InterContinental goes on hiring spree for huge green hydrogen project in WA

InterContinental Energy, the Hong Kong-based green hydrogen developer that is one of the key players behind the 26 gigawatt, $36 billion Asian Renewable Energy Hub in the Pilbara, has announced a string of new top-level hires as it accelerates its ambitious green hydrogen manufacturing plans.

InterContinental has teamed up with with Australia’s CWP and global wind energy giant Vestas to advance the AREH, with a plan to build 26 gigawatts of wind and solar capacity on a 14,000 square kilometre site in the East Pilbara in Western Australia.

The bulk of that capacity will go towards manufacturing green hydrogen for use in both domestic and international markets, with 3 gigawatts going to power big energy users in the region. The first stage of the project, which will build 15 gigawatts of capacity, received environmental approval from the Western Australian government in October last year.

The four new senior executive appointments from Total, GE, Siemens and Yara, and cover engineering, project management and sales, appear geared to this project. All will be based in Australia.

Warner Priest joins the firm as midstream energy director from Siemens, while Vinod Patel joins as downstream energy director from Yara Pilbara Fertiliser. Both will focus on various engineering aspects of green hydrogen production.

Philip Haydn Jones joins as commercial director from oil major TOTAL, and will oversee InterContinental’s sales and marketing strategy, while Raymond Macdonald joins as director of project management from GE Renewable Energy.

InterContinental managing director Alexander Tancock said, “We have been privileged to assemble this team of world leading experts to help deliver our vision of deploying clean energy projects at massive scale around the world.”

Tancock founded InterContinental in 2014, and has been project director of its biggest project, the Asian Renewable Energy Hub, since the same year.