Plans for 6-GW renewable hydrogen hub shelved in S Australia

Australia’s Kallis Energy Investments will not put forward its proposal for a massive green hydrogen complex powered by 6 GW of wind and solar capacity in South Australia due to “unacceptable” risks related to water supplies in the region.

The company’s CEO Terry Kallis announced in a social media post last weekend that the ambitious scheme will be discontinued following an environmental assessment.

“That assessment, which was foreshadowed in the original project announcement, has determined that the environmental and permitting risks associated with water supply and desalination were unacceptable,” Kallis said.

The Moolawatana project was initiated at the end of November 2021, calling for the construction of a green hydrogen hub some 570 km (354.2 miles) north of Adelaide, along with 3 GW of solar and 3 GW of wind turbine capacity to power the process. The proposal also included a desalination plant at the site.

The produced hydrogen was planned to be transported to Port Bonython via a dedicated hydrogen pipeline and exported, mainly to Japanese and Korean markets.

The discontinuance of the Moolawatana project will not impact the development of the 5,000-MW Murchison green hydrogen project in Western Australia, Kallis noted, adding that the project is “full steam ahead.” The Aussie investor is working on the scheme through Hydrogen Renewables Australia.

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