NERA Board Endorses Initiatives to Achieve Sector Efficiencies and Drive Down Costs

The NERA Board endorsed in October, a number of early innovation and collaboration initiatives to enhance the competitiveness and efficiency of Australia's energy resources sector.

NERA is focused on supporting the energy resources sector to significantly drive down project and operating costs, and to assist the sector adapt, collaborate and innovate to secure its role in powering the world and contribute to a clean and sustainable future.

The Board endorsed the following collaborative and innovative initiatves:

World-leading tropical cyclone analysis

An industry collaborative project with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology aimed at advancing Australia’s understanding of tropical cyclones and providing more certainty for end-users, with a substantial cost savings from better predictions and therefore response strategies. The reanalysis of tropical cyclones since 1981 will improve safety, engineering design and insurance risk for onshore and offshore structures, across many industry sectors.

NERA as a Foundation Partner of CORE Resources Innovation Hub

NERA and METS Ignited have been engaged to jointly support as Foundation Partners for the first year of CORE Resources Innovation Hub (CORE) in the Perth CBD. CORE is an industry-led initiative, being established and run by and for entrepreneurs and innovators in the resources sector. The NERA and METS Ignited contributions will facilitate the accelerated growth of CORE as the first in a global network of hubs linking the resources technology sector by leveraging national networks and industry priorities into the CORE work program, and reinforcing CORE’s build of proximity to challenges, solutions and market opportunity, alongside a culture of entrepreneurship, collaboration and speed of commercialisation.

A Regional Innovation Cluster Workshop

To develop a collaboration framework for a regional innovation cluster. While our stakeholders are focused on the energy resources industry, for this first workshop we are focussed on offshore oil and gas in the NW of WA, and we recognise greater value may be possible if we extend the participant group to include other maritime sectors. In particular, defence and shipping are sectors which are likely to have a significant community of interest. A successful multi-sectoral approach could provide a model which can be replicated around Australia.

Mapping Skills Development Capability and Capacity

To determine the current distribution of skills development capacity and capability on a national basis. The proposed objectives are to:

• Map energy sector skills development capacity and capability across the oil and gas “hubs” being Perth, Karratha, Darwin, Brisbane, Central Queensland, and Adelaide.
• Differentiate available capacity and capability by a range of criteria including criticality to industry.
• Identify areas of skills development where there are gaps in delivery across the oil and gas hubs.

New NERA Innovation Vouchers for SMEs

Twelve x $20,000 vouchers in 2016/17 to small companies who can demonstrate matching funding and support from a client within the value chain, and focussed on innovation driving downward pressure on costs experienced in the NERA industry sectors. Each applicant will be required to match with cash the NIV in accordance with NERA guidelines. NERA is a proponent of targeted investment in industry-led research, development and commercialisation that will lead to reduced costs through technology adoption.

Integrated Remote Operations Centre

Seed funding for early scoping of an initial project to support coal operators need to extract more value from the IROC operating model and believe additional collaboration with innovative research partners will also speed value generation and enhance the Australian economy. The potential value is increased sector exports and performance, commercialisation of new technology and reduced de-bottlenecking capital cost for operators.

How to Submit a Collaborative & Innovative Project for NERA Co-funding

NERA has released a guide and an Expression of Interest (EOI) process to support industry and stakeholder to submit project plans to NERA for co-funding - equal funding from industry matched with funding from NERA.

For information on how to submit a project for assessment and co-funding by the NERA Board view Projects & Activities.