The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has put $20 million up for grabs for new research and development seeking to develop and commercialise renewable energy technologies.
The second round of ARENA’s Research & Development Programme (R&D) will support industry and research partnerships.
The Agency has already provided $21.5 million funding for 12 projects through the first round of the Programme and is again looking for bang-for-buck from the new grants; not “blue-sky” or basic research.
“ARENA understands the importance of supporting R&D projects to drive innovation and advance renewable energy technologies and solutions suited to the 21st century,” said CEO Ivor Frischknecht.
“ARENA is not, however, in the business of investing in research for the sake of research; our goal with this R&D round is to further align our investment in research and development with the needs of industry.”
Projects must address one of more of the following four key technology focus areas:
– Balance of System cost reduction (on or off-grid)
– Integration and high penetration of renewables into networks (either on-grid, off-grid or mini-grids)
– Integration of renewable energy for industrial process (excluding electricity generation)
– Integration of renewables into buildings or building materials
Grants are typically between $500,000 – $5 million, with no individual grant to exceed $10 million.
To apply, applicants must be an eligible Australian research institute, university or business and expressions of interest are open until 19 June 2015. Further details can be viewed here.
The latest round won’t be the end – the body has allocated up to $300 million over 2013-2022 for its Research & Development Programme.
In other recent ARENA news, the organisation recently congratulated RayGen Resources on a $3.6 million pre-commercial pilot concentrated solar photovoltaic (CSPV) power tower project, which was supported by $1.7 million funding from ARENA. Now fully operational, the 200kW tower will supply electricity to a local agriculture business and will provide data on performance, reliability, operations and maintenance that will be shared with the broader energy industry.
Established by the Australian Government, in 2012; ARENA has two objectives: to improve the competitiveness of renewable energy technologies, and to increase the supply of renewable energy in Australia. The Agency has been provided a total of $2.5 billion in funding.
