Feasibility study into potential for Newcastle green hydrogen plant a potentially important early step in the Hunter's clean energy transition

Orica's official statement was headed "Orica and Origin to partner on Hunter Valley hydrogen hub". Origin's was titled "Origin planning Newcastle hydrogen hub".

Both companies, however, acknowledge that the proposal has a lot of hurdles to overcome before anything like a working "green" hydrogen plant is a reality: let alone stated references to the production of hydrogen for buses and cars, a "potential hydrogen export capability" or the addition of hydrogen to the existing gas network.

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All that has been agreed to - publicly, anyway - is a study to see if the idea of an electrolyser to produce hydrogen from recycled water and renewably generated electricity is initially feasible, and able to be subsequently expanded.

Despite a regular stream of "green hydrogen" announcements in Australia and abroad, a November hydrogen report from the International Energy Agency showed that less than 500,000 tonnes of 89 million tonnes of hydrogen produced in 2020 came from the proposed electrolysis method.

The Toshiba electrolyser pictured above opened the same year, and while some capacity may have been installed since then, the IEA says progress is falling well short of what is needed to hit net-zero targets.

Despite the technical challenges that are rarely mentioned in often breathless political announcements about "the hydrogen economy", the urgent UN-led demand to "decarbonise" also provides significant opportunities for innovators and early movers.

From a Hunter perspective, we need serious investment in new energy projects to help decarbonise our industrial base, and to help replace the thousands of jobs that will go in an energy transition.

Origin CEO Frank Calabria says Australia will miss its net-zero targets if manufacturing cannot cut its emissions, and says such commitments "will only be achieved" if the energy industry, customers and governments work together to develop hydrogen - a journey our Power and the Passion series will continue to chronicle.

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