HESC Project Partners welcome the Federal Government’s first Low Emissions Technology Statement released on the 22nd of September, and its endorsement of clean hydrogen as the fuel of the future.
As part of the Australian Government’s Technology Investment Roadmap, there is a commitment to bring down emissions while strengthening the economy by investing in technology development, including clean hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS) as some of the best means to reduce emissions while benefitting the economy and creating jobs. The Project Partners also support enabling key agencies such as ARENA and the CEFC to contribute to these important technology ambitions.
Addressing the National Press Club, the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, Angus Taylor said that the Federal Government’s plan has three focuses – lower emissions, lower costs and more jobs. He touted hydrogen and CCS as priority technologies, critical for public investment under a AUD $1.9 billion package to achieve these objectives. The HESC Project Partners particularly welcome the Minister’s emphasis on international cooperation for hydrogen market development and his praise of our project as a pioneer in hydrogen between Australia and Japan.
The world-first HESC Project, supported by the Japanese, Federal and Victorian Government’s, aims to produce clean hydrogen using Latrobe Valley coal. In the commercial phase of the project it will utilise a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) solution, provided by the joint Federal and Victorian Governments’ CarbonNet Project. This is a viable and efficient low-carbon method of producing hydrogen at scale and will be a key contributor to an energy transition in Australia and the world.
The Roadmap, prepared with advice from a panel of industry leaders, investors and researchers chaired by Australia’s Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel, is a path forward for creating a global hydrogen market with Australia at his centre as a producing powerhouse.
The HESC Project places Latrobe Valley and Victoria at the forefront of the national energy transition to lower emissions via the fuel of the future, clean hydrogen, and gears the region to become a global hydrogen export hub, in line with the Federal Government’s ambitions.
The HESC pilot operations begin in the last quarter of 2020, working towards creating a commercially viable hydrogen energy supply chain in line with the government objectives of hydrogen production and informed by technical feasibility, social licence to operate, market demand and other macroeconomic factors. The HESC Project has potential to be the cornerstone of Australia’s hydrogen future and a key contributor to global greenhouse gas