The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is an independent agency of the
Australian federal government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...
, established in 2012 to manage Australia's
renewable energy programs, with the objective of increasing supply and competitiveness of Australian renewable energy sources.
Background
ARENA was established in 2012 as an independent
statutory authority to manage the government's renewable energy programs.
Legal establishment came with the passing of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency Act 2011 (ARENA Act). The legislation passed parliament in November 2011 with the support of the
Australian Greens and the
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
and
National
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
coalition opposition as well as the governing
Labor Party. ARENA commenced operations on 1 July 2012. The agency resulted from negotiations within the Australian parliament under the
Gillard Government, with the intention of providing more secure funding for renewable energy programs in the context of political changes.
While ARENA was created as part of the Clean Energy Future package together with the
Clean Energy Finance Corporation, these are separate institutions. ARENA has consolidated various earlier renewable programs and research and development projects from the Australian Centre for Renewable Energy, the Australian Solar Institute and the former
Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism
The Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism was an Australian Government department. It was formed in December 2007 and dissolved on 18 September 2013. The majority of its functions were assumed by the Department of Industry; with the except ...
.
Responsibilities
ARENA was established with a total funding allocation of $3.2 billion out to 2020. In the
2013 budget the Labor government deferred $370 million of the agency's funding, extending the timeline to 2022. The subsequent
Abbott Government proposed to cut $435 million from ARENA's budget, followed by an additional $40 million, but has affirmed its support for the agency.
Operational activities
Investment priorities
ARENA supports the companies and institutions that are building Australia's future energy system.
ARENA'
funding and investment planlists its three investment priorities and addresses key areas that can help create a smooth transition to renewable energy.
Investment priorities-
* Priority 1. Integrating renewables into the electricity system
* Priority 2. Accelerating hydrogen
* Priority 3. Supporting industry to reduce emissions
Funding programs
ARENA carries out its mission via the followin
funding programs
* Advancing Renewables Program (ARP) - Development, demonstration and pre-commercial deployment projects;
* Research and Development - Renewable energy technologies that will increase commercial deployment within Australia;
* Renewable Energy Venture Capital Fund (REVC) - REVC fosters skills and management capability. It encourages investment in innovative Australian renewable energy companies to strengthen their chance of success;
* Innovation Fund - Emerging Australian technologies & businesses that can accelerate Australia's transition to a renewable energy economy.;
Projects
ARENA has committed t
486 projectsinvesting $1.46 billion. Some of the projects include:
*''
Battery storage
A battery storage power station is a type of energy storage power station that uses a group of batteries to store electrical energy. Battery storage is the fastest responding dispatchable source of power on electric grids, and it is used to stab ...
'': Australia's first grid scale batteries in South Australia and Victoria
*''
Bioenergy and
Waste-to-energy
Waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste (EfW) is the process of generating energy in the form of electricity and/or heat from the primary treatment of waste, or the processing of waste into a fuel source. WtE is a form of energy recovery. Mo ...
'': An assessment by the company Licella of the feasibility of constructing its first pre-commercial biofuel plant and
James Cook University developing a
macroalgae
Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...
to biofuels project to provide a blueprint for the development and production of high energy algal fuels.
*''
Demand response'': A three-year trial of ten pilot demand response projects to curb energy use during extreme peak demand periods, in partnership with AEMO and the NSW Government
*''
Distributed generation
Distributed generation, also distributed energy, on-site generation (OSG), or district/decentralized energy, is electrical generation and storage performed by a variety of small, grid-connected or distribution system-connected devices referred to ...
'': Australia's first trials of virtual power plants (VPP)
*''
Electric vehicle'': Australia's first fast charging networks for electric vehicles
*''
Hydrogen fuel
Hydrogen fuel refers to hydrogen which is burned as fuel with oxygen. It is zero-carbon, provided that it is created in a process that does not involve carbon. It can be used in fuel cells or internal combustion engines (see HICEV). Regarding hydr ...
'': Australia's first renewable hydrogen facilities
*''
Photovoltaic power station'': Australia's first large scale off grid renewable projects including microgrids, solar farms and hybrid projects to power mines and remote communities
*''
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity'': Feasibility studies into pumped hydro projects across Australia including Snowy 2.0, Hydro Tasmania's Battery of the Nation initiatives and a proposed seawater pumped hydro plant at Cultana, South Australia
*''
Solar photovoltaics
Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...
