23 June 2022
Lachlan Blackhall recently led a team that was awarded funding in the latest round of the Centre for Entrepreneurial Agri-Technology Strategic Investment Program for a project titled ‘Multi Energy System Modelling for the Agricultural Sector’.
The Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program was successful in the ‘Collaboration’ category for a project looking at ways to help decarbonise the pork industry, including harnessing methane by-products as an alternative energy source.
The project will use a new multi energy modelling capability that was developed at BSGIP (called echo) that integrates several tools together into a unified energy modelling workflow. The software will be used to gather and analyse the data on energy usage in the various stages of pork production. The software can forecast CO₂ emissions, model optimal energy usage across the production system, and work out ways assets can be used to minimise operational costs.
The funding will enable a collaboration with APL on a project to support the data gathering and analysis, and further development of the echo modelling tool in the pork production context. Echo has been deployed in more traditional energy systems but this is the first application in an agricultural context. If the project proves successful, it has the potential to be rolled out for use more widely in other agricultural settings.