Green hydrogen plant breaks ground at Wodonga

Ground has been broken in Wodonga, Victoria today on one of Australia’s largest renewable hydrogen plants – a facility that is predicted to cut CO2 emissions by around 4,000 tonnes each year from 2025.

Owned by Australian Gas Infrastructure Group, the 10MW Hydrogen Park Murray Valley facility will deliver renewable hydrogen to more than 40,000 homes and businesses in the Albury-Wodonga border region of NSW and Victoria.

The $65.4 million project will produce 500 tonnes of hydrogen annually for injection into the local gas network and potential future use at transport refuelling stations.

The project is backed by $36.1 million in funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, $12.3 million from the Victorian Government and additional financing of $3.22 million provided by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation through the Advancing Hydrogen Fund.

AGIG already has in operation Hydrogen Park South Australia (HyP SA) in the Adelaide suburb of Tonsley Park and is developing plans for Hydrogen Park Gladstone, Queensland (HyP Gladstone).

HyP SA supplies a renewable hydrogen blend with five percent hydrogen to 700 customers on the existing gas network and supplies BOC South Pacific’s Whyalla Argon Purification Unit which makes high purity argon used in industrial processes and welding gases.

The renewable hydrogen produced will displace natural gas supplied to local customers and industry at blends of up to 10 percent.

With a 10MW capacity, the plant’s electrolyser – which uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen – will have eight times the capacity of the largest electrolyser currently operating in Australia.

The Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said: “The Hydrogen Park Murray Valley project represents a milestone investment in Australia’s clean energy future.

“Producing renewable hydrogen on this scale has never been done in Australia before, so this project is blazing a trail to scale up green hydrogen production, and that’s why we’re backing it.”

Further reading:
Renewable hydrogen headed for Whyalla steelworks

Image: Australian Gas Infrastructure Group