A bit more of a look at the ARENA grant for hydrogen, those...

A bit more of a look at the ARENA grant for hydrogen, those projects are well advanced into plant design and feasibility studies are largely completed. Reading through all of these projects it gives me confidence in white/gold hydrogens place in the future. These projects use massive amounts of water and energy. The Tasmanian plant has a MOU with a forestry company that manages 177,000ha of hardwood because it needs the biomass to burn. GHY needs none of that, and I for one am proud to be involved in their cleaner journey.

It is clear that Australian govt wants to transition into a green energy hub and are paying alot of money to make it happen. Focus of the ARENA grants looks to be ammonia production projects which indicates the feds strong desire to become an export powerhouse for renewables (because ammonia is a safe way to transport the hydrogen overseas). It will be interesting to see in a few years when GHY is up and running (and killing it!) that these projects are a downstream source of income for us as they purchase our gold/white to lower the costs of their own operations.


H2Kwinana – HyResource (csiro.au) is a project to convert BP's 70yr old oil refinery into an 'energy hub' that distributes future fuels and green hydrogen. Federal govt already kicked them $70mil in 2022 and now the project is able to secure part of the $2bn and would cover considerable % of capex for a 44 tonnes per day production facility (~$400m). However current recommendation is for the 143 tpd facility (~$1.5bn). Opex for the 44tpd is ~$82m and the 143tpd ~$268m. You can read more from WA.gov here Microsoft Word - 12580404-00000-MD-RPT-006_Rev 1_Feasibility Study - Public Knowledge Sharing Report - BP EDITS 202304 GHD Upda (www.wa.gov.au).

HIF Tasmania eFuel Facilitywill be the first commercial scale eFuels facility to be built in Australia, harnessing the natural advantages of Tasmania to accelerate decarbonization. The facility will use renewable energy from the local grid to power electrolyzers to produce green hydrogen. eFuels are made using electrolyzers powered by renewable energy to separate hydrogen from oxygen in water. The green hydrogen will be utilized together with recycled carbon dioxide to produce carbon-neutral eFuels, which are chemically equivalent to fuels used today and can therefore be dropped-in to
existing engines without any modifications required.

Port of Newcastle Green Hydrogen Hub (Archived) – HyResource (csiro.au)was recommended to not proceed to Stage 2 feasibility in August 2023 due to lack of economic feasibility. The project is focused on ammonia production, with most of the produced hydrogen used to fuel the plant and not much left over for domestic use/sale.
"Given the costs of producing green hydrogen, the feasibility of the Port of Newcastle Green Hydrogen Hub project was (and is) dependent on receiving a range of Government support which at inception of the feasibility study was expected to include:
• Support for the upfront construction cost of the plant;
• Ongoing revenue support to underwrite and provide some certainty regarding the emerging green premium in different markets; and
• Access to a wholesale electricity market without Distribution Use of System (“DUOS”)/Transmission Use of System (“TUOS”) charges."

Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub – HyResource (csiro.au) will seek to produce 5,500t of green hydrogen per year, however most will go to the Orica ammonia facility on Orica Kooragang Island - Australia.

Central Queensland Hydrogen Project – HyResource (csiro.au)is a Queensland govt owned project (via Stanwell Corp Ltd) seeking to undertake a concept study into a large-scale liquefied renewable hydrogen supply chain between Central Queensland and Japan. Project offtake is predicated on the export market supply arrangements with hydrogen end users and refuelling companies in Japan. Central Queensland Hydrogen Project Feasibility Study - Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)

Murchison Hydrogen Renewables Project – HyResource (csiro.au)appears to be the largest undertaking of the 6 shortlisted. Construction will take 5yrs and includes 700 wind turbines, 10,000ha solar far, subsea ammonia pipeline, and a new export port to name a few. Project owner is Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) based in Denmark.