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Australian Energy Minister Angus Taylor unveils the government’s hydrogen strategy. Image: Canberra Times

states. In late August, the two sides signed doc- The government has earmarked AUD18bn
uments that will establish the West African Sci- ($12.65bn) of funding over the next decade for a
ence Service Centre on Climate Change and portfolio of low-emissions technologies, including
Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) as the vehicle for “clean” hydrogen. Canberra’s focus on developing
this partnership. WASCAL, which was founded hydrogen is welcome news for the Australian gas
by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and industry, which has touted the economic decar-
Research (BMBF) in 2012, serves Benin, Burkina bonisation potential of the cleaner fuel at a fraction
Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, of the cost of full electrification.
Mali, Nigeria, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo.
BMBF is also providing funding for efforts Hydrogen funding
to establish a green hydrogen atlas covering the Australian Energy Minister Angus Taylor unveiled
member states of the Southern African Devel- the first annual statement of the government’s tech-
opment Community (SADC). Jane Olwoch, nology roadmap on September 21.
the executive director of the Southern African In his statement the National Press Club, the
Science Service Centre for Climate Change and minister set aside AUD13bn ($9.14bn) in funding
Adaptive Land Management (Sasscal), said for the Clean Energy Finance Corp., AUD2.9bn
recently that the atlas would serve as the starting ($2.04bn) for an emissions reduction fund,
point of a campaign to assess southern Africa’s AUD1.4bn (984mn) for the Australian Renew-
green hydrogen potential. “We’re moving really able Energy Agency (ARENA) and AUD1bn
fast,” she told Engineering News & Mining ($702.9mn) for the Australian Research Council
Weekly. (ARC). Additional funding will also go towards
CSIRO-managed grants programmes as well as
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping co-operative research centres.
Africa’s oil and gas sector, then please click here for Taylor advertised the government’s commit-
NewsBase’s AfrOil Monitor. ment to “clean hydrogen”, rather than simply green
hydrogen. This leaves the door open for the domes-
Supplying Asian demand tic gas industry to invest in CCS to future-proof
Asia’s major importers of liquefied natural gas blue hydrogen operations. The government has
(LNG) have begun looking to hydrogen as a not set a target for its green and blue hydrogen mix
cleaner source of energy as they seek to cut down yet, with the minister telling the country’s national
on their carbon emissions. broadcaster ABC on September 23 that Canberra
The Japanese government declared its com- expects the mix to move “over time”.
mitment to a hydrogen-fuelled future in 2017, He said: “We’re already major hydrogen pro-
while both South Korea and China have made ducer. We use hydrogen to produce fertilisers and
similar commitments. As major hydrocarbon plastics and other materials now. But there is poten-
consumers seek out new means of reducing tial, over time, to migrate towards green hydrogen
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, exporters and to use carbon capture and storage [CCS] to
need to start thinking about the future. decarbonise the process of producing hydrogen.”
Australia has seen its opportunity to steal a Canberra’s balanced approach to the green-blue
march on its gas export rivals in the Middle East, debate is good news for the country’s gas players,
North America and Russia, aiming to future- which have begun arguing against full electrifi-
proof its gas industry by developing a world- cation of the economy in order to reach net-zero
class hydrogen export sector. emissions by 2050.

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 39 30•September•2020