Adding to the list of renewable hydrogen production plans in Australia, a new renewable energy company called Austrom Hydrogen has proposed to develop up to 3.6 GW of solar and storage energy production to produce hydrogen. The company has already secured land for the development of the solar & battery facility in Callide in the state of Queensland.
Austrom Hydrogen says the solar farm will use a mix of existing and new infrastructure to get green electricity to the hydrogen manufacture site which will use hydrolyser technique to split into hydrogen and oxygen with solar powered electricity. The oxygen created can be used for medicinal or other purposes while hydrogen can be sent to the port and shipped to Japan, South Korea and others. The land on which the project is to be built is close to Gladstone Port.
Pacific Solar Hydrogen, as Austrom Hydrogen calls the project, can produce more than 200,000 tons hydrogen annually. The company claims this project will boost the country's potential to upscale the production of renewable hydrogen in line with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) estimates of Australia's potential in the field being over 3 million tonn annually by 2040 which it can export.
There is huge interest in renewable hydrogen among various players in Australia as it clear by the overwhelming response received by ARENA for its AUD 70 million Renewable Hydrogen funding (see ARENA Gets 36 EOIs For Renewable Hydrogen).