The Clean Energy Council welcomes the release of the Federal Government’s National Hydrogen Strategy 2.0, which sharpens Australia’s vision and action plan for building its superpower future.
Clean Energy Council Policy Director - Decarbonisation, Anna Freeman, said that the strategy, which is a refresh on the landmark 2019 strategy, reflected an evolution and maturing of our focus on the more prospective sectors for hydrogen use, including green iron and alumina, green ammonia and long-haul heavy transport.
“Renewable hydrogen is key to unlocking new and expanded industrial growth opportunities for Australia across a range of sectors, from green metals through to clean fuel production, all of which will be critical solutions in the global race to net zero emissions," she said.
“Australia is ideally placed to be a producer of these commodities, leveraging our remarkable renewable energy resources, mineral wealth, skilled energy workforce and established trade relationships.
“We cannot afford to let this economic growth opportunity pass us by and there is a lot at stake in us building an internationally competitive green hydrogen sector."
The strategy also sets out target ranges for Australian hydrogen production over different time horizons, reflecting lower and higher growth scenarios, starting with between 0.5 - 1.5 million tonnes per annum in 2030 and 15 - 30 million tonnes per annum by 2050.
“Targets would be meaningless without any support or mechanisms to get there, but Australia has made genuine progress in the past 18 months in setting out a range of mechanisms aimed at driving down the cost of green hydrogen, including through Hydrogen Headstart and the Hydrogen Production Tax Incentive," Freeman said.
“It is critical that the hydrogen tax incentive receives the support of the Australian Parliament within the coming months if we are to make new industries like green iron manufacturing a reality.
“The other critical piece of the puzzle for the emerging green hydrogen industry is in stimulating demand. Our members tell us that this is the number one challenge for hydrogen projects in Australia today.
“For this reason, we congratulate the Australian and German Governments on today’s announcement of a new dedicated auction for Australian green hydrogen producers to supply European markets. This represents guaranteed export offtake for the successful bidders and that would be a game changer for those projects.
“We acknowledge the German Government for their continuing and extraordinary leadership, co-operation and partnership with Australia in supporting this auction.
This is a significant first step in Australia’s development of demand-side mechanisms to support the scaling up of the Australian green hydrogen sector. We look forward to further policy measures to drive demand for green hydrogen and commodities in Australia.Anna Freeman Clean Energy Council Policy Director - Decarbonisation
ENDS
For more information or to arrange an interview, contact:
Liam Straughan
Clean Energy Council Media Officer
+61 409 470 683