The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is an independent agency of the Australian federal government, established in 2012 to manage Australia's renewable energy programs, with the objective of increasing supply and competitiveness of Australian renewable energy sources.

History

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) resulted from negotiations within the Australian parliament under the Gillard government (June 2010–June 2013), with the intention of providing more secure funding for renewable energy programs in the context of political changes. Legal establishment came with the passing of the ''Australian Renewable Energy Agency Act 2011'' (ARENA Act), which passed parliament in November 2011 with the support of the

Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, are a confederation of Green state and territory political parties in Australia. As of the 2022 federal election, the Greens are the third largest political party in Australia by vote and th ...

and the Liberal 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, ce ...

Coalition opposition as well as the governing Labor Party. ARENA was established in 2012 as an independent

statutory authority A statutory body or statutory authority is a body set up by law (statute) that is authorised to implement certain legislation on behalf of the relevant country or state, sometimes by being Primary and secondary legislation, empowered or deleg ...

to manage the government's renewable energy programs, and commenced operations on 1 July 2012. While ARENA was created as part of the "Clean Energy Future" package together with the

Clean Energy Finance Corporation The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) is an Australian Government-owned Green Bank that was established to facilitate increased flows of finance into the clean energy sector. As a specialist investor the CEFC at the centre of efforts to hel ...

, 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 ...

. The Solar Sunshot program, announced by prime minister

Anthony Albanese Anthony Norman Albanese ( or ; born 2 March 1963) is an Australian politician serving as the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2019 and the member of parlia ...

in March 2024, is a A$1 billion fund that delivers grants and production credits to manufacturers of solar panels, to increase the number made in Australia. (, 99% are imported.) The scheme will be run by ARENA. Provision will also be made to manufacturers of other components needed to create renewable energy, and the scheme is part of a plan to provide jobs for those workers currently employed in the coal industry. The new industries will be created in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

and the Latrobe Valley in Victoria, and Wollongong and the

Hunter Region The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its tributaries with highland areas to the north and so ...

in NSW.

Funding

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.

Funding programs

ARENA carries out its mission via the following funding programs: * Advancing Renewables Program - 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 - 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

Investment priorities and projects

ARENA has listed its three investment priorities and addresses key areas that can help create a smooth transition to renewable energy: # Integrating renewables into the electricity system # Accelerating hydrogen # Supporting industry to reduce emissions ARENA has committed to hundreds of projects (, investment billion). These include: * Battery storage: Australia's first grid scale batteries in South Australia and Victoria *

Bioenergy Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms biom ...

and waste-to-energy: feasibility of constructing a pre-commercial biofuel plant and

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairn ...

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 k ...

to biofuels project to provide a blueprint for the development and production of high energy algal fuels *

Demand response Demand response is a change in the power consumption of an electric utility customer to better match the demand for power with the supply. Until the 21st century decrease in the cost of pumped storage and batteries electric energy could not be ...

: A three-year trial of ten pilot demand response projects to curb energy use during extreme peak demand periods * Distributed generation: first trials of virtual power plants *

Electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes cha ...

: fast charging networks for electric vehicles *

Green hydrogen Green hydrogen (GH2 or GH2) is hydrogen generated by renewable energy or from low-carbon power. Green hydrogen has significantly lower carbon emissions than grey hydrogen, which is produced by steam reforming of natural gas, which makes up the b ...

production, with funding provided in March 2024 for a feasibility study into the East Kimberley Clean Energy Project, in which a 900-megawatt

solar farm Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate t ...

at Lake Argyle, Western Australia, would create green hydrogen gas. This would be piped north to Wyndham, where it would be converted into ammonia and exported to Asia. Total output is estimated at 250,000 tonnes per annum. *

Photovoltaic power station A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building- ...

: 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 Pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH), or pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES), is a type of hydroelectric energy storage used by electric power systems for load balancing. The method stores energy in the form of gravitational potential ...

: Feasibility studies into pumped hydro projects across Australia including

Snowy 2.0 The Snowy Mountains Scheme or Snowy scheme is a hydroelectricity and irrigation in Australia, irrigation complex in south-east Australia. The Scheme consists of sixteen major dams; nine power stations; two pumping stations; and of tunnels, pipe ...

, Hydro Tasmania's Battery of the Nation initiatives and a proposed seawater pumped hydro plant at Cultana, SA * Solar photovoltaics: research into techniques for obtaining high photovoltaic performance from poor-quality silicon utility-scale solar photovoltaic stations in Nyngan, NSW and

Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...

, New South Wales * Solar thermal: Integration of solar-thermal integration with coal-fired power generation at the Kogan Creek Solar Boost Project, contribution to a feasibility study into local solar thermal power generation in

Port Augusta Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...

, SA *

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 p ...

: A 1MW demonstration generator for installation off the coast of

Port MacDonnell 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 ...

, SA *

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 ...

: East Rockingham Waste to Energy and

Kwinana Waste to Energy Plant The Kwinana Waste to Energy Plant is a Waste-to-energy plant, 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 ...

References

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