Page 28 - Climate Control News Nov 2019

Innovative Products
Putting the heat on local manufacturers
MANUFACTURING IS AN energy hungry business that relies on a lot of heat.
Since the rise of coal in the industrial revolu- tion, that heat has largely come from fossil fuels. Gas, coal and oil have underpinned much of to- day's manufacturing, but renewable alternatives are emerging – particularly for lower tempera- ture processes.
Now, as part of its support for Australian indus- tries' move to lower emissions, ARENA has made available $460,500 in funding to the Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity (A2EP) to help businesses make the switch to renewables.
The funding will support manufacturers to undertake feasibility studies into projects that will reduce emissions, lower energy bills and help to bring down the cost of new technologies.
Ten pre-feasibility studies have already been
undertaken, from which five will be chosen to progress to the full feasibility stage. Three have already been confirmed – McCain’s Ballarat po- tato processing facility in Victoria, Lion’s Ade- laide brewery in South Australia, and Simplot’s food processing plant in Tasmania.
The sites have been selected to trial technolo- gies that aren’t yet widely used in Australia. Ap- plications have been encouraged for projects that electrify processes currently powered by fossil fuels, utilise heat pumps powered by re- newables, or produce heat from combustion of renewable resources like biogas.
Feasibility studies and a business case for each of the five sites will be completed by the end of 2019, at which point the projects will be eligible to apply for ARENA funding to implement the plans developed.
Plants around Australia will trial technologies to help businesses make the switch to renewables.
ARENA CEO Darren Miller said that there is an opportunity to work with industry to grow re- newable energy, as well as reduce their costs and emissions. Compared to other countries, Aus- tralia has been slow to embrace renewable ways of producing heat for industrial processes. Aus- tralian Alliance for Energy Productivity CEO Jonathan Jutsen said there are a range of innova- tive but proven technologies available that Aus- tralia could embrace.
“There is great potential to be smarter about process heat. We don’t take advantage of cost- effective renewables,” Jutsen said.
“There are thousands of businesses that could benefit from these ideas.”
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