Darren Miller
A $70 million hydrogen deployment funding round to fast-track renewable hydrogen development closes May 26.
The fund is expected to play a significant role in supporting commercial-scale deployments of renewable hydrogen and facilitate cost reductions in production to achieve the goal of ‘H2 under $2’, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) says.
The funding round aims to support two or more large scale renewable hydrogen projects, with electrolysers of a minimum of 5MW capacity, with a preference for 10MW or larger.
These projects are expected to be among the largest electrolysers in the world, and each must be powered by renewable electricity, either directly or through power purchase agreements or large-scale generation certificates.
ARENA invites expressions of interest for such projects across a range of industries and end uses. Shortlisted projects will be invited to submit full applications later in 2020, with the aim of awarding funding by the end of the year.
The funding round, expected to stimulate jobs and economic growth, follows the release of the National Hydrogen Strategy last year.
ARENA has committed more than $55m to support pre-commercial activities including power to gas and renewable ammonia and has invested in feasibility studies for commercial-scale deployments of hydrogen, including Dyno Nobel, Queensland Nitrates, Yara and Stanwell.
Preliminary feasibility outcomes indicate a significant commercial gap and grant and concession funding will be required for hydrogen production facilities in the short to medium term.
The funding round is a significant step in progressing the commercialisation of hydrogen production in Australia and opening domestic and international hydrogen market opportunities, ARENA chief executive Darren Miller says.
“We’ve supported a range of feasibility studies and pilot projects over the past two years, but now we need to start the journey of producing hydrogen at scale,” he says.
“To take advantage of hydrogen’s potential, we need to increase the scale and reduce the costs of electrolyser installations in Australia.
“Through this round, ARENA aims to share knowledge on technical and commercial parameters for commercial-scale renewable hydrogen production for domestic and international markets.”
Liquefied hydrogen, or hydrogen carriers like ammonia, are potentially a way for Australia to export renewable energy.
Hydrogen can be produced via electrolysis – a process that separates water into hydrogen and oxygen, and when produced using renewable electricity is entirely emissions-free.
It is used in the industrial and chemical sectors, mainly sourced from natural gas.
In the future, hydrogen will be used in a range of applications including transport, industrial processes, household appliances, remote power, and for greening or storing energy in the existing gas network.
“Australia is well placed to become a major renewable hydrogen producer and exporter,” Miller says.
“We are blessed with some of the world’s best wind and solar resources, a large sparsely populated landmass, and as a major energy and resources exporter, we are already an experienced and trusted trading partner for countries like Japan and South Korea that will be the future hydrogen importers.”
