Australia Govt: Heat pump tech to reduce emissions in the poultry industry

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced $318,000 in funding to Ground Source Systems. The company will demonstrate a full-scale solar PV and ground-source heat pump system, with gas backup, for heating and cooling at a commercial broiler facility in Yanderra, NSW.

The hybrid system will incorporate a 100-200 kW thermal ground source heat pump to replace LPG as a fuel for heating and cooling a single shed for housing chickens.

The University of Melbourne is assisting on the project, providing data analysis, content generation and knowledge-sharing across the sector.

Annual energy bills for chicken farms are around $80 to $100 million in aggregate across Australia. They cause emissions of around 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 per year.

The heat pump system, powered by onsite solar PV, has the potential to reduce total emissions by around 1 million tonnes each year.

ARENA CEO Darren Miller said the project is expected to provide an important case study to drive uptake across the sector. ‘Heat pumps represent a viable alternative to traditional heating systems in helping to reduce emissions from Australia’s meat and poultry industry.’