Cashing in on rare bipartisan support for hydrogen across Australia’s national and state governments to help cut carbon emissions, pipeline and network owners have already committed A$180 million to a range of projects involving green hydrogen. Australian states have pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, in line with many developed countries, but Canberra has yet to commit to the 2050 timeframe. Pipeline owners seeking government funding for hydrogen projects aim to show how their infrastructure can be used to deliver hydrogen in blends with gas and store hydrogen as a form of renewable energy storage.
A study done for the industry body last year found that to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, building a hydrogen distribution network would cost half as much as expanding power networks to serve businesses and industries that currently rely on gas, and save Australia some A$13 billion. Pipeline companies are working on a shorter time frame than 2050, as some states are pushing to have 10 per cent hydrogen in gas pipelines by 2030. More projects are in the works, with pipeline companies shortlisted for A$70 million in hydrogen funding from the government. APA Group, Australia’s biggest pipeline company, is building a demonstration plant in the state of Queensland that would use solar energy to power an electrolyser to split water, produce hydrogen and combine that with carbon dioxide extracted from the air to produce methane. The project has attracted interest from US companies, and if it works, could aid all companies around the world, like APA, that have billions of dollars invested in pipelines serving liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants.