Summary of Perth EU-Australia Hydrogen Dialogue
By Max van Someren
How shared infrastructure, renewable power, and industrial clustering can transform Australia’s low-carbon manufacturing landscape.
Perhaps attending an Australian/ EU dialogue event on hydrogen might not be as cool as it once was… but I found the realism over the hype made it a fascinating couple of days.
What I heard from the EU participants:
EU appetite for importing hydrogen and it’s derivates remains strong, with continuing bipartisan support in Germany, for example
However, the EU recognises the commercial logic of importing intermediate products, such as iron produced from Australia’s low cost renewables. I was surprised how much acceptance of this there was, given it would inevitably involve offshoring some of the EU’s existing industry
Many EU participants indicated the need to look again at the strict EU requirements for time matching and additionally in hydrogen production, to reduce the costs
The EU want international partners committed to support supply hydrogen and it’s derivatives for the long term – no matter which government is in power in Australia
What I heard from the Australian participants:
Many, many projects that were producing hydrogen or ammonia for export are now also looking at the production of either green iron or renewable fuels
Project developers repeatedly reinforced the advantages of producing hydrogen in Australia – the well worn themes of abundant renewable resources, a robust regulatory and financial regime and shared culture
Projects which can leverage existing infrastructure (export ports, roads, electricity transmission, hydropower) have the opportunity to reduce production costs
Despite the changes in the outlook for hydrogen, there remained no lack of Australian projects with hydrogen at the heart of them (even if they now tend to be less about ‘shipping sunshine’ and more about exporting low carbon goods)
The quote of the day for me: “we need patience and tenacity” for hydrogen to deliver on it’s promise of being an enabler of global decarbonisation.