WITH hopes of becoming “a regional cornerstone of the hydrogen industry”, the Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub will be built on Kooragang Island to assist emissions intensive industries to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.

The project, led by Origin Future Fuels with $45 million in funding from the Commonwealth and NSW Governments, is part of the state’s shift towards clean technologies and net zero.

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The Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub will produce green hydrogen through electrolysis (splitting water), which can be used to store energy and as a feedstock in industrial processes.

The Hub will initially deliver approximately 55 megawatts of electrolyser capacity by 2026, with an aim to scale up to over one gigawatt of capacity over the next decade.

The hydrogen produced by the Hub will be used by industry, with the majority going to Orica’s nearby ammonia manufacturing facility to help decarbonise its operations.

Hydrogen will also be made available to transport customers through onsite and satellite refuelling stations.

The project should deliver up to 150 direct (construction and ongoing) jobs, and up to 65 indirect construction jobs in the Hunter.

Energy Minister Penny Sharpe told News Of The Area, “Projects like the Hunter Valley Hydrogen are vital to decarbonising the industrial sector as we work towards a net-zero future.

“The Hunter area is one of NSW’s leading industrial regions that contributes $50 billion to NSW’s gross state product and has a critical role to play in our state’s clean energy transition.”

Brian Tehan, a committee member of EcoNetwork Port Stephens and a volunteer researcher with climate change think tank Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE), welcomed the announcement.

“I was part of a group of BZE volunteers/members from Melbourne and Newcastle who were given a comprehensive tour of the Orica ammonia plant a few years ago,” Mr Tehan said.

“Even then, they were talking about reducing their emissions and moving to renewable hydrogen instead of using the current technology – steam reforming of methane – which extracts hydrogen from methane and water.

“All in all, it’s a very good project and will certainly help Orica to significantly reduce their carbon emissions, as well as providing a big customer for the hydrogen plant.”

Orica’s co-located Tertiary Abatement Plant at Kooragang Island has this month reached a milestone, abating the equivalent of 250,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

This is equal to removing 150,000 cars from NSW roads.

The plant, which is funded by the NSW Government and has financing from the Commonwealth’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation, will abate the equivalent of more than 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, reducing emissions from Orica’s nitric acid manufacturing plant by 48 percent.