ISSUE 39 SEPTEMBER 2021
THE VOICE OF THE NEW ZEALAND AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY
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Hydrogen fuel for heavy transport? WOULD A GREEN HYDROGEN PLANT WORK FOR HEAVY TRANSPORT — OR NEW ZEALAND? ydrogen has been touted as an alternative fuel for heavy transport — and several truck makers are investing heavily in the technology — so could building the world’s largest hydrogen plant at Tiwai Point put New Zealand on the green fuel map? Or, given that the electricity brown-out experienced recently, which — regardless of fundamental problems with the electricity market — indicates our generation can struggle with short-term demand peaks, would we be better off simply diverting the electricity powering Tiwai Point directly to the national grid? The idea of converting Southland’s aluminium smelter to hydrogen production has been floated by Australian mining magnate Dr Andrew Forrest. He is the founder and chairman of Fortescue Metals Group, the world’s fourth-biggest iron ore producer. He has already met with local councils and government officials. A subsidiary joint venture of mining company Rio Tinto currently runs the smelter using cheap
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electricity from Meridian Energy, operator of the Manapouri hydroelectric dam. The contract runs out in 2024 which could then see the smelter shut. Forrest has proposed converting the plant to ‘green hydrogen’ production, the main attraction being the supply of Tiwai Point’s 570 megawatts of electricity at heavily discounted prices. That would power more than 770,000 average homes every year — more than all the residential households in Auckland. The attraction for local and national government is that the move would secure the future for at least some of the 1000-odd Southland workers employed by the smelter.
NOT FOR HEAVY TRANSPORT It would also look good for the region to become one of the world’s largest hydrogen production plants. However, replacing this or even other nations’ diesel-powered heavy vehicle fleets with emission free hydrogen-powered trucks
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is not on Forrest’s agenda. He wants to ship it to Australia to displace coal as the fuel for steel works to produce so-called green steel. Fortescue is the fourth largest ore company in the world. Most of the iron ore it extracts is exported to China for processing there. It should be noted the environmental benefits of the two options — fuelling heavy transport and displacing coal-fired ore smelting — are unlikely to be equal. Extracting crude oil on the other side of the world, transporting and refining it, and distributing diesel or other fossil fuels produces significant emissions long before they get burnt in vehicle engines here. And the environmental outcome is far from the only consideration. Rio Tinto regularly threatens to leave Tiwai Point saying low aluminium prices mean it’s just not worth their while. In 2013 the National government paid the company $30 million in return for an agreement to stay on for 18 months — which in fact halved its notice period from the pre-existing end date of 2017. Rio Tinto also got another price cut. The move, which only gained workers an 18-month reprieve, was heavily criticised by Labour and the Greens who noted Rio Tinto had simply
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