Hydrogen

Photovoltaics can wipe out 4.25 billion tonnes of carbon emissions every year this decade, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Even so, the actions announced so far remain way short of what is needed, with capital flows to fossil fuels still greater than the cash directed toward combating climate change.

The Western Australian Government has announced $1 million in funding for the first phase of a feasibility study into a 600-800MWh battery and green hydrogen industrial hub in the coal town of Collie. The state government has promised the town, which has been powering Western Australia with its two coal mines since the 1880s, a ‘just transition.’ Sunshot Energy, chaired by eminent energy economist Ross Garnaut, is undertaking the study which could deliver a ‘just transition’ to Collie and green ammonia and urea to the agricultural and industrial sectors.

Queensland company Green Day Energy has begun trialling its proposition to convert the invasive weeds species, prickly acacia, to biomass for the purpose of generating electricity, biochar and hydrogen.

Queensland-based company Line Hydrogen is launching its inaugural $100 million green hydrogen project in the growing hub of Bell Bay in Tasmania’s north. With a solar offtake agreement in place, the startup is aiming to be in production within a year.

Australia is vying to become a major green hydrogen export industry, particularly in the Asia Pacific, but new research from the Australian National University suggests the opportunity may be overstated.

Western Australian company Infinite Blue Energy has today announced it will purchase Northam solar farm, which sits an hour east of Perth. The acquisition will accelerate the company’s green hydrogen project as it aims to produce up to 4.4 tonnes of renewable hydrogen daily from next year.

The deal between Fortescue Future Industries and E.ON, one of Europe’s largest energy network operators, will see the Australian company deliver five million tonnes of green hydrogen to Germany, the Netherlands and other European cities by 2030. “For us, it’s a minimum $50 billion expenditure. And that is one I welcome,” Fortescue founder Andrew Forrest said at press conference in Berlin overnight.

Australian fossil fuels giant Woodside will invest in US-based concentrated solar startup Heliogen, supporting its construction of a full-scale concentrated solar thermal demonstration plant in California ahead of a push into Australia.

Traditionally one of the slower states to move away from fossil fuels, New South Wales is rapidly turning the tables – and the market is responding enthusiastically. The state government yesterday revealed it had received more than $4 billion worth of investment interest for its Hunter and Illawarra hydrogen hubs.

Western Australian company Global Energy Ventures has had several permissions granted for its 2.8GW green hydrogen export project on the Tiwi Islands, off the coast of the Northern Territory, including potentially increasing the acreage for its proposed solar farm.