Massive 6,000MW renewable hydrogen plans shelved over “water issues”

Plans for a potential six gigawatt-scale wind and solar backed renewable hydrogen production hub in South Australia have been shelved, the project’s developer has confirmed, due to “unacceptable” risks around water supply.

Kallis Energy Investments founder and executive chair, Terry Kallis, said in a statement on LinkedIn that the Moolawatana project – announced barely six months ago – was being discontinued based on the findings of an environmental assessment.

“That assessment, which was foreshadowed in the original project announcement, has determined that the environmental and permitting risks associated with water supply and desalination were unacceptable,” Kallis said.

“Hence, the project has been stopped.”

First unveiled in late November of 2021, the Moolawatana Renewable Hydrogen Project proposed the development of a green hydrogen hub near the Moolawatana Station around 570km north of Adelaide, backed by up 6,000MW of wind and solar generation.

The proposal, which was welcomed at the time by then SA energy minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan, was to include construction of a dedicated pipeline to facilities near Port Bonython, for processing green hydrogen into ammonia that could then be prepared for export.

Kallis has had previous involvement in the SA Starfish Hill wind farm and the Star of the South offshore wind farm currently under development in Victoria, and also led one of the many “hot rock” geothermal hopefuls that ultimately proved unsuccessful.

He is also still involved in the development of the proposed 5,000MW Murchison Renewable Hydrogen project in Western Australia.

The Murchison Hydrogen Renewables project proposed for near Kalbarri includes more than 5 gigawatts of wind and solar, a big battery, a 3GW electrolyser and the production of roughly 2 million tonnes a year of green ammonia.

A submission to the WA Environmental Protection Authority earlier this month detailed the scale and mix of technologies being proposed, and what it will take to get that similarly ambitious project up and running.

“Not all projects work and it is important that developers determine fatal flaws as early as possible in the project timeline and communicate this to stakeholders,” Kallis said of the Moolawatana project.

“The Moolawatana project is … unrelated to the WA Murchison project which is going full steam ahead – pardon the pun,” he added in comments below the LinkedIn post.