Latest news with #MurchisonGreenHydrogenProject
West Australian
04-08-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Better together: Push for Federal Government to force mining and green energy to co-exist
Australia might be known as the great southern land, but an escalating fight for space has industry leaders calling for the Federal Government to intervene to ensure mining and renewable energy projects can co-exist. A new report by the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies is warning that priority access for green energy developers is putting the lucrative mining industry at risk, thrusting the issue on the agenda ahead of this month's national economic roundtable. 'We have many more competing uses for the land, no consistent rules and established industries that provide the foundational base of our economy forced to play second fiddle,' AMEC chief executive Warren Pearce said. 'It's paralysing mining development, sterilising resources and it's entirely avoidable.' The AMEC report, Congested & Contested - Co-existence The Key to Unlocking Productivity, warns that tax and royalty revenue of $493 billion is at stake, due to 'uncertainty, delays and conflict' over land use. It reports that a preference for exclusive rights is locking mining exploration out, including in WA's Mid-West. Toolonga Mineral Sand's tenements for coccolith chalk near Kalbarri were terminated, to make way for the foreign-owned Murchison Green Hydrogen Project that has been awarded major project status from the Federal Government and received $814 million in Headstart funding. 'We have stated that we we can coexist. But no, the Minister has ignored that request,' Toolonga Mineral Sands managing director Ann Conlan-Nash said. 'As far as the Murchison green hydrogen project, we know that they're not going to do anything up there for probably five to six years. 'We could have been moving forward since 2020. It's been five years that we've been waiting, fighting.' AMEC said it's an example of the rush to renewable energy 'running roughshod' over regional communities and risking a backlash from locals. The AMEC report found meeting demand from both industries would require an equivalent of 'two Australia's' if exclusive rights are applied to all 77 million square kilometres of land. Mr Pearce said the solution was diversification leases that had been attempted, but not often taken up, in WA. 'This has actually become a really big problem in regional WA,' he said. 'Despite the fact that all of these renewable energy project proponents say they don't require exclusive licences, not one of them are using the diversification leases. They're opting for a section 79 lease which provides exclusive tenure. 'It means they're pursuing a path that tries to lock out other users and that's the worst possible outcome.' He's lobbying for a national model, to ensure consistency and offer investors certainty. 'Everyone benefits, because the highest value land use is multiple land use,' Mr Pearce said. 'The reality is you can do these things without actually ruining the overall purpose or economic benefit of the wind farm. 99 per cent of it will remain untouched. You just need to take a piece out of it. 'That piece creates jobs, taxation, revenues and, of course, royalties, as well as what's going on with the wind farm.'
Perth Now
02-08-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
Green hydrogen hype fades but future hopes are bright
Investors call it "the valley of death": the decade-long stretch in which a budding technology struggles to become profitable. For green hydrogen, the valley is looming large after two energy giants withdrew support for multibillion-dollar Australian projects within one month. Following the announcements, a $14 billion plant will no longer be built in Gladstone, Queensland and a $55 billion proposal for Western Australia's Pilbara region is in doubt. But while the global green hydrogen hype is starting to deflate, climate, energy and finance experts say there are still plenty of reasons to pursue production of the zero-emission fuel in Australia. The investment pause may also give the industry time to reconsider uses for carbon-free hydrogen, they say, letting firms ditch the dream of a hydrogen car market and energy exports in favour of more promising pursuits such as green iron. Green hydrogen, named for its zero-emission properties, has been pursued strongly in Australia since the release of the National Hydrogen Strategy in 2019. The fuel is created using an electrolyser, powered by renewable energy, that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. It has been called the "Swiss Army knife of decarbonisation" due to its potential to cut emissions in fields such as transport, metal production, fertilisers and electricity. But producing, transporting and selling green hydrogen is not proving as quick or as profitable as some pundits anticipated. In addition to the two recent green hydrogen project withdrawals, Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley says many plans have been redrawn and erased around the world. "Australia is not alone - this is a global trend and we have seen the global hydrogen hype dissipate dramatically," he says. "We've had a series of hydrogen proposals shut down, cancelled or withdrawn over the last six to 12 months." Even strong proponents of green hydrogen, such as Germany, have reduced support for the zero-emission fuel, he says, as it has proven expensive to produce without access to large-scale, cheap, renewable energy and an international carbon price. Green hydrogen is also proving challenging to transport, defying predictions it could be shipped internationally to decarbonise energy production in neighbouring countries. Investing in green hydrogen is like investing in internet companies during the 1990s, Mr Buckley says: risky even though it could pay off in 10 years. "We're going now across the valley of death and it's usually a decade-long journey before you come out the other side and realise there was a lot of substance in what was being said. "We were just deluded and over-hyped about how quickly it would happen," he says. Australia has several small green hydrogen plants in operation and the federal government has issued two grants to larger