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As gas prices have more than tripled in the past decade and manufacturers seek lower, more predictable energy costs, a new accelerator has been launched to help the industry transition to renewable sources of energy and lift competitiveness.
Launched this month, the Australian Industry Renewable Heat Accelerator (AIRHA) will provide support and funding to mass-market manufacturers and manufacturing industry associations for projects including pre-feasibility and options studies, small-scale pilots and appliance switching.
Roadmaps will also be prepared for sectors such as food and beverage, agriculture, textiles, chemicals, and building materials.
The initiative is supported by the Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity (A2EP) and aims to demonstrate a nimble, scalable model for accelerating industry decarbonisation by efficiently providing support to a sector which has been historically underfunded.
It comes at a time when many industrial gas users are experiencing increasing pressure for decarbonisation as governments, customers and consumers seek to reduce their carbon footprints.
"Industrial process heat is one of Australia's biggest decarbonisation challenges, accounting for around 20 per cent of end-use energy, with most of that heat supplied by fossil fuels," says A2EP CEO Jarrod Leak.
"Transitioning to commercially available renewable heat technologies will help manufacturers secure energy costs, meet net zero targets and remain competitive in a decarbonising global market."
The accelerator is co-led by independent sustainability advisor Emma Peacock and renewable energy and decarbonisation professional Tom Connell, an associate director at the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
The co-leads have identified technical and economically viable solutions that are available to manufacturers such as industrial heat pumps, thermal storage, bioenergy, and solar thermal systems.
They believe renewable heat tech can be used for a large number of industrial process such as: washing, drying and sterilisation; drying, dehydrating and evaporation; pasteurisation; boiling, blanching and scalding; and distillation.
"Having worked with manufacturers for over 15 years, I know that lack of time, budget, and unfamiliarity with technology options are some of the biggest barriers to adopting renewable heat solution," says Peacock.
"The accelerator is designed to tackle these early-stage barriers by providing the resources and expertise manufacturers need to explore viable alternatives that can lower costs, improve sustainability, and strengthen business resilience."
Connell highlights the increasing viability of renewable heat solutions.
"We are seeing a large number of industrial processes - from washing and sanitation to drying, pasteurisation, and distillation - increasingly switching to renewable heat, giving manufacturers greater certainty over their production," he says.
"Many of those processes that require low-temperature hot water, steam and heat are suited to electrification with heat pumps, and there are a range of technologies emerging for higher heat applications, such has thermal storage, bioenergy, and solar thermal."
Applications for the AIRHA open in July and priority applications will close in late August, with the first projects commencing in September and October 2025. All projects are due for completion by March next year.
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