A major potential user of green hydrogen in the Illawarra has indicated it is preparing for a world-first trial of hydrogen for power production to potentially not meet initial deadlines.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
EnergyAustralia, the owner of the Tallawarra power station, said last week that the addition of green hydrogen to the gas-fired power plant on the shores of Lake Illawarra "may change" due to the availability of the fuel.
"EnergyAustralia and the NSW Government are currently assessing the feasibility of a 5% demonstration of hydrogen at Tallawarra by 2025 although this may change to align with the development of a hydrogen manufacturing industry of an appropriate size and scale," a spokesperson said.
EnergyAustralia is currently undergoing a modification to its planning approvals to be able to use hydrogen as part of the fuel mix at the new Tallawarra B turbine.
The turbine went through its "first firing" in late 2023, and is expected to be fully up and running shortly, after a minor delay due to the collapse of major contractor Clough.
Earlier in 2023, managing director of EnergyAustralia Mark Collette told the Mercury that the company wanted to have locally-made green hydrogen running through the power station by 2025.
If successful, that would be a world first, as Tallawarra B has installed the first of a particular dual gas-hydrogen turbine from US manufacturer GE, and EnergyAustralia's Hong Kong-based owner, CLP Holdings were looking at the site as a demonstration of how the technology could be rolled out in other sites around the world.
While the turbine, pipeline and power station are ready to go, the challenge is to find a suitable producer of green hydrogen in the Illawarra.
In December, the Illawarra was overlooked in the federal governments' Hydrogen Headstart scheme, despite the Treasurer name-checking Wollongong in his budget speech when he announced the initiative.
The bulk of the projects funded under Commonwealth the scheme have indicated they intend to produce hydrogen for export, largely in the form of ammonia, which can then be used for fertiliser and explosives.
In contrast, the Illawarra has a number of major hydrogen users, some having already made significant investments to be hydrogen ready - as in the case of Tallawarra - but without a major green hydrogen producer.
After a registration of interest period as part of the NSW government's Hydrogen Hub scheme, three businesses in the Illawarra indicated they were willing to be major consumers of hydrogen, with a total yearly demand of more than 22,230 tonnes of hydrogen initially, with the capacity to scale up.
Since then, one of those customers, Squadron Energy, has shelved plans for a hydrogen power plant.
On the other side of the ledger, BOC received a $28,500,000 grant for a 10.5MW electrolyser, to produce 1460 tonnes of green hydrogen in Cringila. A final investment decision by the company is yet to be reached, with a spokesperson saying the engineering design phase was continuing.
UOW energy expert Ty Christopher said that EnergyAustralia's timelines were always "ambitious", but said that in the development of any new industry, there needed to be companies willing to take the plunge.
"It's better to push the boundaries out, than sit and wait for things to happen."
Instead, Mr Christopher said the spark needed to come from government, which would provide the necessary lubrication between a mismatch between purely commercial supply and demand. After the "disappointing" federal decision, it was time for the NSW Energy Minister Penny Sharpe to step up.
"A question worth asking of our current state leaders is well, we had momentum, the momentum has now slowed, what's going on?"
The office of Minister Sharpe was contacted for comment and directed queries to the Department.
"NSW Government has awarded $109.3 million of funding from the hydrogen hub initiative to three hub projects to increase the production and availability of green hydrogen across the state," a department spokesperson said.
"The hubs are progressing towards final investment decisions, expected this year, with domestic green hydrogen production and offtake expected in 2025."
