Page 8 - AsianOil Week 43 2020

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Australian green hydrogen project

eyes industrial consumers

Australia’s hydrogen ambitions are another step closer to fruition after the
country’s first renewable hydrogen pilot project signed an industrial supply deal

COMMENTARY AUSTRALIA’S natural gas pipeline operators company announcing this week that the project
are preparing for a future in which domestic was on track to begin supplying around 700
demand for the fuel enters a steep decline, owing nearby households with blended 5% renewable
WHAT: to the country’s ongoing push towards net-zero gas before the end of the year.
AGN’s new agreement emissions. At the same time, AGN also revealed that
with BOC paves the way Hydrogen has been hailed as a cheaper alter- it had signed a new agreement with BOC that
for green hydrogen sales native to the complete electrification of the coun- will expand HyP SA’s customer base to include
to industrial consumers. try’s energy mix by Australia’s peak gas industry industrial consumers.
bodies. They argue that switching from gas-fired
WHY: heating to the power network would double the Industrial supply
The HyP SA hydrogen demand for electricity, leading to soaring infra- AGN, which is part of Australian Gas Infrastruc-
plant will start up later structure costs. ture Group (AGIG), has agreed to install tube
this year and the deal The group, which includes the likes of the trailer refilling infrastructure at the pilot project
with BOC commercialises Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration that will allow it to sell excess hydrogen to BOC.
any excess output. Association (APPEA) and Australian Pipelines The latter company will use hydrogen road tank-
and Gas Association, released a report towards ers to haul the gas to industrial customers in both
WHAT NEXT: the end of September highlighting the “pivotal Adelaide and the regional city of Whyalla.
Pipeline operators are role gas and gas infrastructure” could play in a AGN said establishing an Adelaide-based
eager to demonstrate low-carbon energy future. “Gas Vision 2050: hydrogen supply chain would replace current
hydrogen’s potential Delivering a Clean Energy Future” concluded road deliveries to Whyalla from Victoria, saving
as calls for mass that using hydrogen to reach net-zero emissions approximately 117,000 km in annual driving and
electrification of the would cost half as much as electrification. 122,000 kilograms per year of carbon emissions.
energy mix grow. The group’s roadmap envisions the country BOC will transport the hydrogen to its Why-
transitioning to 100% hydrogen networks by alla Argon Purification Unit, where it will be
2050, with said transition expected to begin this used to make high-purity argon. The city is home
year with the first blending of green hydrogen in to a steelmaking industry, a key industrial con-
residential gas. sumer of hydrogen-based products.
Australian Gas Networks (AGN) is leading BOC’s director of strategy and business devel-
that charge via its pilot Hydrogen Park South opment, Vesna Olles, said: “The short delivery
Australia (HyP SA) project in Adelaide, with the routes for gas sourced from AGIG’s HyP SA will

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