Review these frequently asked questions before submitting an expression of interest or full application for the Renewable Gas Production Program. If your questions are not addressed here, email us at [email protected].
About the funding opportunity
Once it’s operational, your project must use NSW feedstock to produce at least 0.1 petajoules (PJ) of biomethane per year for injection into NSW gas network to decarbonise NSW industrial facilities.
Your project must be operational and inject biomethane into the gas network on or before 30 June 2030.
You must submit data reports in line with the requirements of your funding deed. We will use these to monitor the progress of your project. To confirm the details of the submitted data reports, we may:
- conduct site visits
- re-examine claims
- seek further information
- request an independent audit of claims and payments.
To meet grant milestone requirements, you will need to register for GreenPower’s Renewable Gas Certification as a renewable gas producer. You will then be able to create and sell Renewable Gas Guarantee of Origin certificates for the biomethane your project produces. By the full application stage, you must provide a letter of support from GreenPower confirming you can participate.
Eligibility
To be eligible for funding, projects must:
- produce at least 0.1 PJ per year of biomethane to decarbonise NSW industrial facilities
- use feedstock procured in NSW to produce front-of-meter biomethane in NSW
- be operational and inject biomethane into the NSW gas network on or before 30 June 2030.
- Read the funding guidelines for all the details about project eligibility.
Funding may contribute to the following project areas.
Capital works and infrastructure, including, but not limited to:
- feedstock infrastructure such as collection, aggregation, pre-treatment, storage and distribution
- biomethane production facilities such as anaerobic digestion, gasification, pyrolysis, biogas upgrading, purification and methanation
- biomethane delivery and injection infrastructure such as compressors, boosters, pipelines, grid-connection upgrades and other assets required for network injection.
Incidental project development activities, including, but not limited to:
- final detailed engineering design including preparing documentation, drawing and specifications
- procurement including sourcing, contracting and managing delivery of goods and services
- construction including building and installing project infrastructure in line with approved designs
- commissioning including testing and verifying systems to meet design specifications
- operations including preparing, monitoring and maintaining systems to ensure they are fully operational.
Funding is not available for early-stage activities such as feasibility studies or pilot projects.
Applicants need to prove the technical and commercial maturity of their projects as part of their application. Please refer to Appendix C of the funding guidelines for the definition and requirements to show the technical feasibility of your project at each stage of application and assessment.
Only projects that are technically and commercially mature will be eligible to apply for the Renewable Gas Production Program.
Applicants must use a feasibility study or similar evidence to show that their proposed technology and project are technically and commercially feasible by the full application stage.
Projects that can meet the requirements of the funding guidelines, the timelines for implementation and demonstrate abatement are eligible to apply for funding.
Yes, international organisations can apply as long as they:
- have an Australian Business Number (ABN)
- are an Australian entity duly incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and hold and comply with all necessary authorisations that are material to the conduct of the business of the applicant.
Yes, you can apply if you plan to be the plant owner or to have operational control of a biomethane production plant once your funding deed is executed.
Biomethane projects can include both newly formed (greenfield) projects or expansion (upgrade) of existing biomethane production plant.
This depends on what roles these partners play. Certain project partners must be based in NSW. This includes:
- feedstock suppliers for biomethane production
- gas network owners or operators to enable injection into the gas pipeline
- an industrial off-taker that will use the biomethane.
However, you may work with other contractors and supplies based outside of NSW or Australia to implement your project.
Joint applications are welcome. However, the lead applicant must plan to own or have operational control of the facility where the biomethane project takes place and meet all eligibility criteria.
The lead applicant must complete the application form and should identify any joint applicants in the application. If successful, the lead applicant must enter into the funding deed and will bear full responsibility for the management and disbursement of grant funds, as well as compliance and deliverables of the funding deed.
Eligible feedstocks are defined under the Renewable Gas Guarantee of Origin (RGGO) Certification rules. Projects also need to comply with all relevant local, state and federal regulatory requirements
We strongly recommend contacting GreenPower to confirm eligibility and obtain a letter of support.
Projects that produce biomethane but do not connect to the NSW gas network are not eligible for this Program. However, behind the meter biomethane production projects may be eligible to apply for funding under other NSW government funding programs such as the Low Emissions Industry Program.
