Australian PM commits new funding for clean energy projects

Canberra, Oct 29 (IANS) Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has committed funding for two clean energy projects on the country's east coast.

Albanese on Tuesday announced over 50 million Australian dollars ($32.8 million) in combined federal government funding for the projects in the east coast states of New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria.

The package includes 33.3 million AUD ($21.8 million) to establish the Net Zero Manufacturing Center of Excellence in the NSW city of Newcastle, with the state government also contributing 28.1 million AUD ($18.4 million) to the project, Xinhua news agency reported.

Albanese said in a statement that the centre will play a pivotal role in training Australian workers in the advanced skills that will be required to transition mining, energy and manufacturing industries to a clean energy economy.

The remaining 17 million AUD ($11.1 million) will go towards Australia's first commercial concentrated solar thermal heat plant in the northeastern Victorian city of Wodonga.

The project will expand the application of solar power in Australia beyond electricity generation to heat generation.

According to the government, the 18-megawatt (MW) thermal plant will halve the use of gas by the manufacturing facility where it is being built.

The federal funding for the Wodonga project will come from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), which was established in 2012 to boost the supply and competitiveness of Australian renewable energy projects.