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MAJOR BOOST FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIAN RENEWABLE HYDROGEN
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ustralia’s Heavy Vehicle Road transport industry has a unique set of characteristics that includes longer distances and larger combinations than occurs elsewhere in the world. The WA State Government has welcomed a $71.2 million funding boost for two Western Australian renewable hydrogen projects through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). Two of the three projects announced for ARENA funding are located in WA, in a clear sign of WA’s leading position in the renewable hydrogen industry. The YURI Green Ammonia Project – a consortium between Engie Renewables Australia and Yara Pilbara Fertilisers – will receive $42.5 million towards a 10MW electrolyser to produce renewable hydrogen at the existing ammonia facility on the Pilbara’s Burrup Peninsula. It follows the McGowan Government’s $2 million grant to the project in January this year through the WA Renewable Hydrogen Fund.
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WATM • July 2021
ATCO Australia’s Clean Energy Innovation Park will receive $28.7 million towards a 10MW electrolyser co-located at the Warradarge wind farm in the Mid-West, producing renewable hydrogen for gas blending. In 2020, the McGowan Government helped to kick-start the project by funding a feasibility study into the Clean Energy Innovation Park and have committed more than $35 million towards developing a jobcreating renewable hydrogen industry in WA. Hydrogen Industry Minister Alannah MacTiernan says, “We welcome this funding injection through the Federal Government, which backs in our Government's efforts to position Western Australia as the nation’s leader on renewable hydrogen development. “The McGowan Government’s earlystage funding for both projects through the Renewable Hydrogen Fund has now paid off. “The projects align with the McGowan Government’s 2019 Renewable Hydrogen Strategy, developing a hydrogen industry for both export and to blend into the local
gas network. “Renewable hydrogen will be a major future industry for WA, helping to reduce carbon emissions locally and around the world and supporting local jobs.”
Works begin at Australia's first regional renewable hydrogen plant Work has begun on Australia’s first community hydrogen power plant, providing an innovative and renewable alternative to the use of diesel in the Gascoyne town of Denham. Horizon Power will install a 704-kilowatt (kW) solar farm, 348kW hydrogen electrolyser and a 100kW fuel cell in Denham, enabling excess renewable energy to be used to produce renewable hydrogen which will be stored on site and used to power homes as required. It is the first time in Australia that a renewable hydrogen powered remote microgrid will be used in the community, with Denham chosen due to its proximity to wind and solar resources and land availability.
