The federal government sponsored Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced that it will grant A$103.3 million (US$79.7m) for three commercial-scale hydrogen projects to help kick-start renewable hydrogen production in Australia at a large scale. The three projects, worth a combined A$161m, will each include the installation of a 10 MW electrolyze, the ARENA release said. They are being developed by Engie Renewables Australia, a subsidiary of French energy giant Engie, ATCO Australia, and Australian Gas Networks (AGIG), and will receive awards under the Renewable Hydrogen Deployment Funding Round. Green hydrogen development, however, has been slow to gain momentum in most Asia-Pacific countries due to its current high cost compared with fossil fuels, leaving Europe virtually alone to take the global green hydrogen lead.
Engie Renewables, for its part, will take up to A$42.5m to produce renewable hydrogen in a partnership with Yara Fertilizers at their existing ammonia facility in Karratha, Western Australia. ATCO will receive up to A$28.7m to produce hydrogen for gas, for blending into existing natural gas pipelines, at their Clean Energy Innovation Park in Warradarge, Western Australia, while AGIG will be provided with up to A$32.1m, also including a gas blending project, at their Murray Valley Hydrogen Park in Wodonga, Victoria. Green hydrogen, the cleanest hydrogen option, is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using an electrolyze that may be fed by wind power, solar power, or hydro power and as such produces no emissions. Brown hydrogen uses fossil fuels in its production and has a high carbon footprint, while blue hydrogen also uses fossil fuels but also utilizes carbon, capture and storage (CCS) technology for emissions. Australia, one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters per capita due to its massive coal and LNG production, both the largest in the world, has been trying to offset its carbon footprint by ramping up its hydrogen infrastructure. The quandary, however, for the country is whether it should rely heavily on hydrogen produced by fossil fuels with CCS technology or try to mostly move toward green hydrogen, which produces zero emissions. Canberra announced in April that it will invest a further A$539.2m to develop both clean hydrogen and CCS projects.