“Significant scale-up:” Arena caps off first decade with record year of funding

The federal government’s Australian Renewable Energy Agency has capped off its first decade of financial support for the innovation and commercialisation of clean energy technologies with a record year of grant funding.

In its 2022-23 annual report, published on Tuesday, Arena says it approved funding of $544.1 million to 60 projects valued at over $3.5 billion, the Agency’s largest value of funds approved in a single year.

The agency says the huge year was driven by the project assessment and approval process for three funding rounds, including for big batteries, ultra low-cost solar R&D, and renewable hydrogen.

Of the $544 million, a total of $176 million was dedicated to the large-scale battery storage funding round, while $41.5 million was funnelled into the funding for ultra-low cost solar.

Over the past year Arena also opened new funding rounds and federal budget measures, including for community batteries, for green hydrogen, iron and steel R&D, and for the Driving the Nation program to demonstrate and deploy zero emissions vehicle technologies.

“The fact we’re seeing more funding go out to projects highlights the fact that industry is ready and able to tackle [the decarbonisation] challenge with us,” said Arena CEO Darren Miller on Tuesday.

“With these 60 approved projects alone, we’re looking at total project cost of over $3.5 billion – a significant scale up from previous years and a positive sign of commitment from the sector.”

According to the report, Arena’s funding unlocked $1.23 billion in third-party funding over the course of the financial year and helped to deliver 44 completed projects, with another 35 projects started anew. All up, the ream at Arena was actively managing 215 projects in 22-23.

Arena was first established by Labor Gillard government in July 2012, and has since then supported 663 projects with $2.25 billion in grant funding, unlocking a total investment of almost $9.75 billion (see charts above).

Miller says Arena’s expertise and “deep understanding” of the renewables sector means it can provide a pathway to commercialisation for many new technologies and businesses that would otherwise struggle to get off the ground – or be lost to overseas markets.

“Our track record shows what we’re capable of in terms of delivering transformative projects in the energy transition,” he said.