New land, water licenses granted for 8 GW green hydrogen project in WA’s Gascoyne

After announcing its 8 GW HyEnergy project in 2021, Perth-based company Province Resources says it now has sufficient areas under licence to support an initial development. Province is still in the feasibility studies phase, but is proposing to produce 550,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per annum, with phase 1 of the HyEnergy project aiming to install between 4 GW and 5 GW of solar and wind to support its electrolysers. 

Province Resources (ASX: PRL) announced to the stock exchange this week that the area earmarked for its HyEnergy development has been “further defined,” with the Western Australian government providing additional licences to support studies on land and water.

These licenses include over 864 hectares of the seabed near Carnarvon, allowing the company to completed detailed feasibility studies into building a port for green hydrogen export.

The company is in fact exploring two different export options at the moment. The first is a traditional loading jetty port. Province’s proposed port would be located about 20km north of Carnarvon, adjacent to an area known locally as the Town Common, it says. The second option is an undersea pipeline that would allow for offshore ship loading via a floating buoy. It has partnered with fellow WA company Provaris to explore this option.

The new license, the company says, is for an initial two-year term and provides for ongoing technical and environmental marine studies and investigations to be completed, presumably helping the company land on its preferred export route.

The company has also been awarded additional licenses on land covering two pastoral stations. Also for an initial two-year period, these licenses, the company says, “allow for ongoing environmental, geotechnical and heritage surveys to be completed along with placement of wind and solar monitoring equipment.”

“Province now holds Section 91 licences covering all or part of six pastoral stations and the Town Common. Together these licences make up an area of more than 600,000 hectares,” Province says.

Province CEO and Managing Director, David Frances, said the company now had sufficient areas under licence to support an initial development based on the Town Common, and the ability to scale-up to a multi-gigawatt project which would incorporate the six pastoral leases.

“We continue to engage with the Western Australian government to obtain the appropriate secure tenure which will eventually be required over the project area,” Frances added.

Province Resources was originally a gold and nickel exploration company.