AGL to leverage floating solar at Loy Yang for hydrogen project

At AGL Energy’s Investor Day the energy giant revealed plans for a potential floating solar project on the site of its Loy Yang power station in Victoria. AGL, which is currently in the application process for a 200 MW battery at the site and is already producing brown hydrogen for export to Japan, is looking to leverage unused space to reduce emissions.

March 31, 2021 Blake Matich

Image: Hanwha Q Cells

AGL has updated plans for the site of its Loy Yang power station in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley. Not only will the site house a 200 MW grid-scale battery which is already in the application process, but now AGL is exploring proposals for floating solar developments for contribution to the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain project (HESC).

The pilot plant for the HESC is already producing hydrogen from the Loy Yang coal mine for export to Japan, but of course, in the future, Japan will only be in the market for green hydrogen.

“Over time,” said AGL COO Markus Brokhof, “Loy Yang will grow to a more diverse hub of different energy uses that leverage the unique attributes of the Loy Yang site and Latrobe Valley more broadly.”

In addition to Loy Yang, it also looks like AGL is looking at the potential of partnering the now under construction 250 MW battery at the site of the company’s Torrens Island power station in South Australia.

According to Brokhof, “The development plan comprises battery sites, waste to energy, electrothermal solar storage, as well as site specific development opportunities using our strategic asset base such as the Antiene coal unloader in the Hunter Valley to develop a distribution hub and the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain project at Loy Yang.”

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