CSP to power pet food manufacturing in Wodonga

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced $17.2 million in funding to Mars Petcare to develop a concentrated solar thermal renewable energy plant at its pet food manufacturing facility in Wodonga, Victoria. The project aims to demonstrate a pathway where using concentrated solar thermal as a heat source can support industry to reduce its emissions.

“We’re excited to be working with Mars Petcare to demonstrate the potential of concentrated solar thermal as a viable option for Australian industry to generate renewable heat, making use of our abundant sunshine to provide the energy required,’ said ARENA CEO Darren Miller. “With industry currently accounting for around 44% of Australia’s total emissions, we need to look at all renewable energy technology options to generate enough energy to power industry and solve this challenging piece of the puzzle.

“Concentrated solar power has been used for electricity and heat generation for decades overseas, so it’s great to see the renewed interest in it from Mars Petcare in what could be a growing trend for Australian industry in its journey to net zero.”

The promise of concentrated solar thermal as a renewable heat source lies in its smaller land requirements when compared to electric heating backed by solar photovoltaic (PV) and the ability to avoid upgrading power supply infrastructure.

ARENA hopes the project will provide a blueprint for industrial facilities looking to generate renewable energy from heat onsite, where land availability constrains the use of PV.

The $39.3 million ‘Wodonga Concentrating Solar Thermal & Thermal Energy Storage Project’ is set to be the first deployment of parabolic trough concentrated solar thermal technology in Australia and is the sixth largest deployment of solar heat for an industrial process globally.

ARENA funding will support Mars to install the 18 MW (thermal) concentrated solar thermal plant to provide industrial process heat to the pet food factory.

Mars Petcare Australia and New Zealand General Manager Craig Sargeant said investing in this technology is a significant step for Mars in Australia and globally.

“Mars would like to thank the Australian Government for its range of clean energy initiatives and is proud to be partnering with ARENA to develop Australia’s first commercial deployment of concentrated solar thermal at Mars Petcare Wodonga,” he said. “Most Australians would be familiar with Mars’s Petcare brands but what they wouldn’t know is that today’s announcement enables our Wodonga facility to become a fully decarbonised large-scale steam-based manufacturing site in Australia within the next two years.”

Mars Petcare Wodonga will use the parabolic trough technology to harness thermal energy from the sun, discharging heated water/steam mixture to a steam drum, to be directed to a series of steam accumulator tanks.

The steam accumulator tanks will provide up to 150 MWh of steam thermal energy storage to provide round-the-clock process heating even when the sun doesn’t shine.

The project will use water as the heat transfer fluid, storage medium and energy carrier to avoid the requirement for heat exchangers and thermal oil systems commonly utilised in CSP plants.

Image credit: iStock.com/senorcampesino