Pet food power going green
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Mars Wodonga says it will soon be Australia’s first fully renewable manufacturing facility.
In a $39.3 million project, Mars Incorporated is transforming its Wodonga pet food plant into the nation’s first large-scale manufacturing site powered entirely by renewable energy for both electricity and process steam.
The facility - which produces PEDIGREE, WHISKAS and other pet food products - aims to eliminate fossil fuel use by 2026, with $17.2 million in federal funding from the ARENA supporting the effort.
“We are incredibly proud to announce that Mars will be the first manufacturing facility of its kind in Australia to deploy a 100 per cent renewable energy solution within two years,” Mars Petcare Australia and New Zealand general manager Craig Sargeant announced during a recent tour with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
He said that decarbonising the site’s process heat, combined with Mars Australia’s 100 per cent renewable electricity, marks “a significant achievement” towards the company’s global net-zero commitment by 2050.
The Wodonga site will deploy an 18-megawatt Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) plant to provide up to 10 hours of heat storage, enabling continuous operation.
The plant, Australia’s first commercial use of parabolic trough CST technology, will support high-temperature processing while relying on an Electric Thermal Energy Storage (eTES) system for additional steam generation, effectively reducing gas dependency at the site.
CSIRO has been working to advance CST and eTES technologies across Australia’s energy-dependent industries, with the Wodonga project as a model.
The project also builds on a partnership between the pet food company and the Australian Gas Infrastructure Group, which has seen it purchase Renewable Gas Guarantee of Origin certificates at Hydrogen Park Murray Valley. This move offsets about 10 per cent of Mars Australia’s total gas use.
The Wodonga facility is being held up as a central figure in Victoria’s emerging renewable energy hub, with Mars expected to share insights with other manufacturers to encourage broader adoption.