NSW government seeks offers for renewable hydrogen hubs

In the wake of its “overwhelming” response to a call for wind and solar and pumped hydro project proposals, the New South Wales Liberal government has now opened an Expressions of Interest (EOI) for a renewable hydrogen hub.

The NSW government unveiled its green hydrogen strategy last month ,which included a promise of $3 billion in incentives which will hopefully drive $80 billion worth of investment.

The promise of up to $3 billion in incentives comes on top of an already committed $70 million to develop NSW hydrogen hubs in the Illawarra and the Hunter.

“Australia has an opportunity to be an energy superpower, New South Wales will lead the country with this hydrogen strategy,” said newly elected NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, speaking in October.

“Our major trading partners see hydrogen as part of their energy future, this state has the skills, infrastructure and renewable energy resources to compete globally in this new industry.”

The NSW government’s $70 million hydrogen hub initiative is looking to increase electrolyser capacity to 700MW by 2030, focused primarily in hubs in the Illawarra and Hunter regions, while also supporting hydrogen industries in other locations across the state.

The initiative will look to support the development and an accelerated scaling up of hydrogen industry across NSW through two development avenues – grant funding for commercial-scale green hydrogen projects and identifying consumers, and potential sources of demand across NSW.

Grant funding will only be available for the hydrogen projects stream – meaning that hydrogen customers will only gain access to such funding if they partner with a project and are part of a subsequently successful application for funding.

Energy NSW has opened applications and registrations for EOIs and ROIs on its website here, with applications for the hydrogen projects grant funding stream closing on 28 January 2022.

Commercial-scale green hydrogen projects in NSW seeking to apply for EOIs must already have a confirmed offtake agreement from one or multiple end users and must include at least one end user in the hub region.

Successful applications in this first EOI stage will be invited to submit a full application in stage 2 at a later date.

The news comes a day after the NSW government revealed that it had received an “overwhelming” 11GW worth of pumped hydro project proposals in response to a call for storage options to help the state’s “renewable energy revolution”.

According to NSW state treasurer and energy minister Matt Kean, 28 different sites have been proposed for potential pumped hydro projects in response to a relatively modest $50 million of grant money up for grabs under its Pumped Hydrogen Recoverable Grants Program.

The 11GW worth of project proposals is more than five times the estimated 2GW the government needs to support the more than 10GW of wind and solar projects that are also beign sought by 2030 in its planned renewable energy zones.

“Time and time again we see energy investors flocking to NSW to drive a renewable energy revolution,” Kean said in a statement.

“We know that the cheapest and most reliable form of energy right now is solar and wind backed up by dispatchable power like pumped hydro and batteries.”