The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced $305,000 funding for a $743,000 partnership to strengthen the South East Region of Renewable Energy Excellence (SERREE) initiative.
ARENA CEO, Ivor Frischknecht, joined Dorte Ekelund, Director-General of ACT Environment and Planning Directorate, and Leslie Williams, NSW Parliamentary Secretary for Renewable Energy, to launch the project in Canberra.
Mr Frischknecht said SERREE would establish a Regional Renewable Energy Industry Cluster in the southeast NSW-ACT region, forming a model that could be adopted by other regions.
“The ACT and NSW governments and key renewable energy industry stakeholders are partnering with ARENA to support SERREE to encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing across the southeast region,” Mr Frischknecht said.
“It’s a valuable initiative that identifies renewable energy business opportunities, holds forums, and provides resources to a growing membership.”
“There is a wealth of renewable energy projects throughout south east NSW and the ACT, making it an ideal place to trial a regional approach to knowledge sharing and skills building.”
“The expanding network will establish a best practice framework to encourage other regions to adopt a similar approach to excellence in renewables.”
Regional Development Australia ACT (RDA ACT) has led the SERREE initiative over the past three years, with the support of its funding partners.
Mr Frischknecht said SERREE has been very successful with engaging a broad range of stakeholders across business, industry, government, and education providers.
“More than 450 network members have participated in the collaboration to date, ranging from government and research institutions through to international project development organisations,” Mr Frischknecht said.
“The ongoing development of SERREE very much complements ARENA’s role in driving knowledge sharing to accelerate the proliferation of renewable energy in Australia.”
“It strongly supports ARENA’s priority of renewable energy industry development through skill and capacity building by fostering local industry links and opportunities.”
The project will continue across the next three years. In addition to ARENA support, it is receiving $60,000 ACT government funding and $120,000 NSW government funding.
