Australia is making slow progress on building a hydrogen industry, according to a government department report.
Barriers include the lack of commercially viable production, building understanding and demand, and shipping costs, the inaugural State of Hydrogen report has found.
In a bid to stimulate progress, Energy Minister Angus Taylor on Friday announced a Guarantee of Origin scheme that will be trialled with industry to help promote locally produced hydrogen and its products.
The minister wants Australia to be a major global player in hydrogen by 2030 and build an industry on the scale of the nation’s current liquefied natural gas sector.
The new scheme will measure and track emissions from hydrogen production, as well as the type of technology used.
Hydrogen can be used to power vehicles, generate heat and electricity, produce ammonia-based fertiliser, and in the production of steel if the grade of iron ore is high enough.
Direct federal government support for the hydrogen industry now stands at more than $1.2 billion.
“Make no mistake – we are world leading,” Mr Taylor said.
“Australia has the largest pipeline of announced clean hydrogen projects in the world, a very significant achievement.”
The report defines clean hydrogen as “hydrogen produced using renewable energy or using fossil fuels with substantial carbon capture and storage”.
Some 500 years of coal reserves are identified, along with geological sites for carbon capture and storage (CSS).
In the near term, the best CCS opportunities are listed as including the Carnarvon Basin in the northwest of Western Australia, the Gippsland Basin in offshore Victoria, and onshore regions near the Cooper Basin in Queensland and South Australia, and the Surat Basin in Queensland.
“This gives our emerging hydrogen industry flexibility to pursue the pathways that best meet customer preferences as global markets emerge,” the report says.
“These projects are helping us to grow our capability and overcome expected challenges as we set out to reach our hydrogen production goal of $2 per kilogram.”
The EU aims to drive down the cost of renewable hydrogen production to below $2 by 2030.
Australian partnerships have already been signed with Singapore, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and South Korea to help accelerate the use of hydrogen and build supply chains.
The Department of Industry will lead the GO trials, which were funded in the last budget.
State and territory ministers have agreed to allow hydrogen and biogases to be brought within the existing regulatory framework for natural gas.
South Korea, Japan and Europe are looking at ‘green hydrogen’ fuel, made by separating hydrogen from water using wind and solar energy, amid concerns some industrial processes and heavy transport cannot be electrified.
Producing hydrogen from electrolysis powered by renewable electricity does not create any carbon emissions.
Australia is making slow progress on building a hydrogen industry, according to a government department report.
Barriers include the lack of commercially viable production, building understanding and demand, and shipping costs, the inaugural State of Hydrogen report has found.
In a bid to stimulate progress, Energy Minister Angus Taylor on Friday announced a Guarantee of Origin scheme that will be trialled with industry to help promote locally produced hydrogen and its products.
The minister wants Australia to be a major global player in hydrogen by 2030 and build an industry on the scale of the nation’s current liquefied natural gas sector.
The new scheme will measure and track emissions from hydrogen production, as well as the type of technology used.
Hydrogen can be used to power vehicles, generate heat and electricity, produce ammonia-based fertiliser, and in the production of steel if the grade of iron ore is high enough.
Direct federal government support for the hydrogen industry now stands at more than $1.2 billion.
“Make no mistake – we are world leading,” Mr Taylor said.
“Australia has the largest pipeline of announced clean hydrogen projects in the world, a very significant achievement.”
The report defines clean hydrogen as “hydrogen produced using renewable energy or using fossil fuels with substantial carbon capture and storage”.
Some 500 years of coal reserves are identified, along with geological sites for carbon capture and storage (CSS).
In the near term, the best CCS opportunities are listed as including the Carnarvon Basin in the northwest of Western Australia, the Gippsland Basin in offshore Victoria, and onshore regions near the Cooper Basin in Queensland and South Australia, and the Surat Basin in Queensland.
“This gives our emerging hydrogen industry flexibility to pursue the pathways that best meet customer preferences as global markets emerge,” the report says.
“These projects are helping us to grow our capability and overcome expected challenges as we set out to reach our hydrogen production goal of $2 per kilogram.”
The EU aims to drive down the cost of renewable hydrogen production to below $2 by 2030.
Australian partnerships have already been signed with Singapore, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and South Korea to help accelerate the use of hydrogen and build supply chains.
The Department of Industry will lead the GO trials, which were funded in the last budget.
State and territory ministers have agreed to allow hydrogen and biogases to be brought within the existing regulatory framework for natural gas.
South Korea, Japan and Europe are looking at ‘green hydrogen’ fuel, made by separating hydrogen from water using wind and solar energy, amid concerns some industrial processes and heavy transport cannot be electrified.
Producing hydrogen from electrolysis powered by renewable electricity does not create any carbon emissions.