MORRISSON TO ANOUNCE $540 MILLION FOR HYDROGEN AND CARBON CAPTURE

The Morrison government to budget $540 million for hydrogen production and carbon capture.
$263 million for carbon capture projects and hubs.
Its about time we saw some recognition in this space and should help ADN get to where I believe they are headed
in the not too distant future.

The federal government has vowed to spend an extra $539.2 million on new "clean" energy projects, which Prime Minister Scott Morrison says will create 2500 jobs and drive down greenhouse gas emissions.

The announcement comes just days before US President Joe Biden's climate summit, where 40 leaders, including the PM, will be asked to explain what they are doing to curb climate change.

First of all, what's being promised?

In the May budget the Government will allocate:

• $275.5 million towards developing four more hydrogen production hubs in regional areas.
• $263.7 million towards carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects and hubs.

Mr Morrison has declared "commercialising low emissions technologies" is key to Australia moving towards net zero and hitting climate change targets.

"We cannot pretend the world is not changing," he added.

"If we do, we run the risk of stranding jobs in this country, especially in regional areas."

On that last point, his critics largely agree.

But how "clean" are the Government's announcements?

Should hydrogen production be 'clean' or 'green'?

For years, hydrogen has been referred to as a cheap, clean and abundant fuel of the future.

It has some disadvantages that have held it back. For example, it is a lot more explosive than petrol and difficult to transport.

This is partly why many in the energy industry believe electric cars will be preferred over hydrogen vehicles for everyday transport in the years to come.

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However, there is potential for hydrogen to be used to run fuel-cells on large ships, trucks, and to power energy intensive industries, like mining and steel making. Billionaire Andrew Forrest is a big fan.

In the last budget, the government funded the establishment of a "hydrogen hub" – an area where users, producers and exporters will be located.

Today's announcement, will fund four more and potential locations include:

Bell Bay in Tasmania, the Pilbara region in WA, Gladstone in QLD, the La Trobe Valley in VIC, Whyalla in SA, the Hunter Valley in NSW and Darwin in the NT.

The government wants Australia to become a major global supplier of hydrogen by 2030 and has the goal of driving down the cost of production to less than $2 a kilogram – the point where it can compete against fossil fuels.

But there is a catch.

Getting hydrogen into a pure, useable form takes a lot of energy and this process can produce a lot of emissions.

And so, that is why experts talk about different types of hydrogen — brown, black, grey, blue and green.

A comparison of production process for the "blue" and "green" types of hydrogen.(

Supplied: Woodside

)

Only "green" hydrogen is produced entirely through renewable power and has zero emissions. The others use electricity made by coal (black or brown) or gas (grey), sometimes with carbon capture and storage (blue).

The Government call its hydrogen plans "clean" — a combination of hydrogen from gas and renewables.

The Climate Council says the term is "misleading" for average Australians.

Its website states: "Proponents of fossil-fuelled hydrogen have used this to describe fossil fuel hydrogen linked to carbon capture and storage, as well as renewably sourced hydrogen."

"Only the variety of hydrogen generated with renewables … belongs in our zero emissions future."

Carbon capture and storage, part of our future or an 'expensive failure'?

As part of its emissions reduction plans, the Morrison Government is also vowing to keep supporting and investigating carbon, capture, use and storage (CCS).

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The process involves capturing emissions from power stations, factories – like cement or steel – transporting them and then storing them in the ground.

The extra $263.7 million being allocated in the budget will go towards more research and new "hubs".

These will be located at Moomba in SA, Gladstone in QLD, the Darling Basin in NSW, the North West Shelf and Bonaparte Basin in WA, Darwin in the NT and the south-west of WA.

Australia already has the planet's largest carbon, capture and storage project, attached to the Gorgon Gas Plant in WA.

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The government insists real progress is being made on CCS technology.

However, many climate scientists believe, when it comes to fossil-fuel energy production, CCS is not a serious alternative to wind and solar power.

Some, like the Climate Council, see it as an attempt to prolong the use of fossil fuels.

"The Gorgon CCS trial has been a big, expensive failure. It is capturing less than half the emissions needed to make CCS viable," the Climate Council's website states.

"CCS is extremely expensive and cannot deliver zero emissions."

"There are still no successful projects operating anywhere in the world."

Why is the PM making these announcements now, not on budget night?

At the moment, when he's asked about issues like aged care funding and superannuation changes, Mr Morrison usually insists journalists will have to wait until budget night.

US President Joe Biden will use his summit to set a non-binding emissions reduction target in the US for 2030.(

AP: Andrew Harnik

)

Yet, he's revealing this bit of government spending ahead of schedule and just days before taking part in US President Joe Biden's virtual greenhouse gas emissions summit.

He has faced a lot of public criticism in recent months for not committing Australia to a target of net zero emissions by 2050.

The issue is divisive internally for the Coalition.

Some Nationals, like Queensland Senator Matt Canavan, have vowed to opposed any target, claiming it will kill off coal mining jobs and manufacturing in regional areas.

However, a number of Liberal MPs in major cities fear an electoral backlash if they aren't seen to be taking the issue seriously and have been quietly urging the Government to act.

But even though Australia is still discussing a 2050 target, many climate scientists believe the world needs to act much sooner, and in a much more ambitious way, to protect the planet.

In the US, Mr Biden will use his summit to set a non-binding emissions reduction target for 2030, which will send a message to his supporters and opponents about how aggressively he will act on the issue.

While in the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to soon announce commitments to cut emissions by 78 per cent by 2035.

Here, the Labor Opposition and the Greens say by contrast, the Coalition's commitments and actions are woefully inadequate.

Posted 7hhours ago, updated 4hhours ago