The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has granted $838,000 to Hardwick Processors, Kyneton, to install a 1 MW (thermal) demonstration scale heat pump and upgrade the electrical supply system at its plant.
ARENA chief executive Darren Miller said the demonstration project would help to reduce barriers to uptake for the industry.
Mr Miller said the heat pump upgrade would enable the site to produce enough hot water to operate at levels to improve shelf life and access further export market growth.
It would also help reduce the site's reliance on natural gas by more than 75 per cent.
Around half of the total energy used by Australian industry is due to industrial process heat, which typically uses natural gas.
Mr Miller said the demonstration project would help to reduce barriers to uptake for the industry.
"The project offers us the opportunity to trial how using heat pumps can reduce reliance on natural gas and prove to the industry that this is technically and economically feasible and a viable solution to dramatically reduce emissions at their facilities," he said.
"Hardwick Processors is at the forefront of helping to reduce emissions in the meat processing industry.
"Having already installed on-site solar PV and battery, it is now able to demonstrate how the hot water demand of industrial processing can be managed with the addition of heat pumps and use of thermal energy."
Reducing the reliance on natural gas for process heat represented a significant opportunity to decarbonise Australian industry and reduce exposure to volatile gas prices.
Low temperature (~80°C) industrial process heat applications, such as hot water, were amongst the most accessible to supply with renewable energy.
Heat pumps operated comfortably in that range and could be powered with renewable electricity.
In 2019 Hardwick Processors was selected from a shortlist of manufacturers to undertake a feasibility study into using renewable energy to provide process heat, as part of a project led by the Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity (A2EP) and funded by ARENA.
The study found that it would be most efficient to run a smaller and less expensive heat pump continuously, storing hot water in existing thermal storage tanks.
The positive results led to ARENA funding the current demonstration scale project.
In addition to the heat pump installation, Hardwick Processors would also upgrade their electrical supply system to become a high voltage customer, taking any excess electricity required from the Powercor network.
This upgrade would provide valuable insights into the electrical supply infrastructure requirements associated with completely electrifying process heat for industry.
