Australia-wide

Name of program: Advancing Renewables Program

Who is it for?

• an Australian entity incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) 
• a Commonwealth entity prescribed as a government business enterprise by section 5(1) of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014 
• an Australian State or Territory owned corporation or a subsidiary of an Australian State or Territory owned corporation
• an Australian local government or council

Who's funding it? ARENA

Conditions:

• involves a Renewable Energy Technology that
  • Optimises the transition to renewable electricity
  • Commercialises clean hydrogen
  • Supports the transition to low emissions metals
• must not be commercially viable without ARENA support
• you are strongly encouraged to contact ARENA to discuss your Proposal before submitting an Expression Of Interest (EOI)

When does funding close? OPEN

How do I apply? Click here

Name of program: Climate-Smart Agriculture Program Capacity Building Grants

Desired outcome: Community, First Nations peoples and industry have increased capacity and capability to assist farmers and land holders to adopt climate-smart and sustainable agriculture practices.

Who is it for: First Nations people, companies and corporations, among others

Who’s funding it? Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Conditions: 

• complete one application form for each project proposal

When does funding for Round 1 close? 28 March 2024, but grants available until 2028

How do I apply? Click here

Name of program: Collaboration Grants

Aim:

• To support complex, multi-year projects put forward by a group of organisations aiming to collaborate, with the aim to drive energy systems change. 
• Collaborative research projects will have an intent to contribute to a policy or advocacy outcome and will involve working with advocates and other stakeholders.

Who is it for: First Nations organisations and others

Who’s funding it? Energy Consumers Australia

Conditions: 

• Applicants considering developing a Collaboration Grant should submit a brief (no more than 2 pages) proposal to the Grants Manager at [email protected].

When does funding close? OPEN 

How do I apply? Click here

Name of program: Community Energy Upgrades Fund

What’s it for:

• Funding for energy efficiency and electrification upgrades for local governments to deliver reduced energy bills and emissions from local government owned and/or operated facilities.

Who is it for: First Nations local government bodies

Who’s funding it? Australian Government

Conditions: 

• Grants between $25,000 and $2,500,000 to cover up to 50% of eligible expenditure

When does funding close? Closing 13 June 2025

How do I apply? Click here

Name of program: Energy bill relief for households and small businesses

Who is it for: 

• eligible households and small businesses

Who's funding it? Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

Conditions:

For households -

• It depends on where you live

  • If you live in NSW, Queensland, South Australia or Tasmania, you can get $500 per eligible household.
  • If you live in Victoria, you can get $250 per eligible household, plus a one off $250 direct payment through Victoria’s 2023 Power Saving Bonus Payment.
  • If you live in the Northern Territory, you can get $350 per eligible household.
  • If you live in Western Australia and are currently registered with the Electricity Concession Extension Scheme (ECES), you will get a $500 electricity credit split over 2 payments. All other Western Australian households can get a $400 electricity credit.
  • If you live in the ACT, you can get $175 per eligible household. 
• You can get bill relief if you are the primary electricity account holder, or another named account holder on your electricity account. You must also hold an eligible concession card or receive an eligible government payment in the state or territory you live in. Your household can only get one bill relief credit, even if there is more than one eligible person living there. You can only get bill relief for your principal place of residence.
• In most cases your electricity provider will automatically apply the bill relief to your electricity account and this will reduce the amount you owe on your next bill.

For businesses - 

• Your business must be on a separately metered business tariff with your electricity retailer.

• Your business’s annual electricity consumption must be less than the threshold for your state or territory. The energy consumption threshold is:

  • 40MWh in Victoria
  • 50MWh in Western Australia
  • 100MWh in the ACT, NSW and Queensland
  • 150MWh in Tasmania
  • 160MWh in the Northern Territory and South Australia

• You will get a $325 of bill relief if your eligible small business is in Victoria.

• You will get a $650 of bill relief if your eligible small business is in these states and territories:

  • NSW
  • Northern Territory
  • Queensland
  • South Australia
  • Tasmania
  • Western Australia.

