Australia’s green hydrogen industry is up and away with the announcement of more than $100 million by the Australian Government for three renewable hydrogen projects.
The projects will support renewable hydrogen for ammonia exports and hydrogen blending in local gas networks.
With targeted financial capital, green hydrogen can be a critical component of Australia’s low-emissions and economic future.
“This is a red-letter day for Australia’s renewable hydrogen industry,” says the Clean Energy Council’s Director of Energy Generation, Anna Freeman. “The delivery of these projects is critical to the scale-up of Australia’s hydrogen industry. They’ll accelerate our knowledge and capability development and get us on the way to driving down the costs of renewable hydrogen production.
“Although there is tremendous potential for Australia to become a major renewable hydrogen producer, the economics of these projects are very challenging, and no renewable hydrogen project is currently viable without additional funding support. “
According to Deloitte, the potential economic contribution of Australia’s hydrogen sector is large – up to $26 billion annually in additional GDP and 16,900 new jobs by 2050.
“A strong and highly competitive field of projects submitted bids into the round, and it’s great to see that the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, with its renewed funding base, has been able to increase the total funding envelope available to support quality projects,” concludes Freeman.
ENDS