ARENA says renewables could be Australia’s next great export

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has formally announced a $20 million funding round to encourage early stage research and development into hydrogen and the export of renewable energy such as “solar fuels”.

The funding round marks ARENA’s first step into the so-called “hydrogen economy”, and comes after it sought feedback in September to get an idea of what idea were in the market and what sort of funding would be needed.

Many in the industry see hydrogen, or other carriers such as ammonia, as an avenue for Australia to duplicate its lucrative energy exports, but with solar and other renewable fuels rather than LNG or thermal coal.

The idea is to use excess wind and solar, and take advantage of its continued cost falls, to use electrolysis to convert electrical energy into hydrogen, and then ship this to markets in north Asia or other countries hungry for low carbon fuels.

ARENA says it received 45 responses from its request for information in September, including on renewable energy projects, hydrogen fuel carriers and supply chains in Australia that make use of a carrier material such as ammonia to transport renewable fuel.

“Exporting renewable energy is one of ARENA’s priorities for investment and this RFI illustrates there is great potential,” Frischknecht said.

“Hydrogen is set to play a much larger role in the renewable energy space not only in Australia, but globally as the world moves to a low carbon economy.

“The potential for hydrogen to be a carrier of renewable energy is substantial, which is why ARENA will be looking to fund projects from the production of hydrogen all the way to transporting and end-use.

“ The capability to supply renewable hydrogen at a competitive price is likely to lead to investment throughout the rest of the supply chain, including dedicated renewables for export .”