Australia and Germany will invest in a series of new initiatives to accelerate the development of a hydrogen industry.
The two countries announced the Declaration of Intent between the Government of Australia and the Government of Germany on the Australia-Germany Hydrogen Accord.
The Accord builds on their respective strengths, with Australia looking to be a major hydrogen exporter and Germany holding expertise in hydrogen technology and planning to import significant quantities of hydrogen in the future.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said international collaboration focused on technological innovation was key to getting new energy technologies like hydrogen to commercial parity.
Our ambition is to produce the cheapest clean hydrogen in the world, which will transform transport, mining, resources and manufacturing at home and overseas. Developing new low emissions industries means more jobs for Australian workers, and cheaper energy means lower costs for businesses so they can reinvest in hiring more people
Additionally, Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said getting new energy technologies to parity with existing technologies was the only way to reduce emissions without imposing taxes or new costs on households, businesses and industry.
Clean hydrogen is a priority under the Technology Investment Roadmap and we’re excited to be working with Germany to bring this new industry to life. We have a mix of all the key ingredients needed to be a major global player in a thriving global clean hydrogen industry – abundant land and energy resources coupled with an excellent track record and reputation as reliable energy partner
More specifically, the Accord includes three major initiatives:
- Establishing the German-Australian Hydrogen Innovation and Technology Incubator (HyGATE) to support real-world pilot, trial, demonstration and research projects along the hydrogen supply chain. Australia and Germany have respectively committed up to $50 million and €50 million to establish HyGATE.
- Facilitating industry-to-industry cooperation on demonstration projects in Australian hydrogen hubs.
- Exploring options to facilitate the trade of hydrogen and its derivatives produced from renewables (such as ammonia) from Australia to Germany, including through Germany’s H2Global Initiative, which supports long-term supply agreements with German industry.
The Accord also builds on Australia’s existing collaboration with Germany on low emissions technologies including hydrogen, with a two-year supply chain study between the two countries already underway.
Together with partnerships with Singapore and Japan, these new initiatives are part of the Government’s $565.8 million commitment to build new international technology partnerships.
Currently, there are now 35 green hydrogen electrolyser projects across Australia, with a potential capacity of 38 gigawatts, should the cost of the technology falls significantly in the coming decade.
According to Rystad Energy, most of those electrolysers are in the pilot phase, and the largest operational facility is the relatively minuscule 1.5 megawatt facility at the Hydrogen Park in South Australia.
What is more, recently Australia and Singapore agreed to establish a $30 million partnership to accelerate the deployment of low emissions fuels and technologies like clean hydrogen to reduce emissions from ships and ports.
The Australia-Singapore partnership is part of Australia’s $565.8 million commitment to build new international technology partnerships that make low emissions technologies cheaper and drive investment in Australia-based projects to create up to 2,500 jobs.
Under the partnership, each country will commit up to $10 million over five years to fund industry-led pilot and demonstration projects, with at least $10 million of additional investment expected to be leveraged from the industry.