Agrisolar News: Round 27 outcome

The Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program has announced the outcome of Stage 1 applications to Round 27 of the CRC Program. In a highly competitive CRC round, we have been advised that unfortunately our bid has not been successful in progressing to Stage 2 of the assessment process. While this is extremely disappointing, the quality of the proposal and the depth of commitment shown by our industry, research and regional partners reflect the strength of what our consortium has built, and the potential for agrisolar to be part of the future solution mix for Australian agriculture, regional economies and energy security.

The bid demonstrated how co-locating solar energy generation with agricultural production can deliver measurable economic, environmental and social benefits for regional communities.

Bid Director Professor Ben Smith thanked the partners and bid team for all their many contributions and effort to develop the strongest possible bid.

While this outcome marks the end of the road for our ambition to establish a CRC to pursue research, innovation and adoption of agrisolar in Australia, our vision and many of the ideas underpinning our bid remain compelling and potentially viable. In the coming weeks we will engage across the partnership to explore potential alternative pathways forward to fund and pursue key ideas and components of work.

CEO Julia Tauber also expressed her appreciation to the bid partners, saying, “We are deeply grateful to our partners and supporters who continue to contribute to this venture, and we’d welcome the chance to speak with you directly about what this means for you.”

The case for agrisolar hasn’t changed, and we remain resolved to identify pathways to see it become a reality.

The Agrisolar CRC Bid Team