THE Council of Australian Governments’ Hydrogen Working Group is seeking input to help inform the development of a new hydrogen industry.
The Australian government to date has invested more than $100m in hydrogen projects, including $50m for the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain project at the La Trobe Valley in Victoria. The first hydrogen export to Japan is expected to be delivered in 2021.
In December 2018, the COAG Energy Council, led by the Australian government, commissioned the chief scientist to develop a comprehensive and ambitious national strategy for the development of an Australian hydrogen industry – and public consultation opened last week.
Resources minister Matt Canavan said building a commercial hydrogen industry requires a partnership between industry, the community and governments at all levels.
“We support new technologies like hydrogen, but there is more work to do to on it – which is why we already working with states through COAG on developing a hydrogen roadmap and are investing in further technology development,” he said.
Energy minister Angus Taylor said hydrogen could potentially offer more options for clean energy in the long term while maintaining security, reliability and affordability.
“Australia can be a world leader in hydrogen because of our abundant energy resources and proximity to emerging export markets in North Asia”, he said. Public feedback will inform the development of a draft strategy, to be publicly released in September of this year.
