The updated National Hydrogen Strategy assumes that the Australian government will provide support of about 8 billion Australian dollars (5.4 billion US dollars)) will unlock AUD50 billion in private investment over the next decade. This would allow for annual production at least 500,000 tonnes of hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources and a minimum export of 200,000 tonnes by 2030.
Hydrogen – a key raw material on the way to reducing emissions
Australia has been trying to start producing green hydrogen, seen as a key raw material on the way to reducing emissions in energy-intensive industriessuch as steel production. The geographical conditions in Australia are ideal for this purpose. The vast open spaces give Australia unlimited possibilities for the construction of solar farms and wind turbines needed to power electrolysers for the production of green hydrogen.
BloombergNEF predicts that The US, Europe and China will account for 80% of Australia’s green hydrogen supplies by 2030.
Hydrogen is essential to achieving net zero emissions. Here’s how much hydrogen every global industry needs to eliminate carbon emissions / Bloomberg
The government has great hopes for hydrogen production.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen said hydrogen would play an important complementary role to electrification, opening up pathways net zero emissions for hard-to-abate industries.
“By using our world-leading renewable energy resources to produce renewable hydrogen, we can enable new domestic production opportunities such as green metals and chemicals, low-emission liquid fuels and energy exports to our international partners” —Bowen said.
Not everything is going according to plan
Despite the excellent geographical conditions the country is struggling to develop the green hydrogen sector. Bloomberg reminds us that one of the biggest advocates of this fuel, billionaire Andrew Forrest — founder of iron ore miner Fortescue — in July put on hold a target to produce 15 million tonnes of green hydrogen a year by 2030. He cited high energy prices as the reason for his change of heart.
Bloomberg points out that demand for green hydrogen also lags behind.Only about 12% of planned production capacity to be launched by the end of the decade currently has an identified recipientand only a small percentage of those agreements are binding, BNEF said in a May report.
The updated hydrogen strategy plan, first released in 2019, includes four goals for the country’s market, including identifying the most promising demand sectors and building a cost-competitive industry.
