The project will test whether thermal energy storage can provide a practical pathway to lower emissions from industrial heat in a real-world operating environment, where reliability, performance and integration are critical

This grant will will provide funding to support Australia’s largest demonstration of industrial heat electrification, helping to validate the role of thermal energy storage in reducing fossil fuel use in energy-intensive industries and paving the way for similar projects in other sectors. The project is being delivered at Rio Tinto’s Yarwun alumina refinery near Gladstone, Queensland and will be one of the first large-scale demonstrations of thermal energy storage for industrial process heat globally. Industrial process heat is extremely challenging to decarbonise. Heavy industries such as alumina refining rely on large volumes of continuous, high-temperature steam that has traditionally been produced using fossil fuels. Thermal energy storage has emerged as a promising option where low-cost electricity is stored as heat and used to produce a continuous output of steam for refinery operations, reducing reliance on fossil fuel usage. ARENA’s funding for the project will be provided in stages, with an initial $3.6 million to complete front-end engineering and design work. Following successful completion of that study, ARENA will provide up to $38 million for deployment. ARENA has also approved up to $33.3 million in conditional contingency support, which would only be made available in defined circumstances to manage specific project risks, including cost overruns and electricity costs. The project will deploy a 30 MWt (discharge) / 78 MWe (charge) / 360MWh Rondo Energy thermal energy storage unit at Yarwun, using low-cost electricity to charge a heat battery that can store energy and release it when needed to generate steam for industrial operations. It is expected to cut onsite emissions by around 67,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.