Antinuclear

ARENA is seeking feedback on four priority areas proposed for its R&D program to encourage collaboration between the research sector and industry in the second round of the program in 2015.

Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) CEO Ivor Frischknecht said “Strong collaboration between research and industry will help ensure Australia’s world-class renewable energy knowledge is translated into commercial outcomes and increase the economic, social and environmental return on investment in R&D.”

The current priority areas include:

• Balance of system cost reduction
• Integration and high penetration of renewables into networks
• Renewables as an alternative to gas for industrial process heat
• Integration of renewable energy into building materials or other products (consumer products, vehicles, signage, sensors etc.)

The agency is seeking feedback from stakeholders on the following:

• Do the proposed priority areas address a current energy challenge for Australia? Are there any other energy challenges that industry-researcher partnerships could address?
• How willing/able is industry to invest in R&D in these priority areas? What other areas would industry be willing to invest in? What level of support is industry willing/able to provide?
• To what extent can existing researcher/industry linkages be leveraged? How easy (or otherwise) is it to establish a new industry-researcher partnership to develop and deliver a project?
• What are the commercialisation prospects (either domestic or international) for research conducted in the proposed priority areas? Are there any areas not listed above where researchers and industry could collaborate effectively to achieve a commercial outcome Does Australia have world-leading research capability in any (or all) of the above areas?

To submit comments, email: submissions@arena.gov.au by COB 30 January 2015.

ARENA also recently announced $2 million for a biomass project in Australia.