Clean Technology Innovation Program
Up to $5M of funding to commercialise clean technologies.
About
The Clean Technology Innovation Program is a $200 million competitive, merit-based grant program. It will assist Australian industry to maintain competitiveness in a carbon-constrained economy through providing funding to support applied research and development, proof of concept and early stage commercialisation activities to develop new products, processes and services in the areas of clean energy, low-emission technology and other energy-efficient technologies.
Recipients
Some of the recipients so far include:
- Definium ($134,135) – Grant funding will assist the development of an affordable energy monitoring and management system.
- Saturn South ($115,923) – Funding will assist Saturn South to participate in the King Island Renewable Energy Integration Project that will show the viability of Demand Management technologies in isolated power networks.
- Ipacs Power ($110,000) – Grant funding will be used to develop boiler optimisation technology that detects build-up of slag on the tubes of coal-fired boilers. This technology will improve efficiency of the boiler and thereby reduce the power generator’s greenhouse gas emissions.
- Carnegie Wave Energy Limited ($1,27 M) – Grant funding will be used to design and construct a pilot-scale seawater reverse osmosis desalination demonstration plant utilising a hydraulic system that is directly driven by wave energy. This will greatly reduce the high energy consumption associated with current desalination systems.
- Semitech Semiconductor ($1.86 M) – Grant funding will be used to develop a single-chip micro-inverter that will enable competitively priced micro-inverter based solar photovoltaic systems to generate more energy.
- Sedwyn ($157,739) – Grant funding will be used to develop a wind powered rural water pump as a competitive alternative to existing carbon polluting windmill systems. Once developed and commercialised, Sedwyn’s wind pump will provide a cleaner alternative to diesel, petrol or electricity-powered pumps.
- Hivotech ($499,780) – Grant funding will be used to trial a system to monitor the integrity of electrification systems for electric railway and tram networks to enable targeted maintenance to significantly improve energy outcomes.
What is clean technology?
For the purpose of the Clean Technology Innovation Program, clean technology is defined as the development and/or adaptation of an economically competitive and productive technology and/or associated services designed to deliver greater energy efficiency and/or greater reduction in greenhouse gas emissions than its alternatives.
A broad range of project applications and technologies are expected. For example projects could include, but are not limited to:
- Technologies to generate energy from renewable and low emissions sources (Wind, Solar, Wave, Tidal, Hydro, Geothermal, Low emission coal, Biofuels, Cogeneration)
- Methods, equipment, technology and associated services to reduce energy demand or increase energy efficiency (More energy efficient industrial equipment; Energy efficient water treatment technologies; Waste management technologies that reduce energy demand)
- A component that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions via the product in which it is used (New gearing in a wind turbine to improve the efficiency of energy generation)
Objective
The objective of the Clean Technology Innovation Program is to increase applied research and development, proof of concept and early stage commercialisation activities that lead to the development of new clean technologies and associated services including low emission and energy efficient solutions, that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Clean Technology Innovation Program aims to help industries become more competitive and assist in the transition to a low carbon future by developing a range of clean technologies and associated services.
Funding
The Clean Technology Innovation Program provides up to 50 percent of eligible expenditure for the costs of the applied R&D, proof of concept and early stage commercialisation activities in approved eligible projects, up to a maximum of $5 million.
Matching Funding
A Clean Technology Innovation Program applicant does not need to have all matching funding at the time of application. However, the applicant must show it can match the grant at the rate it will incur eligible expenditure on the project. The applicant must be able to demonstrate the ability to fund the costs of the project not met by the grant. It cannot use in-kind (non-financial) contributions or other government grant sources. Other government grant sources include grants from Federal, State, Territory, local and international government sources.
Clean Technology Innovation Program applicants must provide documentary evidence of their ability to match the grant funding in the application.
All Clean Technology Innovation Program applicants will need to provide an Accountant’s Declaration as evidence. For projects with grant amounts of more than $500,000, applicants will also need to provide the following:
- Financial statements for the past 3 completed financial years
- Year to date financial statements for the current financial year
Details of their project funding strategy, indicating the sources of funding for their share of the project. This can include balance sheets, bank statements, cash flow documents, loan agreements, investor agreements, or confirmed purchase orders.
Timing
The maximum Clean Technology Innovation Program project duration is two-and-a-half years from the project start date. There is no minimum project duration.
