West Australian company, Naturaliste Vintners, will reduce the carbon emissions intensity of its refrigeration systems by more than 50 per cent by moving to hydrocarbon refrigerants.
Funding for the project has been made available through the $1 billion Clean Technology Investment Program.
Four WA-based manufacturers received grants last month worth $1.8 million to support the installation of $4.8 million worth of energy efficient equipment.
Naturaliste received $119,047 to insulate 59 stainless steel wine tanks and replace two refrigeration units with hydrocarbon refrigerants.
The biggest grant, totalling more than $1 million, went to Richgro, to generate all of its power onsite, reducing the company’s carbon emissions and its electricity consumption by 100 per cent.
Richgro will establish a two megawattanaerobic digestion waste to energy plant at its main manufacturing facility.
Canon Foods received $281,504 to convert two electrically heated components in a processing line to a gas-fired thermal oil system while Supa Stik Labels and Labelling Systems received $372,500 to upgrade and replace aging printing presses.
Under the program,a total of 3,000 projects will be funded in the next few years.
Meanwhile, New Zealand electricity company TrustPower has appointed Siemens to construct South Australia’s largest wind farm at Snowtown.
For the first time in Australia, world-leading gearless drive wind turbine technology will be used for construction.
The Snowtown II wind farm development will be capable of generating 270 megawatts of renewable energy and powering approximately 180,000 South Australian homes.
The head of Siemens Energy, David Pryke, said this wind farm will cement South Australia as the lead generator of renewable energy having already exceeded the nation’s 20 per cent by 2020 renewable energy target with 26 per cent of South Australia’s electricity now generated by wind.
Construction begins this month for completion by the end of 2014.
