Hydrogen

Private sector fossil fuel spending on exploration is drying up just as modest rises in clean energy investments are being observed. With stock market investors increasingly embracing renewables, the IEA has observed positive signals in its latest energy investment report, but warned we are still doing far too little to keep global heating at bay.

The Smart Energy Council’s Zero Carbon Certification Scheme continues to gain traction with ammonia producer Yara the latest to sign on as a founding partner as it seeks to guarantee the green credentials of its products for customers both here and overseas.

New South Wales’ Productivity Commission has called on the state to reform its energy and water regulations, among other recommendations, in the White Paper report published this week.

Chief Executive of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, Darren Miller, says he envisions a future where Australia will produce up to ten times more clean electricity than the country requires to become a “shining example of what is possible if you have the right ingredients and the right ambition.”

Western Australia-based oil and gas company Prominence Energy has become the latest fossil fuel company to enter the hydrogen market by acquiring a 20% stake in Patriot Hydrogen.

The New South Wales government has today launched a renewable Renewable Gas Certification Pilot, with the aim of sparking a new energy market for clean gas in Australia.

Solar rules in any scenario of what the world needs to work towards over the coming three decades, to keep global warming under 1.5 degrees. But analysts at Rystad Energy have arrived at a far greater tally than recent IEA projections of how much PV people will be plugging into.

Victoria is accelerating plans to carve out a share of the evolving global hydrogen market, calling for Expressions of Interest from parties keen to play a role in the newly launched Greater Geelong Hydrogen Technology Cluster.

Western Australia’s Minister for Hydrogen Industry, Alannah MacTiernan, said her state plans to be producing 10 GW of green hydrogen in the next decade, with aspirations of getting to 200 GW by 2040. A parade of other state ministers followed MacTiernan addressing the Australian Hydrogen Conference, each eager to assert that their region will become the country’s hydrogen capital.

Larry Marshall, Chief Executive of the CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, told Australia’s Hydrogen Conference that he was “highly optimistic” about Australia’s future, saying the country is currently at the “forefront” of hydrogen – a position not often held by our island state and one we must “dig our teeth into.”