RENEWABLE HYDROGEN, THE RACE IS ON Renewable hydrogen has taken on a life of its own and pundits who forecast a rapid trajectory agree Australia has much to gain provided we move fast.
COP26 Climate Champions have named Michael Bloomberg as a Global Ambassador. The Climate Champions are Founding Partners in the Zero Carbon Certification Scheme
“The world urgently needs to massively ramp up deployment of breakthrough solutions like green hydrogen…” COP26 HIGH LEVEL CHAMPION FOR CLIMATE ACTION NIGEL TOPPING
JUST A FEW SHORT YEARS AGO renewable hydrogen barely rated a mention at Smart Energy conferences. But advances in new energy move at a pace and this year, hydrogen developments occupied a full one-day stream with 22 expert speakers. Addressing conference delegates live from London was COP26 High Level Champion for Climate Action Nigel Topping whose key messages orbited around the need to seize opportunities and ratchet up velocity. “The world urgently needs to massively ramp up deployment of breakthrough solutions like green hydrogen… the bold vision and leadership of businesses can propel green hydrogen along an exponential growth trajectory to support economic recovery and deep decarbonisation sooner than anticipated,” he said. Topping implored Australia to join the race to net zero, emphasising the need to significantly increase renewable energy investment to achieve green hydrogen aims, saying “Australia needs to be among the first movers to meet the emerging Asian markets and attract necessary investment as destination of choice. “Over the next five years international markets and domestic demand for green hydrogen will be emerging… yes, there is big upfront capital expenditure for large scale projects for export that involve an element of risk but technology that is proven and at scale leads to lower costs.” And what lies ahead is jobs, manufacturing and export, Topping said, forecasting an escalation of production. It is now estimated that green hydrogen could supply up to 25 per cent of the world’s energy needs by 2050 and become a US$10 trillion market by 2050. These projections are underpinned by the recent emergence of strong hydrogen-focused national strategies in Australia as well as Chile, Germany, the EU, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain and South Korea.
Mindful of the need to stir momentum and position Australia as an energy superpower, the Smart Energy Council is, through its Division Hydrogen Australia, accelerating the shift to a zero-carbon economy.
Smart Energy Council’s worldleading Zero Carbon Certification Scheme gathers pace Hydrogen Australia has welcomed a series of prominent Founding Partners in the Zero Carbon Certification Scheme, as explained by Wayne Smith. “The ACT government’s participation is very significant, as is global ammonia consortium Ammonia Energy Association which is headquartered in the US and represents some of the biggest ammonia companies,” he said. “We have also welcomed the high level COP 26 Climate Champions, including Michael Bloomberg, as a founding partner, along with global non-profit organisation Energy Web, the open source blockchain company that tracks and traces energy products including potentially hydrogen and ammonia.” Other founding partners include Star Scientific, Australian National University, CWP Global, Evoenergy and the ACT Renewable Hydrogen Cluster. The German Energy Agency (dena) and Australian National University are Advisors to the Zero Carbon Certification Scheme and joining the scheme as a partner is the Green Hydrogen Catapult, a consortium of the world’s seven largest renewable hydrogen companies including Yara and CWP Renewables. The Catapult Group has committed to the deployment of 25GW through to 2026 of renewablesbased hydrogen production, with a view to halving the current cost of hydrogen to below US$2 per kilogram. “Hydrogen Australia will be working closely with Green Hydrogen Catapult on global certification which will reinforce our standing and the uptake of green hydrogen,” Wayne Smith said. More recently the Victorian Government and Australian blockchain energy company Power Ledger came on board as founding partners of the Zero Carbon Certification Scheme: Power Ledger chief executive Jemma Green said “Our technology is already being used around the world to support the proliferation of renewable energy and we want to continue to be at the forefront of this innovation in our own backyard.” For her part Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio declared the Scheme as “Exactly what is needed to accelerate renewable hydrogen in Australia.” Things are moving at a pace. The first project to be certified under the worldleading Zero Carbon Certification Scheme will be ActewAGL’s hydrogen refuelling site in the ACT
22 WINTER 2021
