Background
North Queensland is ideally placed to develop a hydrogen industry for both domestic and international use, having the best renewable energy resources to combine with other inputs to produce green hydrogen at scale, existing road, rail, port, and gas infrastructure that can be leveraged to support new hydrogen specific infrastructure, raw and recycled water supply and is geographically close to North Asian export markets providing a regional advantage. With more than 320 days of sunshine, several established renewable energy developments and regional partners that are progressing technology and capabilities in low and zero emission energy, a regional hydrogen consortium can bring together companies and institutions to build, collaborate and grow the hydrogen industry.
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North Queensland Hydrogen Industry Working Group which has been collaborating since March 2019
$10.6 million commitment for a renewable energy training facility at Bohle TAFE in Townsville in November 2020
MOU signed in April 2021 between Origin Energy and Port of Townsville to develop export pathways for hydrogen export
Townsville City Council called for tenders for a hydrogen facility at the Mount St John Wastewater Treatment Plant April 2021
Hydrogen fuelled trucks order placed by Ark Energy for use by their sister company Townsville Logistics in July 2021
MOU signed in August 2021 between Ark Energy and Port of Townsville to develop export pathways for Hydrogen export
Townsville City Council has approved Edify Energy’s 1 GW green hydrogen production facility at the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct in September 2021. This is one of the first, if not the first, large scale green hydrogen production facilities to have planning approval in Queensland.
North Queensland has established businesses that have projects at either feasibility stage or development stage to further the hydrogen industry in the region. The cluster will bring together producers, with supply chain providers, regional SMEs, and offtake customers to activate the hydrogen ecosystem for the region of North Queensland. The larger proponents of the Consortium such as Ark Energy (subsidiary of Korea Zinc) and Origin in partnership with Japanese Kawasaki Industries have already secured major offtake agreements within the Korean and Japanese Market – something that sets our region apart from others.
Regional Opportunities
North Queensland is abundant in natural resources with the existing capacity to generate clean energy from solar PV, wind, and hydro. North Queensland is an important and critical link in the supply chain needed for Australia to become a major renewable hydrogen producer and supplier. Projects such as Copperstring 2.0, Hells Gates Dam Pumped Hydro facility, Kidston Pumped Storage, Ark Energy’s hydrogen production facility and new hydrogen powered truck (operational by the end of 2022), Edify Energy’s consented 200 MW Majors Creek Solar Power Station project and other large scale renewable projects will ensure that that the region has the foundations to accelerate the hydrogen industry for domestic and global demand.
North Queensland regional capabilities for the production and export of green hydrogen
The North Queensland region is undergoing a renewable energy transformation. Harnessing the abundant natural resources, and large-scale suitable landmass, Foundation partners and proponents have made the first steps to becoming Australia’s leading hydrogen hub that can specialise in domestic and global export of green hydrogen.
Scope & Outcome
NQH2 Consortium will focus on industries and the development of four main areas:
Inputs
Such as power, water, equipment, and common user infrastructure.
Production
Producers of hydrogen, logistics for both domestic and export in all carrier forms
Outputs
End Users (purchasers or users of hydrogen), waste outputs from the production process
Fundamentals
Health and safety provisions, environmental considerations, and economic and social considerations
These four areas will bring together manufacturing, suppliers, end users and producers as well as logistic solution providers and major infrastructure players to collaborate on the establishment and growth of the Hydrogen industry in North Queensland. Collaboration is required to ensure the momentum and outcomes are activated to upscale the industry development and produce commercially viable outcomes for the region.
The key delivery stakeholders are the individual members of NQH2, and each member will be responsible for developing the technology associated with their individual projects. Any commercial arrangements or partnerships to advance these individual projects will be at the discretion of the consortium member/s and third parties where applicable and will sit outside the governance and operation of NQH2.