A giant Pilbara green hydrogen hub valued at $ 50 billion...

A plan to build a massive hydrogen project for renewable energies with wind and solar capacity of up to 26 GW in the Western Australian region of Pilbara is to go through an accelerated approval process after the status of a major project has been secured by the federal government.

The Asian renewable energy hub is proposing to invest more than $ 50 billion in building a massive renewable energy export center in the Pilbara region, which will help export wind and solar energy to Asia through the production of renewable hydrogen fuels and ammonia would include.

The federal government has given the massive renewable energy project the status of a major project, which recognizes the national importance of the project and ensures that the project developers receive additional support so that the project can be accelerated in the approval process.

The project had already received environmental approval from the Western Australian government for the first phase of the project, which approved the construction of 15 GW of wind and solar capacity.

The company said it had submitted an application for the full 26 GW development after the first stage was approved by the Western Australian Environmental Protection Agency. The project would be the largest energy project ever undertaken in Australia and one of the largest in the world.

With the revised proposal, an original plan for sending renewable electricity to Asia via a submarine cable was deleted. Instead, the focus will be on using renewable electricity to produce hydrogen and ammonia, including building a desalination plant.

The project developers, a consortium made up of Intercontinental Energy, Australian company CWP Renewables, Pathway Investments and turbine maker Vestas, said advances in planning and environmental permits would allow negotiations to begin with potential investors and buyers.

They also said the sheer scale of the project, coupled with the falling costs of wind and solar technology and electrolysers, would mean that the project would likely already hit the technology roadmap’s target of $ 2 per kilogram, a key level with being renewable Hydrogen is competitive with other technologies.

“These are big steps towards realizing the full potential of our groundbreaking project. We now have a clear path to making the Asian Renewable Energy Hub a reality, ”said Brendan Hammond, Asian Renewable Energy Hub project leader.

“We look forward to working closely with the Western Australian and Federal Governments to cement Australia’s status as the world leader in renewable energy and deliver the world’s largest new power plant – and it’s environmentally friendly.”

“It sends a strong signal to all stakeholders, including potential customers and investors, that our project is at the forefront of an emerging green hydrogen industry for Australia and opening up a massive new export market for the fast growing Asian economies to our north.”

The project is expected to create more than 20,000 direct and indirect jobs throughout construction and support more than 3,000 jobs once it is operational.

“The Asian renewable energy hub has the potential to transform East Pilbara and neighboring Broome Shire and contribute to an important new export industry for Australia,” said Secretary of State for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews when announcing the big ones Project name.

“Not only will the plant be able to export on a large scale, it will also serve industry in the region while creating new job opportunities and economic growth.”

The project’s developers previously told RenewEconomy that the expansion of the project’s scope was driven by the capabilities of renewable hydrogen, which could export the zero-emission fuel from Australia in the form of ammonia.

The project has also committed to deliver 3 GW of renewable electricity to the local Pilbara region.

CWP Renewables founder Alex Hewitt said it was encouraging to see both state and state governments show their confidence in the Asian renewable energy hub and Australia’s competitive advantage in clean energy exports.

“We are very pleased to have the trust and support of the state and federal government for our great vision to build a new green hydrogen industrial sector in Australia that leverages Australia’s many natural benefits,” said Hewitt.

“We have world-leading renewable resources, an innovative and flexible workforce and a stable investment environment for the country’s largest infrastructure development to date, creating thousands of new jobs in local manufacturing, technology development and export promotion. This is exactly what the government’s technology investment roadmap provides. ”

Hong Kong-based Intercontinental Energy founder Alex Tancock said the Asian renewable energy hub will create a new frontier for renewable energy in Australia, opening up the opportunity for zero-emission energy exports that compete with fossil fuel exports in Australia could.

“We are effectively creating a new industrial sector,” said Tancock. “The falling costs of wind and solar energy, our carefully selected locations, and the enormous size of the facility we are building mean that it is inevitable that we can produce environmentally friendly fuels that are inexpensive using fossil fuels.

“This will accelerate the substantial decarbonization of energy-intensive sectors such as shipping, aviation, raw material extraction and chemicals. Today marks a historic breakthrough for renewable energies. ”

The announcement comes just days after the $ 22 billion Sun Cable project, which aims to export solar energy from the Northern Territory to Singapore, earmarked a location for its 10 GW solar project. The project selected locations at the Newcastle Waters cattle station, which is halfway between Darwin and Alice Springs.

The Sun Cable project, which was supported by the billionaire duo Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest, is also planning to create an underwater connection between Australia and Asia and has also received major project status from the federal government.