ACT Government Commercial & Industrial Gas Usage Study

In 2023, GPA was engaged by the ACT’s Department of Environment, Planning, and Sustainable Development to assist in the identification of pathways to decarbonise commercial and industrial gas appliances in the ACT, as part of the ACT’s Integrated Energy Plans Net Zero 2045 planning.   

GPA engaged with stakeholders across the ACT economy through surveys, interviews, and workshops to gather information on how businesses use their appliances and what the system effects of changes may be.   

GPA’s consultants analysed over 2500 industrial and commercial appliances and provided recommendations for electrification or decarbonisation by other means such as biomethane, hydrogen or bio-LPG. The study found that electrification is a suitable pathway for most industrial and commercial appliances in the ACT and that the best way to assess decarbonisation alternatives was to consider how each appliance is manufactured and procured. Other key findings were that appliance owners are best placed to understand how and when to move to a decarbonised alternative, that it is not straightforward to electrify appliances and that often, non-technical factors such as business conditions or site infrastructure, unique to each appliance/business can have a greater influence on decarbonising an appliance than the technical availability of an alternative.   

Decarbonising the ACT’s gas network will have a significant impact on the ACT’s power network and there will be an important role for a residual green-gas network to support the ACT’s difficult to electrify appliances. The implications for these networks was also assessed.  

This was the first study of its kind in Australia and the results of this study have importance for decarbonisation of gas networks in every state and territory across Australia 

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