The opportunity assessment for the RACE for Business B3 theme on decarbonising industrial process heating has been released. It is an impressive collaboration by researchers from UniSA, Queensland University of Technology, UTS and RMIT with stakeholder engagement led by A2EP.
The report provides a review of current market status and technology options while identifying market potential and relevant barriers to inform the future direction of research activities to support industry in achieving decarbonisation reliably and affordably.
Decarbonising industrial process heating is a critical step in reducing these industrial emissions in Australia with industry consuming nearly half of total end-use energy produced in Australia with 37% of this being used for process heat.
In preparing the report, the project team:
identified technology options which, when combined, can deliver 100% decarbonisation at lowest cost
analysed the potential of these options to displace fossil fuels in manufacturing, food processing and building
investigated barriers to achieving the potential of our modelling scenario and categorised them as technical, economic, knowledge and regulatory, and
recommended research activities to overcome these barriers.
The actions recommended in the report aim to deliver reduced energy costs of up to $600 million per year, a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across industry sectors by 2035 and improved energy reliability for industry.
Opportunity assessments have also been released for the research themes on transforming energy productivity through value chains and flexible demand and demand control.