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International Expertise Invited to Assist Australia’s Move to Greater Hydrogen Use

By April 2, 2020 5   min read  (950 words)

April 2, 2020 |

Fuel cells works, hydrogen, McCormack, australia, fuel cells

Organizations in the international hydrogen supply chain will be approached by Australia’s leading energy providers to help them deliver Australia’s low carbon vision through hydrogen.

The international approach will be a co-ordinated partnership by Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG), Jemena, AusNet Services, and Evoenergy.

AGIG’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ben Wilson, announced that AGIG, Jemena Gas Networks, AusNet, and Evoenergy have collaboratively released an Expression of Interest to seek information from the international hydrogen supply chain on the cost of deploying renewable hydrogen at scale.

“Through this Expression of Interest process, suppliers of key inputs to the international hydrogen supply chain are invited to comment on the feasibility, approach and cost of achieving 10% renewable hydrogen by volume across gas networks in the eastern and southern states of Australia,” Mr Wilson said.

“We believe this objective is achievable by 2030, and that a systematic approach will deliver economies of scale and cost reductions to benefit our customers,” he said.

These companies recognise that gas is an important fuel to Australians, delivering reliable, low cost and low emission energy. Increasingly, customers are seeking access to greener energy products for residential, commercial and industrial applications.

With their customers’ needs in mind, these companies believe the gas sector shares a common vision for a low carbon future enabled by renewable hydrogen, as set out in Gas Vision 2050 released in mid-2017. Gas Vision 2050 sets the trajectory for decarbonising gas supply into the future through hydrogen and other renewable sources.

Significant work towards lowering carbon initiatives using hydrogen is already underway in Australia. The National Hydrogen Strategy recognises a key next step is to consider hydrogen blending across towns and cities at volumes of up to 10% into gas networks

Initiatives for hydrogen blending are also a key feature of many state-based hydrogen strategies, where AGIG recently welcomed the New South Wales Government announcement that it will target the inclusion of up to 10% hydrogen in the state’s gas networks by 2030.

“Together, AGIG, Jemena Gas Networks, AusNet and Evoenergy represent the largest gas networks, customer base and gas consumption levels in Australia, supplying to more than 10 million Australians across most of its states and territories,” Mr Wilson said.

“At AGIG, we are investing heavily in renewable hydrogen projects, trials and demonstration projects across four states in Australia.

“Our partners also have a range of hydrogen projects generating learnings that will help this partnership deliver this significant goal in the long term interest of our customers and the environment.

“Gas Vision 2050 sets out three phases as to how the transition to a lower carbon gas supply system would occur in Australia. Importantly, this piece of work will inform our move beyond demonstrations to the second phase of commercial-scale blending in gas networks”.

About AGIG

Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG) formed in May 2017 with the coming together of three businesses – AGN, Multinet Gas Networks (MGN) and Dampier to Bunbury Pipeline (DBP). AGIG owns and operates one of Australia’s largest gas infrastructure businesses with operations across every mainland state and the Northern Territory supplying approximately 2 million customers. Operations include 40,000km of gas distribution and transmission pipelines, 60 petajoules of gas storage capacity, gas processing facilities and remote power generation.

AGIG’s vision is to be the leading gas infrastructure business in Australia – by delivering for customers, being a good employer, and being sustainably cost efficient.

About AusNet Services

AusNet Services owns and operates the Victorian electricity transmission network; one of five electricity distribution networks in Victoria; one of three gas distribution networks in Victoria and a commercial business that provides a range of services to energy and infrastructure customers. AusNet Services’ gas network consists of over 11,700kms of pipelines delivering approximately 63 petajoules of gas to over 720,000 residential, industrial and commercial customers across Melbourne and western Victoria.
AusNet Services’ vision is to create energising futures by delivering value to customers, communities and partners.

About Jemena

Jemena owns and operates a diverse portfolio of energy assets across northern Australia and Australia’s east coast. With more than $11.5 billion invested across electricity distribution, gas transmission and gas distribution.

Jemena’s gas distribution network is located in New South Wales and is the largest gas distribution network in Australia, with over 25,000kms of pipe delivering natural gas to over 1.4 million residential, business and industrial sites across Sydney, Newcastle, the Central Coast and Wollongong. Jemena’s gas distribution network also provides gas to over 20 regional centres including the Central West, Central Tablelands, South Western, Southern Tablelands, Riverina and Southern Highlands regions.

About Evoenergy

Evoenergy owns and operates the ACT electricity network and gas network for the ACT, Nowra and Queanbeyan-Palerang districts. Management and operation of the gas networks is carried out by Jemena as part of their broader regional NSW operations.

As Australia’s only utility that operates both gas and electricity networks in the same geographic area (the ACT), Evoenergy is seeking to utilise hydrogen as a replacement for natural gas and investigating ways of coupling the two networks together.

Gas Vision 2050

Gas Vision 2050 was released in mid-2017 with an objective of highlighting the role of gas today and the trajectory for decarbonising gas supply into the future through hydrogen and biomethane. It was followed in October 2019 by Hydrogen Innovation – Delivering on the Vision which outlined innovations in the gas industry that are progressing towards a decarbonised network.

Gas Vision 2050 set out three phases as to how the transition to a lower-carbon gas supply system would occur. This included investing in pilot and demonstration plants in the first five years, blending low carbon gas into our networks in years 5-20 before shifting to potential conversion of entire networks.

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