Melbourne, Australia: The Australian Hydrogen Council today welcomed the $2.35bn funding from
the Japanese Government’s Green Innovation Fund to support commercialisation of the Hydrogen
Energy Supply Chain (HESC) project in Victoria.
The commercialisation phase of the project will produce 30,000 tonnes of clean hydrogen per year
extracted from Latrobe Valley coal with CO2 capture and storage facilities in the Bass Strait. It will
then be liquefied at the Port of Hastings and shipped to the Port of Kawasaki in Japan.
Australian Hydrogen Council (AHC) CEO Dr Fiona Simon made the following statements:
“This significant investment by the Japanese Government is a vote of confidence in Australia’s ability
to export hydrogen at commercial scale, following the successful demonstration project to ship
liquid hydrogen from Victoria to Japan.
“With a target to increase hydrogen use to 3 million tonnes a year by 2030 and a strong trade history
in energy and resources, Japan is an ideal trade partner to support Australia’s ambition to be a
leading hydrogen exporter.
“International partnerships like this will be fundamental for Australia’s energy transition. In our
Securing Australia’s Hydrogen Future policy paper, we called for the Australian Government to
dedicate funding for bilateral export agreements to create bespoke joint support packages that will
underwrite trade and support necessary infrastructure.
“We congratulate the Australian and Japanese industry partners on reaching this important
milestone, which is a great example of two nations combining skills, technology and investment to
progress the global hydrogen economy.
“This is a positive step forward in reaching Australia’s ambitious hydrogen export goals and we look
forward to seeing this project progress to the commercial demonstration phase,” Dr Simon
concluded.
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