Up to $50,000 is available from Gas Efficiency Grants for businesses to improve energy productivity and affordability, support jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Boosting Business Productivity Gas Efficiency Grants
The Boosting Business Productivity Gas Efficiency Grants will support businesses to take practical action that results in more efficient use of gas, helping relieve gas cost pressures.
For large gas users, there are often many opportunities to improve efficiency such as upgrades to boiler or steam systems, industrial ovens or kilns, or recovering waste heat. Even improving the operation and maintenance of steam boilers can typically save up to 5% in gas use – that’s 5% less gas that your business needs to purchase.
Objectives
The Boosting Business Productivity Gas Efficiency Grants offer matched funding to assist eligible businesses with the cost of a variety of gas-related projects that will:
- improve energy productivity and affordability,
- support jobs, and
- reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Funding
Gas Efficiency Grants are capped at $50,000 and require a minimum co-contribution from the applicant of 50% of the cost of total eligible project expenditure. Project expenditure is the cost of undertaking the grant funded project.
The requirement for a co-contribution and a limit of $50,000 means, for example:
- the maximum grant available for a $30,000 project is $15,000, and
- the maximum grant available for a $200,000 project is $50,000.
For the purposes of calculating the matched funding (co-contribution) requirements, some types of project expenditure are not eligible.
Note that a funding cap of $50,000 applies to a business and its related entities. Similarly, SV may apply a funding cap to a franchise chain or group buying chain.
Eligible Projects
Four different types of project activities are eligible for funding:
- Capital equipment upgrades that result in improved gas efficiency or gas productivity.
- Non-routine maintenance and repairs of existing equipment and systems that results in gas used more efficiently.
- Fuel switching from gas to another energy source, provided that there is no increase in the GHG emissions or other environmental impacts.
- Installation of metering equipment that will create immediate gas efficiencies and/or build the case for future investment in capital upgrades that will improve gas efficiency or gas productivity.
An eligible project may focus on just one or a combination of these activities.
Eligible Applicants
To be eligible for funding an applicant must:
- Be a business that employs people and has a current Australian Business Number (ABN)
- Spend more than $20,000 on energy per year. This is the total cost of all energy used by the business in Victoria, excluding transport fuel costs.
- Use gas for equipment and/or processes that are core to its business operations.
- Hold a minimum Public Liability Insurance of $10,000,000
- The applicant, and its related entities, must have had no Fair Work Australia, Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) or Victorian Workcover Authority breaches in the past five years, or any such breaches are deemed not relevant by Sustainability Victoria.
Timing
Applications close 30 March 2018.
More Information
- Source
- Guidelines
