150,000. According to a statement from energy minister Chris Bowen, fees…
The federal government has announced funding budgeted at $1.1 billion “to help unlock the vast economic opportunities” offered by low-carbon liquid fuels, and claiming that the nation “has the ingredients needed to make cleaner liquid alternatives to fossil fuels” made from materials such as agricultural waste. Citing Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) estimates, the government…
The federal government has launched round two of the Solar Sunshot program, which is offering a total of $150 million in grants and production credits to support manufacture of solar PV module components, as well as racking, tracking and deployment technologies. Projects supported are expected to involve commercial-scale manufacturing of solar PV technologies at “at…
The federal government has announced financial close for Stage 1 of Marinus Link, an undersea and underground electricity and data interconnector linking Victoria and Tasmania, after $3.8 billion in funding from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation was secured. According to a statement from federal energy minister Chris Bowen and others on Wednesday, it marks the…
The federal government’s Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has awarded a $19.8 million grant to support NeoSmelt – a joint venture between BlueScope, BHP, Rio Tinto, Woodside Energy and Mitsui Iron Ore Development – progress towards a planned low-emissions iron pilot plant at Kwinana. According to a statement on Tuesday from energy minister Chris Bowen…
Construction products company Boral has been awarded a $24.5 million grant from the federal government to assist in a new cement kiln infrastructure project, which it says will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 100,000 tonnes per annum. Boral said in a statement on Friday that the kiln feed optimisation project at Berrima Cement…
Australia’s only silicon manufacturer, Simcoa Operations, will receive a $39.8 million grant under the federal government’s Powering the Regions Fund to expand the use of charcoal and end the use of coal in its production. According to a statement from energy minister Chris Bowen on Thursday, the move will reduce Simcoa’s greenhouse emissions by 89…
The federal government has announced $14.1 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to back projects seeking to develop cleaner, greener aviation fuel options to reduce emissions in the aviation sector. A domestic Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) industry, with Australian made fuel from local feedstock, could play a key role in making the fuel…
The federal government has announced Australia’s biggest ever round of investment in renewables, approving 19 projects across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and South Australia mostly due to be operational by 2028. The projects backed under the government’s Capacity Investment Scheme also will make history, with South Australia becoming the first large-scale electrical grid in…