Townsville declared hydrogen cluster

The North Queensland Hydrogen Consortium, led by Townsville Enterprise, has formally been announced as a hydrogen cluster following a Federal Government announcement today.

One of three new hydrogen technology clusters in Australia, Townsville will join Central Queensland, Toowoomba and Brisbane as the fourth cluster in Queensland.

The new clusters will operate under the Hydrogen Technology Cluster Australia project, an initiative of independent National Energy Resources Australia (NERA), which is funded by the Australian Government’s Industry Growth Centres.

The Townsville hydrogen cluster aims to bring together local players to build the regions’ skills and advance commercialisation opportunities.

Industry experts in Geosciences Australia and CSIRO have also concluded that Northern Queensland is the most efficient location in eastern-Australia to produce green Hydrogen, and the North Queensland Hydrogen Consortium (NQH2) has been formed to accelerate the hydrogen ecosystem in the region.

Townsville Enterprise CEO Claudia Brumme-Smith said today’s announcement is a positive step in being recognised across Australia and the world as an integral contributor to the swiftly developing hydrogen economy.

“As a designated NERA hydrogen cluster, the purpose of NQH2 is to encourage and facilitate the development of the hydrogen industry in North Queensland. Townsville Enterprise is leading the NQH2 consortium together with our foundation members,” Ms Brumme-Smith said.

“North Queensland is an emerging renewable hydrogen industry and achieving cluster status opens up more opportunities to deliver on our ambition to become the world’s most competitive exporter of green hydrogen.”

“With our region now part of a national network of like-minded clusters, we look forward to realising our potential to build upon the unique advantages that geographically come with being in our part of Northern Australia.”

Member for Herbert Phil Thompson said he’d been working closely with the NQH2 consortium in Townville to reach this milestone.

“Today’s announcement that Townsville is now officially a hydrogen cluster is excellent news for our city,” Mr Thompson said.

“We’ve already got hydrogen projects on the go, but this step really puts us on the national map as a region that is prioritising the industry and will help unlock opportunities for even more major investment into the future.”

Clean hydrogen could directly support 16,000 jobs by 2050, plus an additional 13,000 jobs from the construction of related renewable energy infrastructure. Australian hydrogen production for export and domestic use could also generate more than $50 billion in additional GDP by 2050.

NERA CEO Miranda Taylor said today’s announcement shows the importance Australia places on the potential for hydrogen energy.

“Today’s announcement is a crucial step for Australia in building the skills, capacities, technologies and commercialisation opportunities necessary to unlock Australia’s enormous potential to create a globally competitive hydrogen industry that could create thousands of Australian jobs across regional Australia,” Ms Taylor said.

NERA’s national Hydrogen Technology Cluster establishes a global identity and a recognised brand for Australian hydrogen technology and expertise.

The North Queensland Hydrogen Consortium is led by Townsville Enterprise Limited and is guided by a steering committee to inform the advocacy, investment, community and indigenous engagement and government agency collaboration.

Foundation partners on the steering committee include Townsville City Council, Port of Townsville, ARK Energy, Origin Energy, Edify, Copperstring 2.0, Rockfield, Ricochet and Lixia.