The federal government is investing $330 million into clean energy and emissions reduction projects at heavy industrial sites around the country
The Australian government’s Powering the Regions Fund is funding $330 million to nine manufacturing and mining projects around the country, as demand for low emissions products grows around the world.
These nine projects will create hundreds of new jobs during construction, the federal government says, and secure existing regional roles that support Australian families and communities.
830,000 tonnes of emissions will be cut every year because of these projects, equivalent to taking over a quarter of a million cars off Australian roads.
“This $330 million investment in Australia’s hard-to-abate manufacturing and mining facilities is about securing the future of high-quality, low-emissions products made right here,” climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen says.
Projects receiving funding include:
- Cement Australia receiving $52.9 million to upgrade its kiln and increase the use of alternative fuels such as waste to reduce emissions at its site in Railton, Tasmania
- $93.9 million for the QAL Alumina refinery in Gladstone, QLD, which is retrofitting a low temperature digestion circuit into QAL’s existing high temperature unit, to reduce coal and gas consumption
- Adbri cement manufacturing in Port Adelaide, SA, receiving $50 million to install vertical roller mills to increase production and reduce emissions intensity
- $44.4 million for Shoalhaven Starches food manufacturing in Nowra, NSW, which is deploying heat recovery upgrades and enabling infrastructure to reduce gas consumption
- Murrin Murrin cobalt and nickel operations in Leonora, WA, receiving $35.7 million to supplement existing fossil fuel power sources with renewables and batteries
- $32.9 million for CSBP chemical manufacturing facility in Kwinana, WA, which is installing tertiary catalysts to remove 98 per cent of nitrous oxide emissions
- Grange Resources Iron Ore mine in Savage River, Tasmania, receiving $15 million to electrify its mine as part of transition from open cut to underground mine – reducing diesel use
- $5 million for Grange Resources Iron Pellet plant in Port Latta, Tasmania, which is modifying four vertical shaft furnaces to enable shift from anthracite (coal) to natural gas
- Liberty metal manufacturing site in Bell Bay, Tasmania, receiving $766,000 to produce 500 tons (453.6 tonnes) of biocarbon (charcoal), to test as an alternative to coke in smelting process.
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