ICE says new tech makes massive south-eastern | Australian Markets

The boss of one of the businesses concerned in an huge inexperienced hydrogen project on WA’s south-eastern coast says it has created new technology that may make the deliberate development “economically viable”.

InterContinental Energy is a component of a consortium trying to develop the US$70 billion ($110b) Western Green Energy Hub north-west of Eucla.

The plan is for the construction and operation of 3000 wind generators, 35 photo voltaic farms, and a renewable hydrogen facility throughout 22,690sqkm that will make use of up to 8000 people.

Offshore components comprise a marine offloading facility, desalination plant, brine pipeline, and an ammonia export pipeline.

The project has the potential to generate more than 50 gigawatts to supply about 3.5 million tonnes every year of zero-carbon inexperienced hydrogen — making it one of the most important energy tasks within the world.

WEGH shall be in-built a number of phases, with the primary stage masking 1900sqkm aiming to generate about 6GW to supply 330,000tpa.

The related environmental authorities at each the State and Federal ranges are presently assessing the proposal, with opposition already fashioned across the project’s potential impacts on the intensive world-class limestone karst cave systems within the space.

There additionally continues to be doubts expressed concerning the economics of inexperienced hydrogen.

However, ICE on Tuesday mentioned it had developed the P2(H2)Node, a patented modular system that will remodel how inexperienced hydrogen was produced.

It mentioned the system instantly built-in electrolysis plants with wind and photo voltaic farms, eliminating the need for long-distance electrical energy transmission, reducing prices and boosting effectivity.

ICE mentioned by standardising design and utilizing modular construction, the system would ship up to 10 per cent decrease capital expenditure and up to 10 per cent increased operational effectivity than standard approaches.

It mentioned the system had taken ICE’s Perth-based crew 4 years to develop, with patents granted in Australia and the US, and patents pending in a number of different international locations.

ICE chief government Alexander Tancock mentioned the Node system would scale back complexity, speed up project deployment and make giga-scale inexperienced hydrogen manufacturing each economically viable and globally scalable.

“The P2(H2)Node system is designed with global application in mind, particularly for coastal and remote regions rich in renewable resources but lacking robust grid infrastructure,” he mentioned.

“Its decentralised, modular and flexible architecture allows for efficient deployment in a variety of settings, making giga-scale green hydrogen production feasible in locations where traditional models face significant barriers.”

Mr Tancock mentioned standard centralised fashions required costly electrical energy transmission, resulting in vitality losses and inefficiency.

“The patented P2(H2)Node system flips this model by co-locating giga-scale hydrogen production with wind and solar farms, ensuring power is used where it’s generated,” he mentioned.

ICE’s Australian boss Isaac Hinton mentioned the Node system may unlock the total potential of its portfolio of giga-scale tasks, in addition to others globally.

In explicit, ICE’s largest project WEGH, being developed in partnership with CWP and Mirning Green Energy, stood to benefit considerably.

The node would allow the bottom value, large-scale manufacturing of a vary of hydrogen derivatives, together with ammonia and e-fuels.

“With the support of recently announced Federal Government hydrogen incentives, WGEH is projected to drive down production costs for green ammonia below US$650 per tonne, unlocking transformative investment opportunities and significant job creation in Western Australia and the country more broadly,” Mr Hinton mentioned.

“By making green hydrogen, ammonia and e-fuels cost-competitive, the P2(H2)Node will support decarbonisation across hard-to-abate sectors like steel, shipping, aviation and fertilisers.”

ICE will unveil the main points and design of the Node system on the World Hydrogen Summit in Rotterdam, the Netherlands subsequent week.

A closing investment choice on WEGH is just not anticipated till 2029.