AUSTRALIA’S first public hydrogen fuel station is under construction and expected to be completed next month. It will be the forerunner to at least four other stations to be opened by the end of the year.

The Australian Hydrogen Council reports that a station in Canberra suburb of Fyshwick will open next month, followed by one at the University of Brisbane, one at Adelaide’s Tonsley Park and one at the Toyota Australia facility in Melbourne’s Altona; all by the end of the year.

Western Australia has a plant already producing in the southern suburbs of Jandakot by gas company ATCO and will soon move to public sale.

There is also a $300 million project by Infinite Green Energy (formerly Infinite Blue Energy) at its Arrowsmith Hydrogen Project to be built this year in Dongara, 320km north of Perth. The green hydrogen plant, powered by wind and solar, is expected to start supplying in 2025 and will produce 23 tonnes of hydrogen a day.

BP Australia and GHD Advisory are working on a feasibility study to make hydrogen in the WA seaside town of Geraldton.

Austrom Hydrogen, a newcomer to the Australian renewable energy scene, has unveiled plans to develop a large solar project, battery storage system, and hydrogen generation facility in Queensland.

Australian renewables producer Austrom Hydrogen has secured land near the Port of Gladstone, Queensland, for an ambitious project that could feature a 3.6 GW solar-powered hydrogen facility. The project, Pacific Solar Hydrogen, will join the growing group of gigawatt-scale green hydrogen project announcements across Australia.

Pacific Solar Hydrogen – planned for the North Callide region, 70 km from Gladstone – has begun initial environmental impact studies and irradiance monitoring. The developers are currently liaising with key industry stakeholders to streamline the development process.

The company said its key strategic decision was to “place priority on securing enough suitable land to be able to generate enough in-house solar power and battery support to supply all the energy necessary for the large-scale hydrogen facility”. While this marks an important milestone, the next, even bigger step is to secure finance and offtake deals.

Image: John Lloyd, flickr

If you hadn’t heard of Infinite Green Energy a month ago, you definitely will have today. In the last four weeks the Australian hydrogen specialist secured funding to build a $300m green hydrogen plant in Western Australia and unveiled bold billion-dollar plans to transition New South Wales from fossil fuel-based electricity to green hydrogen by 2027.

Infinite Green Energy (IGE, formerly Infinite Blue Energy) wants to enable a sustainable green hydrogen future from water, solar and wind energy, with no carbon debt. At the centre of this vision is Stephen Gauld (picturedabove), IGE’s founder and Managing Director. With more than 20 years’ experience in the oil & gas sector, Gauld believes this was the right time for IGE to enter the market.

“Covid-19 has opened the world’s eyes to our reliance on fossil fuels and the need to move to renewable energy. In the last two months we’ve achieved a 10% reduction of global CO2 emissions due to the fact that no one is able to travel at the moment,” Gauld told H2 View.

Major offshore wind developer Ørsted is leading a group of Danish businesses from the demand and supply side to develop a hydrogen production facility, while WindEurope launches an initiative to back the role of the technology in decarbonising Europe.

The promise of renewables-produced-hydrogen as a clean storable energy resource has long been discussed among the industry and academics.

Several pilot projects are in the pipeline, but the feasibility of large-scale production and the commerciality of the technology has yet to be proven.

That’s not deterring the renewables industry from pursuing ever-larger projects. Ørsted has invested heavily in making hydrogen a legitimate source of energy.

Its latest attempt sees it join forces with Copenhagen Airports, AP Møller-Mærsk, transport firm DSV Panalpina, shipping firm DFDS and airline SAS to develop an industrial-scale hydrogen facility to produce “e-fuels” for road, maritime and air transport near Copenhagen.

Infinite Green Energy (IBE, formerly Infinite Blue Energy) has revealed a new strategy to transition large fossil fuel users in NSW to green hydrogen to assist the state’s companies de-carbonise.

The initial target for “Project NEO” is 1GW of 100 per cent Green Hydrogen reliable baseload power via a combination of Solar PV, Wind Turbines & Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology.

Project NEO is initially focused on providing 1GW, but the concept is scalable, and potentially able to provide a significant proportion of the region’s electricity requirement.

Traditionally, this level of electricity generation has only been achievable using coal or gas fired power stations, but Green Hydrogen is now a viable alternative.

Project NEO, which will commence with a feasibility study and detailed design over the next 18 months, is focused on transitioning the traditional reliance on coal fired and/or gas fuelled electricity to green hydrogen-generated baseload electricity.

A traditional weakness with solar and wind energy is the variability associated with a reliance on natural seasonal changes and conditions.

By converting the solar and wind energy into Green Hydrogen, it is possible to provide electricity when there is no wind, a cloudy day or limited to zero sun exposure at night via its fuel cell technology.

IGE CEO, Stephen Gauld, said the company’s vision was to show the world that Australia has the technology, skills and entrepreneurial mindset to be a true leader in the development of green hydrogen plants.

“We are currently in robust negotiations with major electricity users in the NSW Hunter Region that have confirmed their intentions to transition to Green Hydrogen baseload electricity this decade,” Mr Gauld said.

“IGE is negotiating over 1000MW of electricity currently generated by coal and natural gas to a source of Green Hydrogen baseload electricity.”

Project NEO, which is estimated to cost a total of $3.5 billion when built, generates green hydrogen with renewable wind and solar energy, which is then stored before being converted into electricity by fuel cells.

With its commitment to regional communities and encouraging further jobs through skills diversification, Infinite Green Energy anticipates that a significant proportion of the workforce required for Project NEO will be drawn from the existing coal fired power stations in NSW, since many of the skills are similar.

New South Wales in Australia could be transitioned from fossil fuel-based electricity to green hydrogen by 2027 under bold billion-dollar plans unveiled today by Infinite Green Energy (IGE, formerly Infinite Blue Energy).

Dubbed project NEO, the $3.5bn initiative will target one gigawatt (GW) of 100% green hydrogen reliable baseload power using a combination of solar PV, wind turbines and hydrogen fuel cell technology.

The project will commence with a feasibility study and detailed design over the next 18 months, focusing on transitioning away from reliance on coal fired and/or gas fuelled electricity to green hydrogen generated baseload electricity.

“The vision at Infinite Green Energy (IGE) is to show the world, first and foremost, that Australia has the technology, skills and entrepreneurial mindset to be a true leader in the development of green hydrogen plants,” IGE CEO Stephen Gauld said.

Australia is backing it’s ambitions to become a world leader in hydrogen exports with a A$300 million ($192 million) fund to promote development of the fuel touted as a cleaner alternative to natural gas.

April 30 (Renewables Now) – Infinite Green Energy (IGE, formerly Infinite Green Energy) has obtained AUD 300 million (USD 196.4m/EUR 179.2m) in equity and debt funding from a group of international investors for a green hydrogen project in Western Australia, local media report.

The company’s Arrowsmith hydrogen plant will be built at a site that is about 320 km (198.8 miles) north of Perth. The facility will have the capacity to produce 23 tonnes of green hydrogen a day, relying on solar panels, wind turbines and batteries.

The plan is to switch on the plant in 2025.

Meanwhile, Infinite Green Energy is holding talks regarding additional green hydrogen projects, having received strong interest, its CEO Stephen Gauld was quoted as saying by Business News Australia.

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.655/EUR 0.598)