Dairy companies Fonterra and Bega Cheese are two of the 13 manufacturers receiving Federal Government technology grants ahead of the new carbon tax.
The government is providing a total of $8 million to assist manufacturers invest in $23 million worth of energy efficient machinery, to help reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas production.
Climate Change Minister Greg Combet says low heat lighting and new refrigeration will reduce the cost of production at Bega Cheese in NSW.
“(It will) significantly improve their energy efficiency and reduce what we call their emissions intensity, so for every piece of cheese that goes out, if I could put it that way, there will be a 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, so that is a significant improvement.”
Fonterra received a grant of $152,881, and Bega Cheese received $282,619 from the $1 billion clean technology investment program.
The companies add to that funding to generate new energy efficiency projects at their various processing plants.
Bega Cheese CEO Aidan Coleman says his NSW and Victorian company is looking for efficiencies across its five plants as costs rise.
He says their combined energy bill is $13 million a year, but it’s set to rise an additional $3 million this year as a result of the carbon tax and rising fuel costs.
Mr Coleman says this federal grant will enable the company to do a ‘very significant’ million-dollar technology upgrade of the 11-year-old processing plant at Bega.
He says the two Bega plants employ 750 people, and the three Victorian plants employ another 750 regional staff.
