Spain's Acciona Energia has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to supply solar power from Aldoga Solar Farm in Australia's Queensland to power a proposed 3 GW green hydrogen facility planned by the state utility Stanwell Corporation in cooperation with other partners.
While the official statement from Stanwell doesn't specify the exact capacity of the Aldoga Solar Farm, on Acciona's website it is mentioned as proposed to have up to 600 MW DC capacity as a flagship renewable energy project of Economic Development Queensland (EDQ) that's providing land for the same.
The 3 GW electrolysis facility is planned for Aldoga near Gladstone. Green hydrogen produced here will be used for local industrial use as well as exported to Japan. Stanwell has joined hands with Japan's Iwatani Corporation, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Marubeni and Kansai Electric Power Company for the project, along with Australian gas infrastructure company APA Group.
Dubbed CQ-H2 hydrogen facility, the project is expected to use solar power from Aldoga Solar Farm under stage 1. The development of stage 2 will require 'substantially higher quantities of renewable energy'. Land for the facility has been secured and a feasibility study has been announced as well.
"Stanwell is developing a high-quality, value-for-money pipeline of renewable energy and storage projects to support its long-term objectives of providing low emissions solutions to commercial and industrial retail customers and supplying renewable energy to the CQ-H2 project," said Stanwell's CEO Michael O'Rourke.
Aldoga Solar Farm is scheduled to enter construction stage in September 2023 and start commercial operations in December 2025. In June 2019, Acciona had secured state government's approval for the Aldoga Solar Farm which was back then planned to have 250 MW capacity (see Queensland Approves Acciona's 250 MW Solar Project).
Referring to the growing demand for renewable hydrogen in burgeoning markets like Japan and South Korea, Queensland's Minister for Energy, Renewables and Hydrogen, Mick de Brenni said, "The MoU between Stanwell and ACCIONA is extremely significant because at its peak, the CQ-H2 project will provide more than 5000 new jobs over its 30-year life with flow-on benefits to construction, utilities, heavy manufacturing and local service industries."
In March 2021, UK's Eco Energy World said it will use its 300 MW solar PV project in Queensland near the Port of Gladstone—for easy export—to generate green hydrogen from a 200 MW facility (see US Solar Developer Entering Green Hydrogen Space).