Got green ideas? WA has $4m for an office and $15m grants up for grabs

The West Australian government is seeking interest in a new $4m partnership for a green tech hub, which will hand out $36m worth of funding.

The West Australian government is on the hunt for a partner it can give $4m to establish a new green technology hub, which will be the home of new research and multimillion-dollar grants over the next four years.

The GreenTech Hub — backed entirely by Chevron and announced on Tuesday at the WestTech Festival in Perth — will be the latest technology hub to rise out of the state, and Science Minister Stephen Dawson said he hoped it would help find innovative ways to reduce emissions across the state.

Science Minister Stephen Dawson during the flooding in Fitzroy Crossing in early 2023. Picture: Supplied

The new hub is part of a $40m agreement between Chevron and the West Australian government, a four-year commitment which help establish a green technology centre and fund research, projects and new technology.

The agreement includes $4m to be delivered over four years to a partner who can help establish a physical presence for the hub as a Lower Carbon Grants Program Fund which would provide between $5m and $15m to new, “transformative” projects and research in the green technology space.

Mr Dawson said the GreenTech Hub was part of the government’s commitment to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

While the fund had come entirely from Chevron Australia’s Gorgon Joint Venture, the government was considering putting some funding behind the establishment of the hub.

“What we’ve done with our other innovation hubs is partner with a university or not-for-profit organisation, or sometimes both, and we put some money on the table, and they put some money on the table, and collectively we then decide what course of action we take,” he said.

The government expects the facility will be operational before mid-2024, with grants to be handed out in the latter part of 2024.

“We’ll hopefully have applications in by February so by the second quarter of next year, we should be in a position to make an announcement about the operator and then the grant rounds will follow after that,” Mr Dawson said.

Chevron’s Perth-based general manager of energy transition Dave Fallon said “we’re really interested to see what the smart people within our state will come up with”.

Mr Dawson said the government had been in talks to establish the hub for several months and began speaking with Chevron over the past few months.

“In fact, with this new fund there are opportunities to work with the federal government or indeed other states,” he said.

The West Australian government announced it would commit $500,000 to WestTech Festival over the next two years.

Joseph was a guest of WestTech Festival in Perth.