Round two of WA Clean Energy Future Fund

Round two of Western Australia’s Clean Energy Future Fund is now accepting applications.

Launched in April 2020, the state government fund supports the implementation of innovative clean energy projects in Western Australia.

According to the WA Government website, these are projects that offer high public value through contributing to one or more of the following outcomes:

• Significant, cost-effective reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below projected (or baseline) emissions as a direct result of the clean energy project
• Design, deployment, testing or demonstration of innovative clean energy projects likely to deliver community benefits or lead to broad adoption and significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

“The Clean Energy Future Fund is an important part of the McGowan Government’s commitment to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and supporting our state’s COVID-19 economic recovery plan,” says Environment Minister Stephen Dawson.

The fund is focused on projects near the investment-ready stage so the funding can secure tangible emissions reductions, and applications with a strong potential for wider adoption.

In the first round, two Goldfields-based projects were offered grants worth more than $2.6m.

The two successful projects are:

Nomadic Energy ($1m), who will install 5MW of modular, re-deployable solar panels at Saracen’s Carosue Dam gold mine. The flexibility to redeploy the solar panels removes a key barrier to using green energy at mine sites, where a mine may cease operating before the cost of the solar panels has been recovered.

ResourcesWA ($1.6m), who will install 30MW of solar power at the Homestead mine site in the Goldfields, supplying power to the Paddington Mill and Mungari Mill sites and batteries at each of the mills (10MW and 5MW respectively, each with one hour’s storage) to reduce the impact of outages and support Western Power’s local substation.

Round two will prioritise clean energy projects that reduce emissions, create jobs, improve security and reliability of supply, or support the replacement of diesel use.

It will also prioritise projects that support decarbonisation of existing industry, develop new low-carbon industries or enhance energy efficiency in manufacturing or the built environment.

Due to changes made to eligibility and project funding, local government organisations are now eligible to apply. The maximum funding for projects has also increased to $4m.

The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, with support from Energy Policy WA, administers the fund.

Applications for round two funding close on Thursday, April 22, 2021. The fund has $16m available.

Click here for more information and application details.