Powering Australia | High hopes for hydrogen As elsewhere hydrogen hubs are expected to play a key role in Australia’s energy future Indian Ocean
South Korea
Japan
Broome Shire
Pardoo Port
Dampier Karratha
H2 Singapore
The Asian Renewable Energy Hub
Tom Price AUSTRALIA Perth Newman Source: bp
Deepwater ports Mining Roads Railway Airports
Hedland East 50km
Pilbara Shire
bp has agreed to acquire a 40.5% equity stake in and to become operator of the Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH), which has “the potential to be one of the largest renewables and green hydrogen hubs in the world.” The other shareholders are InterContinental Energy (26.4%), CWP Global (17.8%) and Macquarie Capital and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (15.3%). Vestas, which had a 10% share, has exited the project.
AREH, to be located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, intends to supply renewable power to local customers in what is described as the largest mining region in the world and also produce green hydrogen and green ammonia for the domestic Australian market and for export to major international users in the Asia Pacific region.
The plan is to develop onshore wind and solar power generation in phases to a total generating capacity of up to 26 GW. The project envisages, among other things, large-scale mine electrification, replacement of imported diesel with locally produced hydrogen, and bunkering of ammonia shipping fuels.
“AREH…can make a significant contribution to Australia’s and the wider Asia Pacific region’s energy transition. It truly reflects what integrated energy is – combining solar and onshore wind power with hydrogen production and using it to help transform sectors and regions. It also reflects our belief that Australia has the potential to be a powerhouse in the global energy
transition”, said Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, executive vice president, gas & low carbon energy, bp. “We believe AREH can be a cornerstone project for us in helping our local and global customers and partners in meeting their net zero and energy commitments. It will also serve as a long-term clean energy security contributor in Asia Pacific, helping countries such as South Korea and Japan to decarbonise.”
At full capacity, AREH is expected to be capable of producing around 1.6 million tonnes of green hydrogen or 9 million tonnes of green ammonia, per annum, bp says.
Situated on a 6500 square kilometre site, AREH will benefit from abundant solar and wind resources with consistent output. The Pilbara is described as a globally competitive and energy intensive mining region with substantial energy demand and carbon dioxide emissions. At full capacity, AREH is expected to abate around 17 million t CO2
/y.
bp also expects the project to make a “material contribution” to its strategic aim of capturing “a 10% share in core hydrogen markets globally.” Frédéric Baudry, president, bp Australia, said: “We are looking forward to working closely with our partners, InterContinental Energy, CWP Global, Macquarie Capital and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group, as well as the Nyangumarta people. bp brings a broad range of capabilities to help bring the project to fruition, with extensive experience in constructing and operating facilities of this scale in remote locations in
10 | July/August 2022|
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close collaboration with local communities and leveraging our global shipping and trading businesses. We also have the benefit of deep experience in working with customers looking for decarbonisation solutions and delivering low- carbon energy to the global market.” bp has looked at other green hydrogen possibilities in Western Australia and in April 2022 the Australian government announced up to (AUD) $70 million of funding for a green hydrogen hub at bp’s Kwinana site.
Evolution of the project and environmental concerns First proposed in 2014, the AREH plan was initially to export renewable electricity to Indonesia and Singapore via sub-sea HVDC links. Whilst electricity export is still a longer term possibility, around 2018, the focus shifted to export of hydrogen derivatives. This removed the power export capacity constraint, and the proposed installed generating capacity increased from 6 GW to 15 GW and then to 26 GW. The 15 GW scheme with HVDC transmission received environmental approval (from the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) of Western Australia) in April 2020 and subsequently ministerial approval.
In October the revised scheme, with generation capacity expanded to 26 GW and no provision for HVDC export, was submitted for approval. The new proposal still envisages large-scale wind and solar power generation capacity
Export routes to Asia
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