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With a new Future Sure gas consumer campaign for New Zealand, the Climate Change Commission’s recommendations recognising the potential for hydrogen and biogas, and new hydrogen training facilities being built in Australia, positive moves are afoot for alternative fuels. NZ Plumber provides an update.
his February, the first turf was turned on a AU$20 million Hydrogen Training Centre of Excellence in Queensland, Australia. The new facility is part of the Queensland government’s plan to fast track the development of the hydrogen industry for internal use and export—with the export market estimated to be worth about $1.7 billion a year by 2030. “Investing in state-of-the art training facilities will attract new workers to the industry as well as meet projected demand from existing apprentices and tradespeople,” said Treasurer Cameron Dick at the turf-turning ceremony. The facility, which is expected to open by June 2022, is a joint project between the government and the industry not-for-profit Plumbing Industry Climate Action Centre (PICAC) and will be built on the same site as the existing training centre in Beenleigh. In other hydrogen training investment for Australia, $10.6 million will go to a Hydrogen and Renewable Energy Training faciity at the Bohle TAFE campus in Townsville, Queensland, and a $2 million upgrade to training facilities at Gladstone State High School to prepare students for jobs in the hydrogen industry. Master Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers NZ CEO Greg Wallace says the organisation is working closely with Master Plumbers Australia to ensure hydrogen training will be available to New Zealand businesses and their staff. “We are meeting with Energy and Resource Minister Dr Megan Woods in September
GREEN HYDROGEN
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, but on Earth it exists as compounds in combination with other elements— mainly water (H2O), but also fossil gas, coal and petroleum. In the race to decarbonise by 2050, economies around the world are increasingly viewing green hydrogen energy production as a key way to achieve a low-emissions future. Green hydrogen is generated by renewable energy sources to power an electrolyser, sending an electric current through water to split the hydrogen from the oxygen.
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