When does funding close? OPEN

More information? Click here

Name of program: Environment Resilience Fund

Intention of funding:

• to support practical projects that build environmental resilience to natural disasters and climate change.

Who is it for: 

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations and groups
• urban, regional and remote community organisations

Who's funding it? National Australia Bank (NAB)

Conditions: 

• Grants range from $100,000 to up to $2,000,000 will be paid over a maximum period of up to five years for new projects (or contribute additional funding to existing) regional projects that build the evidence base for investments and interventions that improve resilience to natural disasters, and that support collaboration between several stakeholder groups.
• Grants are made through an Expression of Interest process from invited organisations
• Grants will only support an organisation, project or initiative that has a charitable purpose

When does funding close? OPEN (via expression of interest only)

How do I apply? Click here

Name of program: First Peoples’ Lens Cultural Fund

Who is it for?

• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person, group or organisation

What’s the aim?

• funding is focussed on publishing, research or library projects, and prioritises digital knowledge dissemination, with projects demonstrating broad access and impact for communities
• Examples of eligible projects include digital publications (for example, a journal or a book), library-based catalogue and/or collection projects, websites documenting community cultural development projects or collating data, and research projects that benefit Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities.

What funding is available?

• The fund has a total pool of $30,000 to commit to selected projects that meet specific criteria.

Who's funding it? Informit

Conditions:

• assessment of projects to be funded will be undertaken by Informit’s First Peoples’ Lens Steering Committee
• A Service Agreement will be established with successful recipients, outlining the project scope and milestones.

When does funding close? Closing 16 May 2025

How do I apply? Click here

Name of program: Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal Grants

Who is it for?

• registered not-for-profit organisations

Who's funding it? Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal

Conditions:

• A range of funding options available.
• Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis and assessed quarterly.

When does funding close? OPEN

How do I apply? Click here

Name of program: Gill Owen Scholarship

Who is it for: 

• individuals
  • working as a Consumer Advocate or related organisation at present (or with recent experience), preferably one which has worked on National Energy Market issues
  • relatively experienced and/or senior in the relevant sector
  • with good knowledge of the key issues facing Australian energy consumers
  • with the ability to prepare and deliver presentations – for their meetings overseas and on their return to Australia.

Examples of activities that could be funded:

• visits to one or more countries to learn from energy consumer activities and experiences

• meetings with key stakeholders in selected countries

• research on issues or relevance to Australian energy consumers

• written report documenting the learnings from the research and or overseas stakeholder meetings and their potential relevance for Australia

• in Australia, meetings with consumer groups, energy companies, government officials to promulgate research findings and recommendations.

Who's funding it? Energy Consumers Australia

Conditions:

• grants are to travel internationally to research innovative ideas and initiatives that will be relevant to improving outcomes for consumers in the Australian energy market
• recipients would be expected to disseminate their research findings widely in Australia to advocates and decision-makers

When does funding close? Opening 2025

How do I apply? Click here

Name of program: Household Energy Upgrades Fund

Who is it for: 

• 110,000 households with or without a mortgage, rental property owners, and strata properties.

Who's funding it? Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW)

Conditions: 

• Participating banks and finance institutions (see here) can be found on the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) website. Speak to a participating lender for further advice on eligibility requirements. 
• Finance (including green home loans, green personal loans, and other low-cost finance products) may be used for:
  • renovations or upgrades for existing homes
  • knock-down rebuild properties
  • energy upgrades of one or multiple technologies at the same time
  • energy-efficient appliances
• Installations of eligible upgrade technologies must be undertaken by accredited installers only, and might include:
  
  • Battery-ready rooftop solar and home batteries
  • Energy efficient appliances and household equipment
  • Heating and cooling measures, including air conditioning and ceiling fans
  • Double glazed windows and insulation
  • Energy monitoring systems
  • Electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

When does funding close? OPEN

More information? Click here

Name of program: Indigenous Protected Areas (IPA) program grants: Existing IPA projects

Who is it for: 

• 84 existing IPA providers (First Nations communities)

Who's funding it? Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

Conditions: 

• Grants from $100,000 to $3,000,000
• restricted and non-competitive grant opportunity available to existing IPA providers
• existing IPA providers do not need to submit an application

When does funding close? Funding available from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2028 

More information? Click here

Name of program: Kelvin Trimper Scholarship

What’s the aim:

• to build knowledge and/or improve access to programs or initiatives that will achieve improved consumer outcomes in the Australian energy market

Who is it for? 

