National strategy
At its meeting on 19 December 2018, the COAG Energy Council (comprising the Commonwealth, state and territory energy and resources ministers) unequivocally endorsed the development of a national strategy for an Australian hydrogen industry. Their vision 'is to make Australia a major player in a global hydrogen industry by 2030'.
Australia's Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel AO, will lead a taskforce who will develop the strategy for the Council's consideration in December 2019. It is expected that a draft national strategy will be presented to the Council in August 2019 and will be consulted on in September 2019.
The strategy will focus on six work streams, being:
- Export – including infrastructure requirements to underpin bulk exports, regulation for safety and efficiency, inter-country agreements, and assessment of the feasibility of different bulk carriers
- Gas networks – including using hydrogen in the gas networks, user and customer impacts, safety, metering, and standards
- Transport – including regulatory change assessment, standards and safety, refuelling infrastructure, use in heavy vehicles, road and rail fleets, and shipping
- Electricity systems – including regulatory changes, and potential for contribution to the resilience of our electricity markets via storage, flexible load, and frequency control ancillary service markets
- Industrial use – including use in existing industries, and use in new industries
- Cross-cutting issues – including research and innovation, safety and community engagement, governance, hydrogen precincts and cities, and standards, regulation and labelling
In recognition of the limited window of opportunity to capture emerging markets in Asia, (Australia is not alone in positioning as a hydrogen exporter), there will be an emphasis on moving quickly to implementation and delivery.
'Kick-start' projects
Three 'kick-start' projects have been identified and work will commence on these during 2019.
- Export – undertake co-ordinated international outreach to enhance Australia's profile with major trading partners. An issues paper is expected in April 2019
- Gas networks – commence work to allow up to 10% hydrogen in the gas networks, for both use in place of natural gas and to provide at-scale storage for hydrogen. A report on the regulatory changes needed to enable the injection of up to 10% hydrogen by volume in the gas networks is expected in July 2019
- Transport – scope the potential to build hydrogen refuelling stations in each state and territory. Refuelling station mapping is expected to commence in June 2019
Federal Labor Party promises a National Hydrogen Plan
As we move closer to the Federal election, the Federal Labor Party has announced a National Hydrogen Plan and, if elected, will invest $1.14 billion in supporting the development of a hydrogen industry for Australia through R&D, commercialisation, deployment, infrastructure and regulatory reform. In particular, ARENA will be required to direct up to $90 million of its investment budget to support hydrogen technologies and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation will be allocated $1 billion to support clean hydrogen. A National Hydrogen Innovation Hub will also be established in Gladstone in Queensland.
On 30 January 2019, the Senate Select Committee on Electric Vehicles published its report about the use and manufacture of electric vehicles (which includes fuel cell electric vehicles) in Australia. The report makes a number of recommendations including that the Australian Government develop a national electric vehicle strategy to facilitate and accelerate electric vehicle uptake and ensure Australia takes advantage of the opportunities, and manages the risks and challenges, of the transition to electric vehicles.
States and territories
Australia's states and territories are continuing their support by announcing various policy initiatives.
South Australia was the first state or territory to formalise its support for a hydrogen industry by publishing its Hydrogen Roadmap for South Australia back in 2017. More recently, it commissioned ITP Renewables to identify existing hydrogen R&D capability in South Australia and the opportunities to extend that capability.
Queensland has also recently published a discussion paper looking at the development of a sustainable hydrogen industry for Queensland, and Victoria has announced a Hydrogen Investment Program that will involve market testing, policy development, and investment.
Western Australia has established a Renewable Hydrogen Council to provide strategic advice and leadership to the Government on the opportunities for development of a new renewable hydrogen industry for regional Western Australia. The ACT also has an action plan to transition to zero emissions vehicles.
2019: a bigger year for the Australian hydrogen sector
In many respects 2018 was a breakout year for the Australian hydrogen sector. We saw the publication of three national strategic papers that each focus on how Australia can capture the hydrogen export market and associated benefits in the domestic economy. State and territory-based reports have quickly followed, as have demonstration projects and funding initiatives across the hydrogen supply chain.
If 2018 was a breakout year, 2019 is shaping up to be an even bigger year for the Australian hydrogen sector. The Commonwealth, state and territory governments are alive to the huge export opportunities and the domestic benefits that will ensue. As the states and territories position for investment in their jurisdictions, the challenge for government will be to ensure that the various Commonwealth, state and territory initiatives align and are complementary. Collectively there is a huge amount of interest, ambition, resource and general enthusiasm and if this is harnessed in a coordinated fashion, 2019 will be the year that hydrogen and fuel cell technologies cement their place in mainstream energy discourse.
