Government Launches $ 70 Million Fund to Reduce Carbon Emissions from Coal and Gas

The government has launched a $ 70 million fund to help companies switch from fossil fuels, such as coal and gas, to clean energy to process heat.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Energy Minister Megan Woods announced the fund in New Plymouth on Wednesday, saying it would allow businesses and industries to access financial support to switch from coal and gas-fired boilers to electricity and biomass options. cleaner.

Process heat is steam, hot water, or hot gases used in industrial processing, manufacturing, and space heating.

“Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from process heat is beneficial to our climate and our recovery,” Ardern said in a statement. “It provides much-needed financial support to businesses to help with the often costly transition from plant and equipment to clean energy sources.”

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Ardern said the $ 70 million fund would create jobs and stimulate the economy, while demonstrating the government’s commitment to future-proof New Zealand’s Covid-19 recovery.

“I have established that the economic recovery from Covid and addressing climate change are priorities for the new government,” he said. “This fund creates jobs while reducing emissions and is the exact type of initiative that will help us better rebuild from Covid.”

According to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA), 79 percent of New Zealand’s process heat is used in the industrial sector, in sawmills, pulp and paper mills and food processing plants (including dairy).

The remaining 21 percent is used in the commercial sector, in shops and office buildings, the public sector, in schools, hospitals, prisons and public administration buildings, and in the agricultural sector, mainly for greenhouses.

About half of the country’s process heat demand comes from burning coal or natural gas.

It represents approximately 9 percent of our total emissions and 27 percent of our energy-related emissions.

Woods said this fund would be key to reducing those emissions next year.

“The new fund will target New Zealand’s largest energy users to accelerate their adoption of electrification and other technologies that will dramatically reduce emissions from this sector and create clean energy jobs.”

Woods said there was a minimum of $ 15 million available in the first round, which opened Wednesday.

“Successful applicants will likely already have a plan to decarbonize their process heat and will be able to demonstrate cost effectiveness as well as their contribution to economic recovery by driving economic activity and providing local employment.”