H2FA, Clara Energy plan to build five new Hume Highway hydrogen stations

Hydrogen Fuels Australia and Clara Energy have announced signage of “an MOU to fast-track” joint development of as many as five hydrogen refuelling stations along the Sydney-to-Melbourne corridor along the Hume Highway, at a cost of approximately $600 million.

A statement from the two companies on Wednesday said that planning was “well advanced” for a station at Tarcutta, mid-way between the two east coast cities, which would be the first of the planned refuelling stations to open. The estimated date for this is 2025.

Clara Energy would handle developing production capacity and Hydrogen Fuels Australia (H2FA) would be distributor and station operator.

Stage one of the Tarcutta project would produce approximately 25,000 kilograms per day of green hydrogen “at a price competitive with diesel” and enough for about 200 heavy haulage trucks daily. Two further stages would bring capacity to at least 100,000 kilograms.

The cost of stage one was given as “approximately $500 million” and would fund a solar PV installation and electrolysers.

H2FA is currently building a green hydrogen refuelling station in the Melbourne logistics hub of Truganina, as reported by this website in June, 2021, which will produce an estimated 60 – 90 kilograms of green hydrogen using a solar array and a Green Systems electrolyser. It has permits to bring production to 25,000 kilograms per day, according to the H2FA.

Further sites by the two companies are planned for Epping and Seymour in Victoria and in the Southern Highlands and a location to be determined in Sydney.

“The Hume is the busiest truck route in Australia and once the major logistics companies know there will be guaranteed supply of hydrogen at a commercially viable price,it will provide even greater confidence to accelerate the transition of their fleets,” said Nick Cleary, CEO of Clara.

The statement on Wednesday appears to be mostly a re-announcement of a story that ran in The Australian Financial Review on June 13.

Picture: Hydrogen Fuels Australia’s Truganina site

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