SA and Victoria invest in green hydrogen as Andrew Forrest also builds a plant in QLD
SA and Victoria have plans to build game-changing power plants that would deliver more jobs, as billionaire Andrew Forrest also throws his weight behind one.
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South Australian Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis steps off a hydrogen bus – a rapidly emerging green technology with faster refuelling and greater range than an electric battery alternative.
The hydrogen fuel cell bus trial in Adelaide is part of Premier Peter Malinauskas’s vision to deliver baseload power, create jobs and power Whyalla steel manufacturing.
His government’s Hydrogen Jobs Plan’s centrepiece is a $593m hydrogen power plant at Whyalla.
The plant would use excess solar energy generated during the middle of the day to power electrolysis of water to create green hydrogen - the only emission is water.
The plan has three elements: a 200MW power station, hydrogen electrolysers with 250MWe capacity, and a hydrogen storage facility holding two months’ supply, or 3600 tonnes. Bidders for the project are now being assessed.
In an interview, Mr Malinauskas said the hydrogen opportunity was the best way the state could capitalise on the economy shifting to a decarbonised future.
“Hydrogen is the fuel source that is zero carbon emissions that can take what is essentially the sun and the wind and turn it into a more valuable commodity,” he said.
“ … We’re building the world’s largest hydrogen electrolyser, but the hydrogen we produce from that electrolyser, we’re going to use to run a generator that will produce zero-carbon-emission energy into the grid that puts downward pressure on prices, just by having more supply.”
In a speech to the World Hydrogen Summit in Rotterdam in May, Mr Malinauskas revealed details of a world-first Hydrogen and Renewable Energy Act, aimed at streamlining processes for companies wanting to invest in large-scale hydrogen and renewable energy projects into a single regulatory process.
“Critically South Australia’s in a position where we can produce hydrogen cheaper than other parts of the world because of the readily accessible coincident sun and wind resource,” he said.
“So by moving and doing it quickly, we can prove up the cost of hydrogen production in a way that is comparatively cheaper to other parts of the world. We hope that will drive more investment from private capital in the state.”
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Office of Hydrogen Power SA chief executive Sam Crafter said 29 parties from around the world had expressed interest in the procurement process and partners were expected to be announced in September or October.
Australia’s richest man, Fortescue executive chairman Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, has cited Deloitte forecasts predicting the green hydrogen market will exceed the value of liquid natural gas by 2030 and save up to 85 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2050 – twice global emissions in 2021.
Fortescue has been working on green hydrogen-powered projects since 2021 and expects to test in mines a haul truck prototype later this year.
At Gladstone, Queensland, Fortescue is building the world’s biggest hydrogen electrolyser plant and expects to start production later this year.
Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles is vowing to make Gladstone the “global capital of the green hydrogen industry”.
The Central Queensland Renewable Hydrogen project is expected to start commercial operations from 2028.
In an interview, Dr Miles said Queensland believed it was uniquely placed to capitalise on the hydrogen investment pipeline.
“Our renewables generation is more advanced. We have the state ownership of much of the generation and all of the distribution. We have the established gas export industry, based around Gladstone,” he said.
WORLD-FIRST VICTORIAN HYDROGEN PROJECT TO CREATE 1000 JOBS A YEAR
Japanese investors have ploughed more than $2bn into a world-first Victorian project extracting liquid hydrogen from Latrobe Valley coal, with potential to create more than 1000 jobs.
The Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) project in January last year successfully extracted the liquid hydrogen from coal and a biomass mix at a plant in AGL’s Loy Yang complex as part of a pilot process, shipping it to Kobe, Japan.
If the project proves commercially viable, it has potential to produce 225,000 tonnes of liquid hydrogen annually, reducing carbon emissions by 1.8m tonnes and creating 1000 jobs annually in Victoria.
Carbon offsets were purchased to mitigate emissions during the pilot but, if the project proceeds to the commercial phase, carbon dioxide would be captured and stored underground.
Hydrogen gas was transported by truck to the Port of Hastings, then liquefied and taken to Japan on a specially designed ship.
J-Power non executive director Jeremy Stone, whose firm is part of the consortium backing the project, said the liquid hydrogen’s uses included industry and electricity generation.
“They (the investors) chose our project to invest the equivalent of $2.35bn Australian dollars to take it to the next stage ..... that’s a sign of confidence that they see clean energy that is affordable and cost competitive,” Mr Stone said.
“It’s reliable, it provides other industries and it maximises the use of existing infrastructure and it provides a transition pathway of jobs in coal-fired power stations.
“There’s a range of benefits this project offered but basically it was around affordability, reliability, and clean energy.”
Mr Stone said Japanese investors had been attracted by the project’s reliability – the hydrogen source is literally over the back fence from the gasification facility and 100km from both an existing deepwater port and safe carbon sequestration site.
He said the plant would operate 24/7 on a very small footprint and had an extremely secure supply chain.
“It doesn’t rely on importing heavy PV panels and wind turbines or electrolysers from China It doesn’t rely on the wind blowing or the sun shining,” he said.
SA VS. QLD: WHICH STATE WILL BECOME THE GREEN HYDROGEN CAPITAL?
The race is on to produce green energy that can replace coal as a baseload power source.
South Australia and Queensland are locked in a battle to become the nation’s green hydrogen capital.
Both states argue they have the wind and solar resources to power the electrolysis of water to create green hydrogen at huge scales.
Australia’s richest man, Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, is staking his fortune and reputation on a green hydrogen revolution, arguing the market within a few years will exceed that of liquid natural gas.
In Sydney’s eastern suburbs, a biomethane injection plant is purifying sewage flushed down toilets and sinks, then injecting it back as gas into the network for use in stoves and heaters.
Biogas, as the product is called, has become increasingly popular across the world. It is expected that 75 per cent of Denmark’s gas demand will be met by biogas by 2030 and all of its consumption by 2034.
Governments and investors are pumping billions into the quest to create commercial-scale supply chains of clean energy, each hoping to achieve first-mover advantage.
SA Premier Peter Malinauskas argues his government's planned $593m hydrogen power plant at Whyalla is the best way his state can capitalise on the global push to decarbonise the economy.
This ambitious plan aims to produce zero-emission electricity, which will power green steel manufacturing at Whyalla’s steelworks and reduce electricity prices by boosting baseload supply.
Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles, though, argues his state is in the box seat to be the nation’s hydrogen leader.
He says Qld’s renewables generation is more advanced, most electricity generation and all distribution is state-owned and there is a major established gas export industry based around Gladstone.
Innovation is the common factor in all these projects, which seek to generate economic activity and jobs to capitalise on the global energy transformation.
Originally published as SA and Victoria invest in green hydrogen as Andrew Forrest also builds a plant in QLD
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