Australia gears up to become a global green hydrogen powerhouse

Recently, the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted that by 2050, the world will need to produce 306 million tons of green hydrogen per year to achieve net-zero emissions. Australia is playing an increasingly important role on the road to achieving this goal. Currently, Australia has positioned itself as a major producer of green hydrogen in the future and has stepped up efforts to attract green hydrogen investment. To date, there are more than 80 potential projects, attracting US$127 billion in investment.

Australia launched the National Hydrogen Energy Strategy in 2019, becoming the third country in the world to release a hydrogen energy strategy. To date, the Australian federal government has allocated more than $2 billion to support large-scale renewable hydrogen projects through the Hydrogen Pilot Program. Australia is uniquely positioned to become a major producer of renewable hydrogen thanks to its abundant solar, wind and hydropower resources.

Explore new models of cooperation in green hydrogen development

The Australian federal government recently awarded a $1.66 million grant to the Aboriginal Clean Energy Partnership (ACEP) through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), furthering its commitment to building an integrated hydrogen supply chain in Australia.

It is reported that the funds will be used to support the first phase of the feasibility study of the East Kimberley Clean Energy and Hydrogen Project, which is expected to produce 50,000 tons of renewable hydrogen per year through solar electrolysis. The green hydrogen produced by the project will be piped to the Balangkuala district of Wyndham and combined with existing hydropower at Ord Hydropower Station to produce approximately 250,000 tonnes of renewable ammonia per year for export and domestic use. Ammonia is considered an ideal fuel for cargo transportation because it has a higher energy density than hydrogen and is easy to store and transport. Freight greenhouse gas emissions account for about 2% to 3% of total global greenhouse gas emissions.

ACEP is a joint venture between representative native title holders MG Corporation, Balangkuala Corporation and the Kimberley Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (KLC), as well as climate and nature investment consultancy Pollination. Each party has an equal share in overseeing project development, including cultural heritage, Aboriginal land rights and environmental approvals and a master feasibility plan. ARENA chief executive Darren Miller said the project would demonstrate the leadership role of Aboriginal groups in the energy transition and represent the type of development Australia needs to achieve its national goal of becoming a renewable energy superpower.

Develop diversified production and transportation routes

As interest in hydrogen as an alternative clean energy source grows, innovative ways to produce and transport it are emerging. Each company takes a slightly different approach within the framework of hydrogen production, targeting alternative inputs, export routes and final products.

Australia's Provaris Energy is developing an integrated hydrogen compression transport project involving the production of green hydrogen through renewable energy electrolysis and transporting it around the world using the company's proprietary gaseous hydrogen canister technology. The company is developing a 2.6 GW green electrolysis facility in the Tiwi Islands that will export up to 90,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year, and has signed a cooperation agreement with Norwegian Hydrogen to develop green hydrogen value chain projects in the Nordic country, with the potential for expansion to other parts of Europe. The agreement includes the development of the 270-MW FjordH2 project, Norway’s largest green hydrogen production facility, which will produce 40,000 tons of hydrogen per year.

On the other side of the world, Australia's Elixir Energy Ltd. is targeting the windy steppes of Mongolia with its proposed clean hydrogen project. The company, which has historically focused on oil and gas, signed a memorandum of understanding with Japanese company SB Energy to investigate a green hydrogen joint venture in southern Mongolia, which entered the term sheet in February 2023 and is expected to be launched in the near future. Enter into formal joint venture development.

Laying out underground natural hydrogen exploration and development

Some companies in Australia are looking to abandon the electrolysis process entirely and instead focus on natural hydrogen reservoirs produced by normal geological processes beneath the Earth's surface. Natural hydrogen projects have the advantage of requiring only well and pipeline infrastructure, reducing start-up costs and shortening construction lag time between discovery and production. HyTerra and Gold Hydrogen are two Australian companies both committed to exploring this newly recognized route to hydrogen production, despite choosing two very different locations to achieve their goals.

HyTerra chose the United States, where hydrogen energy is in short supply, as a project base and formed a joint venture to develop the Geneva project in Nebraska, which includes one of the world's first exploration wells specifically targeting hydrogen. The company is also targeting nearby Nemaha Ridge for mineral rights acquisitions, where at least 10 natural hydrogen deposits have been discovered historically. Gold Hydrogen Energy has drilled a well at its Ramsay project on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula, confirming the presence of hydrogen and helium, both key elements in high demand. While work to determine the true potential of the project is still ongoing, Ramsey currently has certified potential resources with risk-free best estimate natural hydrogen reserves of 1.3 million tonnes. To date, the company has produced hydrogen with a purity of 86% and helium with a purity of 6.8%. In 2024, Gold Hydrogen's main task will be to prove recoverable economic reserves of both gases in the projects to be mined.

Whether on land or sea, Australian governments, communities and businesses are working together to transform Australia into a global green hydrogen powerhouse.