The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is providing up to $3.25 million in funding to MGA Thermal for up to five front-end engineering design (FEED) studies to accelerate the commercialisation of their proprietary thermal energy storage (TES) technology, supporting industrial electrification.
At the core of MGA Thermal's system is its patented MGA Block technology, which stores energy as latent heat, enabling efficient long duration thermal storage. Renewable electricity is converted into heat and stored in the MGA Blocks, before being dispatched on demand as high-grade process heat suitable for industrial applications.
ARENA CEO Darren Miller said the project aims to address one of the most challenging areas of decarbonisation.
"Decarbonising industrial process heat is critical to Australia's net zero transition, but it remains one of the hardest problems to solve," Mr Miller said.
"By supporting detailed FEED studies, this project could give industrial customers greater confidence in the technical and commercial viability of TES, helping move promising projects closer to investment and deployment."
The project aims to advance five high-conviction commercial opportunities with strategic customers, producing detailed technical designs, cost estimates, delivery schedules, risk assessments and commercial strategies to accelerate project investment readiness and wider TES adoption across Australia's industrial sector.
MGA Thermal CEO Mark Croudace said this funding represents continued traction for MGA Thermal and provides an opportunity for industrial partners looking to decarbonise their operations.
"ARENA's backing gives industry the capacity to move forward with technical and commercial certainty enabling investment in TES projects. We're excited to work with forward thinking industrial companies who are ready to lead their transition."
Insights from the FEED studies will also be shared more broadly to inform industry of the opportunities for TES, the barriers to adoption and potential solutions to enable wider uptake across Australia's industrial sector.
This investment reflects ARENA's commitment to supporting innovative technologies that improve the competitiveness of Australian industry, reduce emissions and strengthen energy resilience as part of the clean energy transition.