All biomethane produced by your project must be injected into the NSW gas grid and supplied to one or several NSW manufacturing or mining facilities that report under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting scheme (NGERs). This includes Safeguard facilities. Commercial businesses are not eligible off-takers.
Applicants must have in place a letter of intent, memorandum of understanding, or similar agreement with their industrial off-taker when applying at full stage application.
Before the milestone 2 payment, you must have a formal commercial contract in place with your industrial off-taker(s).
Please refer to the funding guidelines for full details, including milestone payment requirements.
Eligible industrial off‑takers are NSW manufacturing and mining facilities that report under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) scheme.
You can find a list of these facilities on the Clean Energy Regulator website through the National Greenhouse and Energy Register 2024–25.
The location of the proposed project does not directly impact assessment under any of the Merit Criteria in the funding guidelines. However, location may impact your project’s business case due to its proximity to available feedstock and access to gas distribution infrastructure. The Department may also consider the overall alignment of the final funding award with strategic NSW Government regional investment and development priorities.
The level of accuracy expected in your application depends on the application stage. Please refer to Appendix C in the funding guidelines for further information on different levels of accuracy expected at different stages of application/assessment.
Applicants must provide a knowledge‑sharing plan that describes:
- what information will be shared
- who it will be shared with
- how, when and for how long it will be shared
- how it will benefit other facilities and reduce barriers to adoption.
Knowledge-sharing is not limited to the plan and can include other activities outside of the plan if requested by the Department, such as speaking at an event. Successful projects must complete knowledge‑sharing activities and provide reporting (for example, milestone and annual reports, including annual emissions abatement reporting).
Applications
This is an open competitive grant that follows a 2-stage application process. You must submit an expression of interest application via the grants management system. If your application is successful, we will invite you to submit a full application.
Expression of interest applications will close at 11:00pm on Friday 24 April, 2026. We will notify you of the outcome within approximately two months of this date.
If your expression of interest application is successful, you will have 2 months to submit the full application.
We may change these timeframes at our discretion.
An application must meet all the eligibility criteria before we can assess it against the merit criteria during the expression of interest stage. There are 4 merit criteria to address at the expression of interest stage, with 2 addition criteria at the full application stage.
You will need to provide substantially more evidence to meet all 6 merit criteria for the full application stage. It’s important to consider this ahead of time to make sure your organisation will be able to meet these requirements.
Read the funding guidelines for a breakdown of all eligibility and merit criteria.
No, you must submit an expression of interest application to be considered for the full application stage. If your expression of interest is successful, we will invite you to submit in the next stage.
Yes, our assessment team will provide feedback about why your application was unsuccessful. This will be included in the letter of rejection.
The NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water has legal obligations under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW) in relation to the collection, storage, access, use and disclosure of personal information. If collecting your personal information, we will provide you with a privacy statement at the time of collection that details how this information will be managed in accordance with privacy law.
Funding
The maximum funding amount is $20 million.
You must contribute at least 50% of the project costs, with higher contributions preferred. You need to provide detailed financial information at the full application stage to show that these costs can be covered. In the funding deed, you must provide financial reports and other evidence verifying eligible expenditures on the project for each milestone period.
As long as you meet all eligibility criteria, you can still apply. Applicants must contribute at least 50% of the eligible costs of the project, with higher contributions preferred. Your co-contribution can come from:
- your organisation
- Commonwealth Government funding initiatives
- or through arrangements with partner organisations not affiliated with the NSW Government.
Applicants can claim revenues from certificates generated by their projects including but not limited to Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), Safeguard Mechanism Credits (SMCs), Renewable Gas Guarantee of Origin (RGGOs), Renewable Fuel Certificates etc. Applicants will be assessed on the need NSW Government funding based on all revenues. Your application must include all revenues for financial analysis. Based on this financial analysis and the financial viability of the project, the Assessment Panel will decide whether and how much co-funding should be allocated to each project.
If your full application is successful, we intend to offer 4 milestone payments across the project lifecycle. The final funding percentages, the number of milestones and timelines to pay milestones for successful applications will be confirmed before you sign the funding deed.