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The CSIRO has launched a new roadmap to create an Australian hydrogen energy industry and make the country the world's hydrogen leader.
It has developed a blueprint for industry and the government to build a hydrogen production and export industry in Australia, examining the potential applications and commercial viability of the technology.
The CSIRO is working to build Australia's nascent hydrogen industry.
Photo: CSIRO
Globally, the hydrogen industry is underpinned by a series of mature technologies and relevant markets on the verge of reaching a tipping point but will likely need underwriting by the government to encourage investment, the CSIRO said.
It said hydrogen can also replace natural gas as a zero emissions source of fuel, lifting some of the price pressures for gas affecting the east coast and easing the current energy crisis.
“Australia has a unique and urgent opportunity to turn significant natural resources, including coal, gas, and renewables like solar and wind energy, into a low-emissions energy product and ship it around the world – in some cases literally exporting Aussie sunshine,” CSIRO chief executive Dr Larry Marshall said.
Transforming Australia's energy system should not be beyond us
“This National Hydrogen Roadmap provides a blueprint for growing Australia’s hydrogen industry through coordinated investment to be globally competitive.”
Australia’s chief scientist, Alan Finkel, said there are a number of opportunities for domestic hydrogen use. “Hydrogen can heat our buildings, power our vehicles and supply our industrial processes,” Dr Finkel said.
APA, the group which controls the majority of Australia’s gas pipelines, said it was capable of transporting about 10 per cent of hydrogen gas by volume without impacting its natural gas supply, although it is a way off from happening as yet.
Hydrogen is created by ‘cracking’ water running an electric current - powered by renewable energy - through it, making it a carbon neutral fuel.
It can also be extracted when burning fossil fuels such as coal or biomass, or through coal gasification.
The federal and Victorian governments have partnered with a Japanese consortium to create hydrogen from Victoria’s Latrobe Valley brown coal for export to Japan.
Hydrogen has a range of domestic energy applications.
Photo: CSIRO
Hydrogen is forecast to become a new multibillion-dollar export for Australia by 2040, driven by demand from four key countries - Japan, China, Singapore and South Korea.
An independent report by ACIL Allen, prepared for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), found Australia was in a good position to export hydrogen due to the low production and transport costs of hydrogen, proximity to the market, the large-scale energy infrastructure already in place, and its well-established energy trading relationships with the main future consumers of hydrogen.
Under modest industry development forecasts, hydrogen exports would create an industry worth $120 million in 2025 forecast to grow to $2.6 billion by 2040, while under more aggressive forecasts it would boom from a $1.6 billion industry in 2025 to a $13.5 billion powerhouse by 2040.
In terms of transport, the CSIRO has already invested millions in making hydrogen a more viable fuel technology, launching a Future Science Platform program to develop it as a new energy export.
Earlier this month, CSIRO scientists got behind the wheel of the first car to be powered by Australian-made ultra-high purity hydrogen developed by the organisation.
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