News

Jemena Welcomes Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy

By December 1, 2019 2   min read  (366 words)

December 1, 2019 |

Australia on Globe

Just as Australians want green electricity for cooking, heating and cooling, our customers in New South Wales have told us they also want access to green, renewable gas.

Speaking to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Energy Council, Dr. Alan Finkel said renewable generated hydrogen, which is a green gas, will make an ‘essential contribution as a high density, zero-emission fuel’, for use internationally and domestically.

In delivering his report, Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy, Dr. Finkel said Australia can become a leader in ‘shipping sunshine’ for export markets and that domestic hydrogen will ‘give us opportunities to expand into new and revitalised industries’.

We welcome these comments and support Dr. Finkel’s promotion of hydrogen, and green, renewable gas as a solution to Australia’s energy mix.

In addition, we were pleased that Dr. Finkel referenced Jemena’s Western Sydney Green Gas (WSGG) project in his report as a demonstration of how existing gas pipeline infrastructure can be used to store excess renewable energy.

The $15million WSGG project is jointly funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and due to commence late next year when the first electrolyser in New South Wales is installed.

It is estimated the Jemena Gas Network – the largest in Australia – can store as much renewably generated hydrogen as 8 million new Powerwall batteries.

By repurposing existing assets, savings on new, unnecessary infrastructure will reduce customer costs in the long run, as well as result in current appliances, such as cooktop, heaters and hot water systems, using gas generated via solar and wind power.

Greening the NSW gas network is not as far off as some people think, and calls to Australian companies and investors by Dr. Finkel, and others, to activate the supply of hydrogen, can only help stimulate the industry.

Jemena is well placed to support this.

We are also proud of the input some of our team have had in assisting Dr. Finkel in shaping the 136-page Strategy. In particular, we acknowledge the contributions of Mike Davis, Network Innovation Manager, Alistair Wardrope, Senior Engineer, Renewable Gas, and Gabrielle Sycamore, General Manager, Strategy and Commercial.

Read the most up to date Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Industry news at FuelCellsWorks

FuelCellsWorks

Author FuelCellsWorks

More posts by FuelCellsWorks
error: Alert: Content is protected !!