South Australia preps new hydrogen production framework

The government of South Australia intends to draw up new legislation that will aim to streamline the permitting procedures for hydrogen projects and speed up the industry’s growth in the Aussie state.

State premier Peter Malinauskas said on Tuesday during the Australian Hydrogen Conference in Adelaide that the framework will cover the production of all types of hydrogen, including green and blue hydrogen. The new regulations will serve as a single window into government licensing and regulation for hydrogen generation projects, similar to those for other industries.

South Australia aims at 100% renewable electricity by 2030 and also has ambitions to become a world-class clean hydrogen supplier. In 2019, the state released an action plan with five specific points addressing the scale-up of renewable hydrogen production for export and domestic consumption.

This week, the South Australian government launched a market sounding for an over AUD-590-million (USD 423.3m/EUR 395.1m) hydrogen hub near Whyalla. The project, one of the key projects in the Labour government’s election campaign, calls for the construction of a 250-MW hydrogen electrolyser facility, a 200-MW hydrogen-fuelled power station and storage facilities for 3,600 tonnes of hydrogen.

The market sounding initiative, which will be followed by a procurement process for the ambitious project, will close on July 15. An information secession is due to be held on June 15.

The state Labor government told the conference it was calling for designs and delivery concepts for the construction of its new hydrogen facility in the city of Whyalla.

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.717/EUR 0.670)

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