Gladstone hydrogen plan secures $117m backing

A large-scale renewable hydrogen project in Gladstone has secured almost $117 million to fund the front-end engineering and design (FEED) study required to take it forward. The study will finalise the development stage of the Central Queensland Hydrogen (CQ-H2) Project, which will initially involve the installation of up to 640 MW of electrolysers to produce hydrogen for commercial operations commencing in 2028. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) will provide $20 million in funding, while $15 million will come from from the State Government and the remainder ($81.8 million) from consortium partners. “Stanwell’s project represents a near-term renewable hydrogen production opportunity at globally significant scale," ARENA chief executive officer Darren Miller said. "The development of a renewable hydrogen hub in Gladstone could help decarbonise heavy industrial facilities in the region and create an export supply chain between Australia and Japan and Singapore. “We’re looking to gain valuable learnings around the current cost of producing hydrogen from renewable energy at large-scale. This understanding is critical to scaling up hydrogen production in Australia and developing both the domestic and export industry for renewable hydrogen in line with Australia’s ambitions.” A consortium of companies from Australia, Japan and Singapore has been formed to leverage the specialist expertise provided by each of the partners across the hydrogen production supply chain. Along with Stanwell, the consortium members include Iwatani Corporation (Iwatani), Kansai Electric Power Company (Kansai), Keppel Infrastructure (Keppel) and Marubeni Corporation (Marubeni). The proposed CQ-H2 hydrogen production facility will produce gaseous renewable hydrogen that will be purchased by offtakers and converted to renewable ammonia and liquefied hydrogen for export. The facility will initially produce 200 tonnes per day (tpd) of hydrogen and ramp up in 200 tpd increments as additional offtake agreements are secured, with full scale anticipated to be 800 tpd for commercial operations in 2031. Related: Hydrogen proposal humming along The FEED study will also investigate the development of a hydrogen liquefaction facility based at the Port of Gladstone to produce 400 tpd of liquefied hydrogen for export by the end of 2030. Stanwell and a number of consortium members completed a feasibility study for the project in June 2022, which showed the project to be technically feasible and indicated it could be commercially viable with appropriate government support in the initial phases. The FEED study is expected to be completed by mid 2024. The CQ-H2 project would create an estimated 8900 jobs at its peak. Below: An impression of the proposed green hydrogen electrolysis facility at Aldoga, 20km west of Gladstone.

Gladstone hydrogen plan secures $117m backing

Industry Queensland

Related News

Premier backs Katter on Mount Isa mining future

Coal royalties locked in under new legislation

Government details support for Mount Isa growth projects

Get access to breaking mining news, now.