Activities Supported
The Clean Technology Innovation Program will be designed to be as flexible as possible and will provide support for research and development, proof of concept and early-stage commercialisation activities. The terms R&D, proof-of-concept, pre-commercialisation and demonstration activities are fairly broad in nature and encompass a wide range of undertakings including, for instance, applied research, IP protection and management, product testing and development, experimental development or prototyping.
- Research and development (R&D) - Original investigation undertaken to acquire new knowledge which is directed primarily towards a specific practical aim or objective; or systematic work, drawing on existing knowledge gained from research and/or practical experience which is directed at producing new materials, products or devices, to installing new processes, systems and services, or to improving substantially those already produced or installed.
- Proof of concept - Proof of concept activity is concerned with the work necessary to establish the commercial and/or technical viability of a product or process. The proof of concept process can involve different activities depending on the particular area of technology involved and it is likely that there will be no standard procedure that all projects will follow.
- Early-stage commercialisation - Activities (including scale-up, prototyping and demonstration activities) to complete work necessary for installing and establishing processes, systems and services that enable a new product, process or service to be produced to the stage where it can effectively be brought to market.
Eligible Expenditure
Clean Technology Innovation Program eligible expenditure must be directly related to project activities (R&D, proof of concept and early stage commercialisation).
Generally, expenditure under the following headings is eligible (that is, attracts matching government funding) if it is directly related to eligible project activities (applied research and development, proof of concept, and early stage commercialisation):
- Labour
- Contractors
- Plant
- Prototypes
- IP protection
- Expenditure on overseas activities.
Other miscellaneous expenditure, if directly related to eligible project activities, may be eligible.
Clean Technology Innovation Program funds cannot be spent on the indirect support costs of research or staff (e.g. non-salary overheads), nor to reimburse participants for the costs associated with existing staff or other resources. In other words, grant funds cannot be used to subsidise labour costs for day-to-day operations.
Expert Assistance
Contact us on 03 9005 6789 or email to see how we can make your Clean Technology Innovation Program application more competitive.
There is a lot of work that needs to be undertaken in order to obtain funding.
We can assist with demonstrating:
- The expected net energy savings o(See Clean Technology Innovation Program Energy Conversion Calculator)
- Market demand
- Competitive advantage of the project outcomes
- The strength of the intellectual property
- Mmarket entry barriers and the strategies to overcome these barriers
- Manufacturing and market supply strategy
- Timeframe to first market entry and outlining expected market growth
- How you will fund the deployment beyond the grant period.
- How the project has an appropriate level of innovation.
- The project will resolve technical risk
- Technical capacity to undertake the project
- A well-articulated project plan, including methodologies and milestones linked to a feasible timeframe.
- Management personnel have appropriate expertise and a solid track record
- Fit within the applicant’s business strategy
- Company financial viability and performance
Media Release
A Tasmanian manufacturing company based in Burnie will use revenue from the carbon price to devise a world-first monitoring system to improve the energy efficiency of electrical railway and tram lines.
Dunham Holdings Pty Ltd, trading as Hivotech, has been awarded a grant of up to $499,748 under the Clean Technology Innovation Program to develop and trial its Network Integrity Management System (NIMS).
The Minister for Climate Change, Industry and Innovation, Greg Combet, and the Federal Member for Braddon, Sid Sidebottom, announced the grant and congratulated the company for its innovative idea.
“This is a great example of a clever Tasmanian business coming up with a solution to a world-wide problem. Hivotech’s system could virtually eliminate the laborious and expensive physical maintenance cycle for electrical railway and tramlines,” Mr Combet said.
“This grant will allow electrical railway and tramline operators to remotely identify the location of faults in the network and target their maintenance effort,” said Mr Sidebottom.
“This will make it easier to detect faults and reduce power leakages, improving energy efficiency and cutting emissions.
“It’s further proof of the innovative spirit which exists in the North West of Tasmania, demonstrating the ability to take a great idea and turn it to a practical and beneficial end.”
The main element of NIMS is a monitoring unit mounted at the top of power grid support poles every 2 kilometres for rail and every 500 meters for trams. These units measure the condition of the network at that point – namely the insulators which support electrical power transmission wires.
Rail networks operate a 45-day maintenance cycle to inspect every insulator and joint. The annual maintenance budget for the Australian electric rail industry as a whole is more than $3 billion.
The $200 million Clean Technology Innovation Program is supporting innovative businesses to develop new clean technologies and is an important part of the Gillard Government’s plan for a Clean Energy Future.
The program provides grants of between $50,000 and $5 million.
