Hydrogen

Queensland government-owned generator Stanwell Energy and Spanish renewable energy company Acciona Energia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding which could see energy generated at the proposed 600 MWp Aldoga Solar Farm power a 3 GW green hydrogen project being developed near Gladstone on the central Queensland coast.

Geelong Port, one of Australia’s major ports southwest of Melbourne, today announced it will invest $100 million to establish a hydrogen hub in partnership with biomass gasification outfit CAC-H2.

Australian governments and industry have embraced the potential of green hydrogen with a flurry of project announcements, including the Western Australian Government providing almost $120 million to establish two renewable hydrogen hubs, Edify Energy signing of Memorandum of Understanding to explore the feasibility of establishing a hydrogen export facility in Queensland, and the Federal Government collaborate with Germany on a new initiative designed to accelerate the development of Australia’s green hydrogen industry.

The New South Wales Government is expecting the state’s green hydrogen industry to boom after the legislation underpinning its Hydrogen Strategy was approved by the parliament, unlocking up to $3 billion in government incentives to rapidly increase the scale and competitiveness of the industry.

Kallis Energy Investments is proposing a whopping 6 GW renewable hydrogen project in South Australia, with founder Terry Kallis telling pv magazine Australia the project will not seek to connect its 3 GW of planned solar and wind assets to the already congested grid.

In a major milestone for New South Wales, green hydrogen is now being injected into the state’s gas network for the first time with energy infrastructure company Jemena confirming its $15 million Western Sydney Green Hydrogen Hub has started making the zero-emissions fuel available for home, business and transport use.

South Australia’s nascent green hydrogen industry has attracted financial support from the Japanese Government which has awarded funding to the Marubeni Corporation which is planning to export the zero-emissions fuel produced using large-scale wind and solar energy in the state to the Indo-Pacific region.

Fortescue Future Industries, founded by billionaire Andrew Forrest, has already received planning approval for its 2 GW electrolyser factory at Gladstone despite announcing the plan just five weeks ago.

Two Australian companies, hydrogen fuel cell startup H2X and emerging renewables developer Thales New Energy, have signed an agreement with a Malaysian state-owned corporation to develop a 1.3 GW hydrogen export facility powered by hydroelectricity in the Malaysian state of Sarawak.

In this week’s edition of pv magazine’s Hydrogen Stream, Australian projects took centre stage including Woodside announcing it had secured land for its H2TAS project, an MoU signed between Perth-based metals manufacturing company Unique Metals and Energy consultancy Xodus, as well as ARENA’s funding for Sun Metals zinc refinery in Townsville.