The Rockliff Liberal Government has welcomed the announcement by Iberdrola Australia and hydrogen developer ABEL Energy that they will be working together to deliver a green hydrogen and green methanol production facility at Bell Bay, in Northern Tasmania.
``This shows the confidence in the plan for Bell Bay to be a leading green hydrogen production hub, as part of our ambitious Tasmanian Renewable Hydrogen Action Plan,’’ Guy Barnett, Minister for Energy and Renewables, said.
``With our world-class renewable energy, Tasmania is an ideal location to produce cost-competitive renewable hydrogen on a large-scale to meet this emerging export and domestic demand and become a global leader in renewable energy supply.
``The Tasmanian Green Hydrogen Hub will include a hydrogen production plant located within the Tasmanian Green Hydrogen hub in Bell Bay. It will be central to providing local jobs and training opportunities.
``The green hydrogen produced on site will be used to transition advanced manufacturing, heavy transport and energy intensive industries to renewable energy, as well as for export,’’ Minister Barnett said.
The future of green methanol as a zero-emissions fuel alternative is emerging globally as an environmentally friendly substitute fuel for maritime fuel applications.
Green methanol can also be used as an energy carrier for storing electricity generated from renewable sources or as a transportation fuel.
The Rockliff Liberal Government is also pleased the Australian Government has shown its support for the Bell Bay Hub with an allocation of $70 million from the Australian Government’s Clean Hydrogen Industrial Hubs Program.
Our partnership with the Australian Government and industry will see the development of a local green hydrogen industry and will to bring in the expertise needed to build this new industry, commence other market activation demonstration projects, and help fund the infrastructure upgrades.
It is exciting to see ABEL Energy take this next step, following completion of its feasibility study, and release of a Knowledge-Sharing Report in July, that received funding support from the Tasmanian Government.
With ongoing collaboration between industry, universities, other research institutions and innovators, the Rockliff Liberal Government is confident Bell Bay will play a pivotal role in Australia’s affordable clean energy future.
This announcement also complements the decision last week for Nexsphere and Equinor to progress the Bass Strait Offshore Energy project that will see up to 2.5GWh of capacity delivered off the North-East Coast of Tasmania.