Out-Law News 1 min. read
22 Apr 2021, 2:04 am
Australian renewable hydrogen developer the Hydrogen Utility (H2U) and Germany's RWE Supply & Trading have agreed to export Australian green hydrogen to Germany, according to a statement by RWE.
RWE said that the planned terminal for liquid natural gas (LNG) in Brunsbuttel near Hamburg would be an ideal location for the import of hydrogen into Germany.
H2U is currently developing a two hydrogen projects in Australia and they are the Eyre Peninsula Gateway project in South Australia and the H2-Hub Gladstone project in Queensland. Eyre Peninsula Gateway will be a 75 megawatts (MW) electrolyser plant that will be able to produce 40,000 tones of ammonia each year, making it amongst the largest green ammonia plants in the world.
Renewable hydrogen expert George Varmaof Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law, said: “Australia and Germany have shown a real desire to collaborate in the renewable hydrogen space through the joint declaration signed in September 2020.”
“The Australian government has, in particular, shown clear intent to position Australia as a hydrogen export powerhouse, a position echoed by most state governments,” said Varma.
“This collaboration between H2U and RWE shows that the opportunities in this space are not just theoretical; the business case for developing renewable hydrogen capacity is steadily strengthening as offtake opportunities increase,” he said.
The agreement follows the September 2020 signing of a 24-month 'Joint Declaration of Intent on an Australian-German Supply Chain Feasibility Study of Hydrogen produced from Renewables' by the Australian and German governments, in respect of which H2I and RWE are both contributing expertise.
The South Australian government has allocated $26.5 million (A$37m) in the 2020/2021 state budget to upgrade the Port Bonython jetty that is planned to be used to export the hydrogen.
