Powering progress: Funding to transform Australia's electricity grid opens soon

The Australian Government’s Grid Enhancing Technologies (GET) program provides businesses with up to $5 million in competitive grant funding to accelerate the development, trialling and application of grid enhancing technologies, aiming to maximise capacity and utilisation of existing infrastructure in Australian electricity networks and the deployment of grid enhancing technologies.

This program is a part of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW)'s goal to deliver secure, reliable and affordable energy to consumers.

Program objectives

The program aims to achieve this goal by:

• Demonstrating and testing the effectiveness of grid enhancing technologies being applied to Australian electricity networks
• Identifying costs and benefits of key technologies and pathways for wider application in Australian electricity networks.

The intended outcome of the program is to apply grid enhancing technology to Australia’s electricity network infrastructure, resulting in:

• Greater utilisation and productivity of existing network infrastructure allowing more renewable energy to flow to consumers more rapidly, helping put downward pressure on wholesale power prices
• Addressing congestion “black spots” in existing networks reducing curtailment of renewable energy generation, while improving reliability and capacity within and at the edges of the grid
• Reducing or delaying the need for additional network infrastructure lowering the network cost component of energy bills, with lower impact on the environment and communities hosting infrastructure relative to greenfield transmission
• Improving network visibility and control, leading to enhanced resilience and safety for bushfire, extreme weather events, cyber security and other system security, reliability and recovery benefits.

The program provides up to $30 million in competitive grant funding over four years from 2025-26 to 2028-29.

Who is the program for?

This program is an opportunity for eligible entities seeking to deliver benefits for Australian energy consumers by accelerating the development, trialling and application of grid enhancing technologies in electricity networks.

This initiative is crucial in adapting existing grid infrastructure to the rapid growth of renewable energy, ultimately helping to minimise wholesale energy prices. It is also set to enhance reliability on grid infrastructure in remote regions and prioritise safety measures.

For organisations operating in this domain, this represents a unique chance to secure funding whilst contributing to reducing cost-of-living pressures for millions of Australians.

Grant value

A grant of up to $5 million to cover up to 100 per cent of eligible expenditure is available.

Eligibility criteria

Eligible entities can apply if they:

• Have an Australian business number (ABN)
• Are registered for GST
• Are non-income tax exempt.

They are also one of the following entities:

• An entity incorporated in Australia
• A university
• A publicly funded research organisation (PFRO) as defined in section 14 of the guidelines
• A Commonwealth, state, territory or local government body (including government business enterprises).

You cannot apply if you are:

• Any organisation not included in section 4.1 of the guidelines
• An organisation, or your project partner is an organisation, included on the National Redress Scheme’s list of Institutions that have not joined or signified their intent to join the Scheme
• An employer of 100 or more employees that has not complied with the Workplace Gender Equality Act (2012)
• An individual
• A Regional Development Australia Committee
• An unincorporated association
• A partnership
• A trust (however, an incorporated trustee may apply on behalf of a trust).

How BDO can help

BDO has successfully secured numerous government grants for a range of clients across many different industries. We assist with the preparation of applications and can also help successful recipients understand novel changes to the program. If you have any questions regarding the GET program, or any other government grants, please contact the R&D and government incentives team.