The Albanese Government is backing a major heat battery project at Rio Tinto’s Yarwun alumina refinery in Gladstone, helping Australian industry cut emissions while keeping manufacturing strong.
Supported by Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) funding, the project will demonstrate how electricity can produce the heat needed for alumina refining.
Heavy industry needs a reliable supply of heat to operate. Heat batteries offer a way to store energy as heat and deliver it when needed, helping industrial sites switch from fossil fuels to electricity.
The Yarwun project will integrate a 360 megawatt-hour Rondo Heat Battery into the refinery’s existing steam system. It will use cheaper electricity to charge the battery, then release the stored heat to produce high-pressure steam.
This will be one of the largest industrial heat battery demonstrations in the world once operating, expected to cut onsite emissions by around 67,000 tonnes a year.
The project will be delivered in two phases, with an initial $3.6 million to complete front-end engineering and design work, followed by up to $38 million for full-scale construction and commissioning should the project proceed, as well as up to $33.3 million in conditional contingency support.
As ARENA’s flagship electric thermal energy storage project, the demonstration will help establish how the technology can be used at scale across Australian heavy industry.
Lessons learnt on design, installation, operations and costs will be shared to help other industrial businesses assess the technology and support larger projects in the future.
The investment is supported through Round 1 of ARENA’s Industrial Transformation Stream of the Powering the Regions Fund.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen:
“Australia has a big future making the materials the world needs. We want those materials made here, with lower emissions and strong regional jobs.
“Cutting emissions from industry means tackling the heat needed to make products like alumina. This project will show how a heat battery can be used at an operating refinery.
“By testing this technology at scale in Gladstone, we can help other Australian manufacturers understand how it could work for them.
“We’re backing practical projects that help Australian industry cut emissions and compete in a global market that is increasingly demanding cleaner products.”
