Energy Efficiency Grants for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

Energy Efficiency Grants for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

  • Applications are open until funding is exhausted or on 8 April 2024. 
  • All applications are subject to an assessment against the eligibility criteria and are not automatically approved. 
  • The minimum grant amount is $10,000 
  • The maximum grant amount is $25,000 

The Energy Efficiency Grants for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Round 2 supports businesses in upgrading or replacing inefficient equipment. This initiative assists businesses in reducing their energy consumption while enhancing their energy efficiency and contribute to Australia’s target of a 43% reduction on 2005 emission levels by 2030. Furthermore, it will contribute to mitigating energy price

Key Requirements

Due to the nature of this program and the high demand, applications will be opening in a staggered manner based on the jurisdiction for which is being applied.

Please see application opening date and times below for each jurisdiction:

  • VIC – 22 February 2024 
  • NT, SA – 23 February 2024 
  • NSW – 26 February 2024 
  • WA, TAS, ACT – 27 February 2024 
  • QLD – 28 February 2024 

Applications can only be considered from candidates who meet all of the following requirements:

  • small and medium sized businesses with an employee headcount from 1 to 199 employees averaged over any consecutive 12 month period since 1 July 2020. You may be asked to provide evidence of your calculation. Employee headcount includes employees across any and all related body corporates (as defined in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)). 
  • small and medium-sized businesses with at least 24 months of operation 
  • applicants must have consent from the owner of the project location in order to undertake the project, unless the entity is the owner of the project location. 
  • applicants that provide the mandatory attachments 

What is eligible for funding?

You are only permitted to utilize the grant funds for eligible expenses that have been accrued as part of the agreed-upon project outlined in your grant agreement. 

 Eligible expenditure items are: 

  • an energy audit of your site or part of your site 
  • purchase or hire of equipment to measure, monitor and record energy use or to monitor a process, where this facilitates optimisation or energy management 
  • purchase of new equipment to replace, or upgrade, existing equipment, where the new equipment is higher energy efficiency 
  • costs to decommission, remove and dispose of the old equipment that is replaced 
  • purchase of new equipment or components to help an existing system run more efficiently in regard to energy 
  • design, and reasonable installation costs of new eligible equipment, including any necessary wiring or other electrical work required to enable the project 
  • commissioning or tuning of equipment installed or modified as part of the project, and any related equipment that is affected by the project 
  • building permits or approval costs to install equipment, where required 
  • the cost of suppliers, consultants and contracted labour undertaking eligible project activities. 

Please note that solar panels and electrical energy storage equipment such as batteries are ineligible expenditure items under this program. 

Applicants who intend to purchase equipment for their project activities must purchase only new equipment (not used/second-hand equipment).   

There may be updates to the guidance on eligible and ineligible expenditure from time to time. If your application is successful, the version in place when you submitted your application applies to your project. You may be asked to verify project costs if your application is successful. 

To be eligible, expenditure must: 

  • be a direct cost of the project 
  • be incurred by you for required project audit activities 

When entering into a grant agreement you must incur the project expenditure between the project start and end date for it to be eligible unless stated otherwise in your grant agreement. Before you commence your project, you must execute a grant agreement with the commonwealth. 
 

What companies are eligible for funding?

To be eligible, you must: 

  • have an Australian Business Number (ABN) and be one of the following entity types: 
  • an entity incorporated in Australia 
  • a partnership 
  • a sole trader 
  • an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust 

 To be eligible, your project must: 

  • be aimed at reducing the energy consumption of your business in Australia 
  • have at least $10,000 in eligible expenditure 
  • be limited to one or more of the activities listed 
  • be entirely located within the state or territory (jurisdiction) you are applying for 

Is this grant competitive or entitlement based?

Competitive. Your application will be assessed among other applications by a judging panel.

How can I increase my chances of winning this grant?

By engaging an accredited government grants consultant, such as Avant Group.

Competitive grants often require significant business case development and project analysis to support the application, this may include detailed presentations supporting the project’s merit, projected sales, cost-benefit analysis and more.

As part of your engagement with Avant Group, your account manager will assess the required documents and will provide the following as needed to support your grant submission.

Grant application writeup including a detailed presentation illustrating how the grant funding will contribute to your project, how the funding will contribute to the project’s budget, a project milestone plan, delivery timeline, impact on employment if applicable and a breakdown of the management and leadership team for the project

  • Industry analysis presentation
  • Competitor Analysis Presentation
  • Marketing and Sales Analysis Presentation
  • 3-5 year Cashflow Forecast
  • 3-5 year Balance Sheet Forecast
  • Cost-Benefit Analysis of Grant Funding
  • End-to-end grant application including information collating, analysis and application writing
  • CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) cost-benefit analysis
  • Stakeholder relations and Risk Mitigation Plans
  • Any other relevant forecasting that will support your application

How can I get help with my application? Or know if I’m likely to win funding?

Avant Group offers a no-obligation assessment of your eligibility for funding and will assess your likelihood of a successful grant application.