• Individuals 
• a registered charity or not for profit organisation, or a registered ‘for purpose’ organisation within Australia

Who’s funding it? Energy Consumers Australia

What’s on offer?

• funding of up to $10,000

Conditions:

• Funding can be used for:
  • Researching specific programs or initiatives that could improve customer outcomes.
  • Delivering and evaluating the outcomes of a pilot program or initiative that will improve customer outcomes.
  • Training to improve customer engagement and advocacy skills.
  • Attending a relevant conference.
  • Research project that will deliver consumer benefits.
  • Other innovative initiatives which build consumer capability and advocacy skills.
• Following completion of the scholarship, the recipient will undertake:
  • A webinar to communicate the key learnings and insights gained.
  • Meetings with relevant consumer groups/energy companies/government officials to promote the learnings.
  • Speaking engagements including a presentation to SA Power Networks executive team and Community Advisory Forum.

When does funding close? Opening 2025

How do I apply? Click here

Name of program: Kick-Start

Who is it for? 

• start-ups
• small businesses
  

Who's funding it? CSIRO

Conditions:

• Funding of between between $10K- $50K
• Must be able to provide matched funding
• A CSIRO researcher or research team will work with your business on the R&D project

Eligible projects must include one of the following activities:

• Research into a new idea or discovery with commercial potential
• Development of a novel or improved product or process
• Testing of a novel product, developed by the company, to inform research and development activities.

When does funding close? OPEN

How do I apply? Click here

Name of program: Local Investments Funding Grant Opportunity

Who is it for?

• First Nations people and groups

Who's funding it? National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA)

Conditions:

• funding of no more than $125,000
• generally small scale, short-term, one-off proposals to address immediate local need and which have community support
• a variety of activities, ranging from small scale infrastructure and cultural activities, through to a co-contribution to larger projects
• activities that leverage other government funding and may include co-contributions for larger projects with other governments, local councils or organisations.

When does funding close? 30 June 2025

How do I apply? Click here

Name of program: Funding for businesses undertaking renewable energy projects

Who is it for: 

• Businesses wanting to undertake renewable energy projects

Who's funding it? ARENA

Conditions: 

• Focus areas:
  - Optimise the transition to renewable electricity
  - Commercialise clean hydrogen
  - Support the transition to low emissions metals
• Matched funding of between $100,000 and $50 million.

When does funding close? OPEN

How do I apply? Click here

Name of program: Participation Grants

Who is it for: 

• not-for-profit organisations, with a purpose or mandate that permits them to be an advocate for residential and small business energy consumers
• bona fide research organisations with a public purpose

Who's funding it? Energy Consumers Australia

Examples of activities that may be funded:

• engaging a consultant to provide technical or specialist expertise for a submission

• undertaking research

• undertaking workshops

• funding for reasonable travel costs (flights, accommodation, transfers) to engage in government, regulatory and industry forums relating to that process, and where video conferencing is not provided.

Conditions:

• provide up to $15,000 to support and accommodate an applicant's engagement in government processes, regulatory and policy reviews, and projects targeting the energy sector as a whole
• Applicants can apply for grants to pursue small, targeted research projects or longer term, strategic and substantive projects. Where projects are longer than one year, gateway reviews may be needed at appropriate stages to ensure that the project is ready to proceed to the next stage of implementation.
• Funding may be used to support consumer education projects that identify and fill structural and systemic knowledge gaps
• The proposed project must demonstrate how it will build knowledge and/or sectoral capacity supporting policy development and consumer education in the National Energy Market.
• Funding will not generally be prioritised for public education and awareness campaigns that are the responsibility of regulators and government, or projects targeted at informing and educating individual consumers.