facilities through its Hydrogen Headstart program. The Murchison Green Hydrogen Project in Western Australia received an $814 million grant in March, followed by a $432 million grant for Orica's Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub this month. Despite withdrawing from its proposed hydrogen plant in Gladstone and another in the US, Fortescue chief executive Dino Otranto says the energy giant remains optimistic about the future of the fuel. Producing large amounts of green hydrogen for export "presents real challenges," he says, but Fortescue will use the fuel to produce green metals at its Pilbara plant. "Our belief in the long-term role of green hydrogen hasn't changed but we acknowledge the market for green hydrogen as an export energy has shifted," he tells AAP. "In the near term, our focus is on where hydrogen has a clear and immediate role - producing green iron." Green iron has the potential to cut 90 per cent of emissions produced in the steelmaking process by using hydrogen and energy from renewable sources rather than coal or gas. Australia could become a leading supplier of green iron as the world's biggest iron ore exporter, according to analysis from The Superpower Institute, and could generate as much as $386 billion a year from the metal by 2060. Changing the focus on green hydrogen from an export material to fuel for domestic use is vital, says Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis global steel lead analyst Simon Nicholas, and could secure its future. "The silver lining to a lot of these projects failing, I hope, is that there's going to be a refocusing on what we need to use green hydrogen for and we'll end up needing an awful lot less than we thought we did a few years ago," he says. "It should be used domestically in the place that it's produced and it should be focused on a much narrower range of uses." Hydrogen-powered cars have been outpaced by electric models, he says, and using the fuel to power long-haul trucks or heat homes seems unlikely. Using green hydrogen to produce cleaner iron and steel, ammonia, fertiliser, explosives and other chemicals could give it a greater chance of success, however, and give Australia more export opportunities. "It's going to be very important because competition overseas is there and growing," Mr Nicholas says.
West Australian
08-07-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Premier Roger Cook reassures Japan that WA gas remains reliable in uncertain times
Roger Cook has sought to reassure Japan that WA gas remains reliable, despite growing pressure from the environmental lobby and global uncertainty as a result of Donald Trump. The Premier was preparing to fly home from two days of talks in Japan when the US President announced plans to slap a higher 25 per cent tariff on Japan and South Korea. 'The international lack of stability, or global instability, at the moment around trade is something that they all talked about,' Mr Cook said on Tuesday. 'I haven't had any opportunity to speak with anyone with regards to the announcements overnight. I think we're all concerned about the impact that the Trump tariff policies will have on global trade. Global trade underpins global prosperity.' Mr Cook met with Japan's Vice-Minister for International Affairs Matsuo Takehiko, securing in-principal agreement for a new memorandum of understanding to be finalised in October to boost industry co-operation on clean energy technologies. A joint statement affirmed the 'important role' that WA gas will play in Japan's clean energy transition. 'Additionally, Premier Cook reiterated his commitment to supporting a continued stable supply of LNG to Japan,' the statement said. Speaking to The West Australian from Tokyo on Tuesday, Mr Cook said Japanese officials were closely monitoring the public debate over Woodside's North-West Shelf extension after the Federal Government granted provisional approval in May. Woodside has requested more time to respond to the conditions attached to the decision. 'It's fair to say (Japan) watch our environmental approvals process very carefully,' Mr Cook said. 'Both the North-West Shelf extension and the Browse project were both mentioned as projects of acute interest to the Japanese industry and government. 'We were able to assure them that the approval system is working as it should, and that we'll continue to see progress into the future.' Mr Cook warned that environmental activism could backfire and stall clean energy progress. 'If we turn our back on Japan, particularly at a time of heightened energy security concerns, Japan ultimately will see us as a dangerous place to invest and to partner with,' he said. 'Japan is our longest term and largest LNG customer. They account for almost 20 million tonnes. 'We are a very important part of ensuring that they have energy security into the future.' He's argued that WA gas is integral to Japan's attempts to wean off coal, that still makes up around 30 per cent of its energy mix. Japan is aiming to slash LNG power generation from 37 per cent to 20 per cent by 2030. Mr Cook said WA-produced ammonia will play a growing role, but conceded WA's Murchison Green Hydrogen Project - that has attracted Japanese interest - was still unproven. 'Just like everyone the Japanese are taking a more sober view about hydrogen,' he said. 'The problem for hydrogen, of course, is the price point and I think governments need to continue to work to make sure they bring down costs of hydrogen so that we can get some of these projects going on a commercial basis.'
Bloomberg
20-03-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Australia Awards $500 Million-Plus to Green Hydrogen Project
Australia's government has awarded as much as A$814 million ($516 million) in funding to a green hydrogen project, even as global confidence in the clean-energy technology wavers. The 1.5 gigawatt Murchison Green Hydrogen Project in Western Australia is the first to be granted funds under the Hydrogen Headstart program, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water said in a statement on Thursday. The development will create about 3,600 construction jobs, plus another 600 other roles, it said. It will produce almost 2 million tons of green ammonia a year, and will cost an estimated A$15 billion.
