Australia urgently needs a national approach to creating a viable hydrogen energy industry.
This paper, published by the Australian Hydrogen Council, sets out recommendations for actions to help our country achieve net zero emissions with the assistance of the emerging hydrogen industry.
The White Paper advocates for:
- A new body to develop an evidence-based approach to planning and coordinating the transition to net zero – including the development of hydrogen infrastructure – and reporting progress. This body should be explicitly tasked with addressing how gas and electricity infrastructure can be co-optimised for delivering lowest cost hydrogen to end consumers.
- A Net Zero Fund to be established, with an initial allocation of A$10 billion and a top up of A$1 billion each year to 2030. The Fund would be administered by a new Net Zero Authority, which would combine and extend the current functions of ARENA and the CEFC and use information from the planning body.
- Priorities for the fund in hydrogen should be applications that are more likely to require clean hydrogen to decarbonise and more likely to achieve large scale. Ideally these applications should demonstrate an ability to open the market to other applications through knowledge and technology sharing, geographic proximity, and/or cost reduction. Early priorities should include:
- Funding for heavy vehicle trials, and trials for lighter trucks and buses, at a cost of at least A$565 million.
- A hydrogen readiness programme of at least A$1 billion for industrial processes that cannot readily be electrified, including (and not exclusively) for the production of iron/steel, ammonia, methanol, and alumina/aluminium.
Download the White Paper as a single document.
Download separate sections:
Chapter 1: The energy transition and the role for hydrogen
Chapter 2: How we get to scale
Chapter 3: Accelerate market growth through repurposing natural gas assets where economic