'': Research which developed techniques for obtaining high photovoltaic performance from poor-quality silicon, and has helped fund utility-scale solar photovoltaic stations in
Nyngan
Nyngan () is a town in the centre of New South Wales, Australia, in the Bogan Shire local government area within the Orana Region of central New South Wales. At the 2016 census, Nyngan had a population of 1,988 people. Nyngan is situated on th ...
, New South Wales (which at 103
MW will be the largest solar power station in the southern hemisphere) and
Broken Hill, New South Wales.
*''
Solar thermal
Solar thermal energy (STE) is a form of energy and a technology for harnessing solar energy to generate thermal energy for use in industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors.
Solar thermal collectors are classified by the United S ...
:'' Integration of solar-thermal integration with coal-fired power generation at the Kogan Creek Solar Boost Project, a 44MW
concentrating solar power
Concentrated solar power (CSP, also known as concentrating solar power, concentrated solar thermal) systems generate solar power by using mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight into a receiver. Electricity is generated when ...
plant, projected to be the world's largest solar-coal plant. The agency is also contributing to a feasibility study into local solar thermal power generation in
Port Augusta, South Australia and supported a study into the integration of solar thermal power with the
National Electricity Market
The National Electricity Market (NEM) is an arrangement in Australia's electricity sector for the connection of the electricity transmission grids of the eastern and southern Australia states and territories to create a cross-state wholesale el ...
(NEM).
*''
Wave energy
Wave power is the capture of energy of wind waves to do useful work – for example, electricity generation, water desalination, or pumping water. A machine that exploits wave power is a wave energy converter (WEC).
Waves are generated by wind ...
'' A 1MW demonstration generator (by
Oceanlinx) for installation off the coast of
Port MacDonnell, South Australia
Port MacDonnell, originally known as ''Ngaranga''Christina Smith, The Booandik Tribe of South Australian Aborigines: A Sketch of Their Habits, Customs, Legends, and Language', Spiller, 1880 is the southernmost town in South Australia. The smal ...
. Another is underway in Perth, Western Australia, and in early 2014 it was announced that Lockheed Martin and Ocean Power Technologies would build the world's largest wave energy project (62.5-megawatt) off the southern coast of Australia at Portland, Victoria, partly funded by ARENA.
* ''
Waste-to-energy plant
A waste-to-energy plant is a waste management facility that combusts wastes to produce electricity. This type of power plant is sometimes called a trash-to-energy, municipal waste incineration, energy recovery, or resource recovery plant.
Modern ...
'' The
East Rockingham Waste to Energy and
Kwinana Waste to Energy Plant
The Kwinana Waste to Energy Plant is a waste-to-energy power station under construction in Kwinana Beach, Western Australia. Once completed, the facility is scheduled to process in excess of of waste and will produce 36 MW of power.
Background ...
are under construction with financial support from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
See also
*
100% renewable energy
100% renewable energy means getting all energy from renewable resources. The endeavor to use 100% renewable energy for electricity, heating, cooling and transport is motivated by climate change, pollution and other environmental issues ...
*
Clean Energy Finance Corporation
*
Carbon pricing in Australia
A carbon pricing scheme in Australia was introduced by the Gillard Labor minority government in 2011 as the '' Clean Energy Act 2011'' which came into effect on 1 July 2012. Emissions from companies subject to the scheme dropped 7% upon its i ...
*
Distributed energy resources
Distributed generation, also distributed energy, on-site generation (OSG), or district/decentralized energy, is electrical generation and storage performed by a variety of small, grid-connected or distribution system-connected devices referred to ...
(DER)
*
IRENA, the International Renewable Energy Agency
*
Renewable Electricity and the Grid
''Renewable Electricity and the Grid: The Challenge of Variability'' is a 2007 book edited by Godfrey Boyle which examines the significance of the issue of variability of renewable energy supplies in the electricity grid.
Themes
The energy ava ...
*
Anti-nuclear movement in Australia
Nuclear weapons testing, uranium mining and export, and nuclear power have often been the subject of public debate in Australia, and the anti-nuclear movement in Australia has a long history. Its origins date back to the 1972–1973 debate ove ...
*
Renewable energy in New Zealand
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Commonwealth Government agencies of Australia
Renewable energy organizations
2012 establishments in Australia
Government agencies established in 2012
Renewable energy in Australia