Billionaire Sanjeev Gupta may get a taxpayer-funded hydrogen power station next door to his Whyalla steelworks should the Labor Party win South Australia’s election, as the Liberal Party says the $593 million plan could balloon beyond $1 billion.

A co-located hydrogen plant on land which is part of the existing steelworks site gifted to previous operator BHP 60-plus years ago is one of several options in the Whyalla precinct in northern South Australia to be considered by the Labor Party should its leader Peter Malinauskas triumph over Premier Steven Marshall.