Proponent says Brighton project largest industrial manufacturing development in Tasmania’s history
It’s been described as the biggest industrial manufacturing project in the state’s history, and the man behind the southern Tasmanian green energy hub is excited by the opportunities it presents.
Tasmania
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Brighton will be home to the largest industrial manufacturing development in Tasmania’s history, according to the man behind the gargantuan green energy project.
Andrew Bullock says the Brighton Regional Resource Recovery Precinct, which is on 200 hectares adjacent to the Brighton Transport Hub, has the “potential” to be a $2.5 billion development and will boast a 40ha solar farm, a 30mw wind farm, a green hydrogen manufacturing facility, and a waste-to-energy plant.
Mr Bullock, 52, who is the director of Bullock Civil Contracting and Bullock Recycling Services, said the project would create up to 500 jobs once fully developed.
“Within the next two years, we’d like to have our solar farm and our hydrogen production facility built, pumping hydrogen into the gas network to send into Hobart and back here for manufacturing,” he said.
“It’s going to be a staged project but once it’s finished, it might pump another $50m worth of growth and value into the state economy through recycling.”
Mr Bullock said that as southern Tasmanian landfills reached capacity, resource recovery – the process of separating reusable materials from waste – would be a far greener alternative.
“Instead of pumping [waste] into the ground, [people can] bring it here so we can recycle it and repurpose it,” he said.
Countrywide Renewable Hydrogen, a subsidiary of the ASX-listed ReNu Energy Limited, has entered into an option to lease land at Mr Bullock’s precinct, proposing to build a 1-2mw green hydrogen electrolysis production facility.
The company expects to be producing renewable hydrogen in early 2024, subject to the final investment decision.
Mr Bullock has five grandchildren all under the age of seven and he’s concerned about what the future may hold for them under a changing climate.
“This isn’t a monetary thing for me. I’ve paid my house off, I’ve got money,” he said.
“It’s more (for) an environmentally sustainable future for my grandchildren and a passion for recycling and industry.”
Brighton Mayor Leigh Gray said the local council believed the Brighton Hub – southern Tasmania’s primary freight and logistics site and industrial estate – had “all the characteristics to enable it to be a nationally significant first mover in the circular economy”.
“This [precinct] development, in conjunction with a large range of related developments and investments, as well as a general major increase in investment in the Hub forms part of a really exciting future for Brighton,” he said.
“Local investment and employment opportunities have increased dramatically in the past few years … and this trend is only speeding up.”
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