• AGL and FFI looks to expand Hunter Valley hydrogen facilities from 150MW to 2GW
  • Derivatives such as ammonia will also be considered for export use 
  • PV1 establishes office in Oslo, Norway 

 

AGL and Twiggy Forrest’s Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) have sought the expertise of a string of gas giants to help with green hydrogen feasibility expansion plans at two NSW Hunter Valley coal power stations – Liddell and Bayswater.

At the end of last year, the two companies announced they would undertake a feasibility study looking into the viability of turning the two facilities into green hydrogen production centres supported by wind, solar, pumped hydro and batteries.

Now, the plan is to expand the feasibility with a focus on accelerating the implementation of a large-scale production facility from a minimum 150MW up to 2GW and including derivatives such as ammonia for export use.

In a statement released today, AGL chief operating officer Markus Brokhof said the so called ‘hydrogen hub’ would be the first of its kind in Australia and will be an example of how an energy hub can combine grid scale batteries, solar thermal storage, wind, and pumped hydro.

Two Japanese companies, Inpex and Osaka Gas, will focus their efforts at cost competitive green hydrogen and green derivative opportunities while gas pipeline company APA will look at transmission and Jemena focuses on blending hydrogen into its gas network.

The hub will be built around AGL’s Liddel plant which is set to close in April 2023 while AGL brought forward the closure of its Baywater power plant to no later than 2033 (previously 2035).

 

PROVARIS (ASX:PV1) 

Aussie developer of integrated hydrogen projects, Provaris, has established an office in Oslo, Norway as its European corporate office in line with renewed focus on the region for commercial activities.

PV1 managing director and CEO Martin Carolan says Europe is a strategic, key region of focus for the commercialisation of integrated compressed hydrogen supply and expects it to remain important in the long-term.

“The company has experienced an increase in opportunities across many supply and demand hubs in Europe, so it makes sense to be closer to technical partners, suppliers and off-takers.

“This is a major reason for our focus in Europe, as it will also open up access to sources of government funding and a deeper pool of capital market participants.”

 

 

CLEAN TEQ WATER (ASX:CNQ)

CNQ has signed an exclusive global technology licence agreement with Soane Labs LLC for its Accelerated Dewatering Technology, known as ATA.

The agreement provides Clean TeQ with an exclusive global licence to exploit the ATA technology and an option to purchase the technology at Clean TeQ Water’s discretion.

The licence agreement will provide Clean TeQ Water with an 18-month evaluation period to complete due diligence and initiate pilot-scale demonstration to validate the performance and economics of the technology.

CNQ’s ATA technology was developed to provide a safe and low-cost mine tailings treatment process by rapidly separating water and solids to produce stackable tailings and recycled water.

It uses smart chemistry to rapidly agglomerate the solids in ore slurries – the solids are screen filtered and dewatered under their own gravity or, alternatively, low pressure filters can be used for dewatering.

The resulting materials can be compressed and stacked, with the extracted water being returned to recycle, dramatically reducing water usage.

In underground mining operations the compact material may also be used for backfill, with or without cement.