Australia commits to build $34 mln renewable hydrogen plant in Victoria

SYDNEY, June 24 (Reuters) – Australia has green-lit plans to build a A$51 million ($34 million) renewable hydrogen plant in Victoria state, Energy Minister Chris Bowen said on Saturday, as the country moves to cut carbon emissions and boost alternative power resources.

Bowen in a statement said the 10 megawatts electrolyser to be built in Wodonga in Victoria would be bigger than any current such unit in Australia, and be used to blend green hydrogen into gas networks to supply around 40,000 homes.

Australia has been looking to lift hydrogen production to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and help meet the needs of trading partners looking to cut emissions. Bowen said construction of the new electrolyser – a technology for producing low-emission hydrogen from renewable power – would start this year, with the site set to go live in 2025.

Funding for the project was coming from the Victoria government, the federal government’s Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Bowen said. It will be powered by energy from a wind farm, he said.

ARENA said in a statement the funding would go to energy infrastructure company Australian Gas Infrastructure Group, which would deliver the project.

ARENA CEO Darren Miller said the amount of renewable hydrogen set to be produced was unprecedented in Australia.

“It’s essential to scaling up Australia’s renewable hydrogen industry that we get these first-generation projects up and running,” Miller said in a statement.

In May, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor government announced a A$2 billion “Hydrogen Headstart” programme, with the aim of accelerating the production and export of hydrogen fuel.

($1 = 1.4977 Australian dollars)

Reporting by Sam McKeith; Editing by Tom Hogue

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