When does funding close? Closing 31 December 2025

How do I apply? Click here

Name of program: Regional Australia Microgrid Pilots & First Nations Community Microgrids 

What’s the aim?

• Reduced cost of energy and other community benefits in First Nations Communities.
• Cleaner and more reliable energy in First Nations Communities.
• First Nations Communities are empowered to participate in their electricity supply arrangements and the development of energy infrastructure.
• Resolving one or more of the remaining barriers to deployment of microgrid solutions.

Who is it for: 

• entities incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001
• State or Territory owned corporations or a subsidiary of a state or territory owned corporation
• local government or councils
• organisations registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission (ACNC)

Who's funding it? ARENA

Conditions: 

• Funding is available to projects that have successfully completed a feasibility study.
• Grants between $1 million and $5 million.

When does funding close? 19 December 2025

How do I apply? Click here

Name of program: Prescribed Bodies Corporate (PBC) Capacity Building Grant Opportunity

Who is it for?

• Prescribed Bodies Corporates (PBC's)

Who's funding it? National Indigenous Australians Agency

Conditions:

• there is no maximum grant amount
• funding is designed to build the capacity of PBCs
• open to all PBCs and to third parties working with the PBC sector across Australia

When does funding close? 30 June 2025

How do I apply? Click here

Name of program: Qantas Regional Grants

Who is it for?

• First Nations individuals, community groups, charities and not-for-profit organisations in regional areas

Who's funding it? Qantas

What does the grant support?

• financial, flight and marketing support 

Examples of past recipients of the grant:

• Cape York Institute - To help purchase a new purpose-built truck for the social enterprise Mayi Market.

• Deadly Rugby - To help fund Indigenous employees’ attendance at on Country camps, including Indigenous Elders and Indigenous Cultural Ambassadors.

• Tamworth Local Aboriginal Land Council - To enable 50 Aboriginal students from local schools to participate in a new project that will map, revegetate, and protect the Peel Wetlands.

• Wild Horse FM Community Radio - To purchase quality recording and editing equipment to help celebrate the local community in Yarraman and record their life stories through the “Shoot the Breeze” program.

• Wuyagiba Bush Hub Aboriginal Corporation - To help transport students to and from The Wuyagiba Study Hub (Bush Uni) in southeast Arnhem land, providing access to tertiary education on Country.

When does funding close? Closing 10 May 2025

How do I apply? Click here

Name of program: Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme

Who is it for: 

• individuals
• households
• small businesses

Who's funding it? Clean Energy Regulator

Conditions: 

• offers a financial incentive to install eligible small-scale renewable energy systems, including:
  • solar panels
  • small-scale wind systems
  • small-scale hydro systems
  • solar water heaters
  • air source heat pumps

• Each megawatt hour of renewable energy generated/or displaced by the system is awarded one small-scale technology certificate (STC). STCs are calculated from installation date until the end of 2030 when the scheme ends. System owners typically assign the right to an agent to sell STCs on their behalf to receive an upfront lower purchase price (your electricity provider can help you claim). System owners can alternatively claim and sell the STCs themselves.

When does funding close? Closing 2030

How do I apply? Click here

Name of program: Social Enterprise Development Initiative (SEDI) Grants

What’s it for? Helps social enterprises grow their business, scale their impact and further their missions of creating positive social change. Supporting social enterprises to be more effective and efficient in demonstrating and increasing social impact for the people and communities they exist to support.

Who is it for?

• First Nations owned or controlled organisations

Who's funding it? Australian Government Department of Social Services

What’s available?

• grants valued at up to $120,000 each

Conditions:

• grants can be used to purchase business and impact capability building services from intermediaries, such as financial services, evaluation and impact measurement, business consulting and legal advice
• applicants must currently provide direct benefit to those experiencing entrenched disadvantage in Australia
• An organisation is not eligible to apply if the only benefit being provided is indirect (e.g. your organisation supports social enterprises that are providing the direct benefit)

When does funding close? Closing December 2025

How do I apply? Click here