A coordinated partnership of leading Australian energy providers seeks to harness international expertise to assist a national uptake in hydrogen.
Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG), Jemena, AusNet Services and Evoenergy have partnered to approach organisations in the international hydrogen supply chain to help them deliver Australia’s low-carbon vision through hydrogen.
AGIG’s Chief Executive Officer, Ben Wilson, announced that the four energy providers had collaboratively released an Expression of Interest to seek information from the international hydrogen supply chain on the cost of deploying renewable hydrogen at scale.
“Through this Expression of Interest process, suppliers of key inputs to the international hydrogen supply chain are invited to comment on the feasibility, approach and cost of achieving ten per cent renewable hydrogen by volume across gas networks in the eastern and southern states of Australia,” Mr Wilson said.
“We believe this objective is achievable by 2030, and that a systematic approach will deliver economies of scale and cost reductions to benefit our customers.”
The companies’ partnership stems from a shared belief that gas is an important fuel to Australians, delivering reliable, low cost and low emission energy.
The four providers recognise that customers are increasingly seeking access to greener energy products for residential, commercial and industrial applications.
With their customers’ needs in mind, the companies believe the gas sector shares a common vision for a low carbon future enabled by renewable hydrogen, as set out in Gas Vision 2050 released in mid-2017.
Gas Vision 2050 sets the trajectory for decarbonising gas supply into the future through hydrogen and other renewable sources.
Significant work towards lowering carbon initiatives using hydrogen is already underway in Australia. The National Hydrogen Strategy recognises a key next step is to consider hydrogen blending across towns and cities at volumes of up to ten per cent into gas networks.
Initiatives for hydrogen blending are also a key feature of many state-based hydrogen strategies, where AGIG recently welcomed the NSW Government announcement that it will target the inclusion of up to ten per cent hydrogen in the state’s gas networks by 2030.
“Together, AGIG, Jemena Gas Networks, AusNet and Evoenergy represent the largest gas networks, customer base and gas consumption levels in Australia, supplying to more than 10 million Australians across most of its states and territories,” Mr Wilson said.
According to Mr Wilson, AGIG is investing heavily in renewable hydrogen projects, trials and demonstration projects across four states in Australia.
“Our partners also have a range of hydrogen projects generating learnings that will help this partnership deliver this significant goal in the long term interest of our customers and the environment,” he said.
“Gas Vision 2050 sets out three phases as to how the transition to a lower carbon gas supply system would occur in Australia. Importantly, this piece of work will inform our move beyond demonstrations to the second phase of commercial-scale blending in gas networks”.
