Tasmania taps Powerfuels project to lead Bell Bay Hydrogen Hub

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Australian project developer Abel Energy’s Bell Bay Powerfuels project, set to produce 300,000 tonnes of green methanol annually using a 240 MW electrolysis plant, has been selected as the provisional proponent for the Bell Bay Hydrogen Hub in northern Tasmania.

The Bell Bay Powerfuels project, being developed with support from the Australian arm of Spanish energy group Iberdrola, involves a green hydrogen and green methanol production facility to be built at the site of the mothballed Bell Bay Power Station.

The estimated $2 billion (USD 1.29 billion) project includes a proposed 240 MW electrolyser unit that will generate the hydrogen required for the onsite production of green methanol. It will also require the development of new renewable power generation assets. The most likely source for the renewable power would be a new wind farm with firming capacity to come from Hydro Tasmania.

Abel has said the scale of the project, at a proposed 300,000 tonnes per year of green methanol, will make it one of the largest such projects in the world. The developers have said the initial target will be the existing market for the fuel in Australia and the emerging market in the global shipping industry.

Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone (BBAMZ) Chief Executive Officer Susie Bower said the announcement is a strong vote of confidence in the region’s capability and vision, and a critical step toward establishing Bell Bay as a key player in Australia’s clean energy transition.

“This positions Bell Bay at the forefront of Tasmania’s energy future and brings national attention to the strategic potential our state holds,” she said. “Tasmania has always been known as the clean green state, and this announcement cements those credentials.”

The planned project will use the site’s existing deep-water shipping berth to export green methanol.

Image: ABEL Energy

The Powerfuels project will form the foundation for the Bell Bay Hydrogen Hub that Tasmania Energy Minister Nick Duigan said aims to position the region as a key global hydrogen exporter.

“The recent EOI process seeking project partners received five high-quality submissions, signaling a strong level of industry interest and confidence in establishing a hydrogen industry in Tasmania,” he said.

Bell Bay, an industrial precinct that is home to an aluminium smelter owned by Rio Tinto, has long been the focus of Tasmanian government renewable hydrogen production and export plans, due in part to its existing deep-water berth and its access to the state’s majority renewables electricity supply.

Duigan said the Hub is expected to produce of up to 45,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year, support 740 jobs for energy specialists including engineers and technicians, and support the manufacture of green metals and alloys like iron, aluminium and steel.

“I am confident that these developments will underpin the development of a world-class green hydrogen industry in the state,” he said.

The Bell Bay Hydrogen Hub is one of several the federal government is supporting across the nation. Hydrogen hubs are also being progressed in regional centres like Kwinana, the Pilbara, Gladstone, Townsville, Port Bonython and the Hunter.

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