The Australian state of Tasmania is looking to tap its vast green hydrogen potential with the help of foreign investment, as it has already established a renewables-dominated electricity supply. In order to explain its unique potential to become a leading supplier of clean, secure and affordable hydrogen, the Tasmanian state government has released a prospectus to international investors in the global energy industry.
The Tasmanian Renewable Hydrogen Prospectus was released on Tuesday by the Office of the Coordinator General at the Tasmanian Energy Symposium in China, with Hydro Tasmania in attendance to support the initiative. “As Australia’s largest generator of clean energy, it is only appropriate that Hydro Tasmania be attending the Tasmanian Energy Symposium event in China, as a part of our ongoing efforts to capitalize our state’s clear advantages and expertise,” said Hydro Tasmania CEO Steve Davy.
Last month, Hydro Tasmania released a white paper, Tasmania’s ‘green hydrogen opportunity – what makes Tasmania a unique, green hydrogen zone?, that outlined the state’s competitive advantage in the emerging hydrogen industry. It showed that hydrogen could be produced in Tasmania for much than in other Australian states.
Davy said the white paper has already attracted plenty of interest.“The key to Tasmania’s potential is our ability to produce low-cost, emission-free hydrogen, powered by the state’s renewable energy, which makes us attractive for countries looking to meet their emission reduction targets,” he said.
In its white paper, Hydro Tasmania said that it believes it can undercut producers that use grid-sourced electricity to produce hydrogen due to its ability to “firm” production with its vast hydroelectricity capacity. The analysis also highlights the state’s advantages for green hydrogen production, including high energy security, self-sufficiency in renewables by 2022, strong transport infrastructure options, and the Battery of the Nation initiative.
Tasmania’s ambitions of becoming the Battery of the Nation have improved since the release of early reports on the proposed Marinus Link. Those studies suggest that the project, which is a second proposed interconnector between Tasmania and Victoria, offers economic advantages that far outweigh expected costs. The proposed 1,500 MW undersea interconnector could help deliver energy, specifically renewable energy, from Tasmania to Victoria to help stabilize the national grid.
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Why go overseas looking for investors?
Our employer guaranteed superannuation contribution generates circa $70b annually. That’s money looking for returns. It would make sense for Australian workers to own the hydrogen industry and its profits. By the time the majority of people currently in the workforce retire, they will be consuming the energy their money will generate and benefitting from the income generated. It’s the perfect loop.
Accessing that source of funds would also accelerate the development of the industry into large scale production volumes.
The initial production could be aimed at decentralised grid energy storage. It would not only reduce the need for major HV grid upgrades but it would also develop H2 transport infrastrure models with an eye to future international export markets.
A network of H2 deliver and storage systams coupled to strategically sited powercell stationsfeeding local grids, would also serve as a demonstrator model for countries in our region to assess as they consider options available for their economy decarbonisation plans.
My only worry is that hydro does depend on climate and there WILL be times when it won’t produce as much energy as will be required by a market that will demand unconditional reliability of supply.
To that end, Tasmanian Hydro/Hydrogen sjould be backed up by large scale wind, the other major renewable energy source Tasmania has aplenty.
The aim should be to reach a minimum daily hydrogen production of 100,000 tonnes. That would provide the mainland’s renewable energy grids with over 3.GWh of storage daily, some of which would be used to power local grids at night. Other potential customers would be high energy users like aluminim smelters. In the near future, heavy transport will be looking for hydrogen supplies.
Super funds can make it all happen and unless Australia gies soon and goes big, we will be left behind.
The hydrogen industry has made great big leaps in Europe in the last couple of years with a huge levels of investments already being spent in what is a relatively fast growing industry in that continent. The same can be said for H2 transport developments from marine to cars and everything in between.
That customer base is just waiting for large scsle supplies and the delivery infrastructure.
We need to skip the toy size demonstrator models and commit to THE energy source of the future. If we do, nit only Tasmania but also projects on the mainland will be combining to produce 10s of millions of tonnes of hydrogen a day by the mid 2030s.