Regional industries urged to apply for clean energy funding under new ARENA round
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has opened the third and final funding round of its Industrial Transformation Stream, offering $180 million to regional businesses that can cut energy use and emissions through either new technologies or wider uptake of existing solutions.
Regional businesses with energy-intensive operations are being invited to apply for a new $180 million funding round from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). The third round of the Industrial Transformation Stream (ITS) Program is aimed at helping industries in regional Australia reduce emissions and energy use through both innovation and deployment.
Darren Miller, CEO of ARENA, said the program is designed to help companies that may not know where to start.
“The ITS Program is aimed at businesses that are significant energy users in regional Australia that are looking for cleaner, more energy-efficient ways to operate,” Miller said.
“We know many businesses want to reduce emissions but aren’t sure where to start. This funding is designed to help them take that step.”
Round 3 has two focus areas:
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Innovation in industrial decarbonisation: developing new technologies or processes, such as alternatives to fossil fuels in high-temperature manufacturing.
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Advancing commercial deployment: supporting uptake of proven but underused technologies, such as electric heat pumps for food processing or paper production.
Projects may range from feasibility studies through to demonstrations and full deployment, with scope for two-stage proposals that move from planning to delivery.
To qualify for funding, applicants must:
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Be based in a regional area.
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Use large amounts of energy and produce either direct (Scope 1) or indirect (Scope 2) emissions.
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Be required to report under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme.
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Put forward a project that can be scaled or replicated to deliver benefits beyond a single business.
Eligible activities include electrification, low-emissions processing, energy efficiency, fuel switching, and enabling technologies such as energy storage or demand management.
The ITS Program, worth $400 million in total, sits under the federal Powering the Regions Fund. The first two rounds, launched since November 2023, have already allocated around $220 million to industrial projects. This third round will remain open until the $180 million is fully committed.
Miller said ARENA is interested in practical and scalable ideas across regional industries.
“Whether you’re electrifying cold storage at a meat processing facility, implementing thermal energy storage technologies, or recovering biogas from dairy waste—if you are tackling emissions and energy use in an innovative and scalable way, we want to hear from you.”
