Solar hydrogen plant to power Queensland college, golf course, buses

A “campus-scale” renewable hydrogen plant will be developed at a Queensland school that specialises in vocational training and golf instruction, in a joint venture between Hills International College and Energy Estate.

Energy Estate said on Monday that it had formed a partnership with the College to jointly develop the Jimboomba Renewable Hydrogen Plant, including a solar PV system and hydrogen production and storage facility, at the Hills Jimboomba campus south of Brisbane.

The project is being developed by Energy Estate under its HydrogenGrowth platform, which aims to develop a range of large and small scale “green hydrogen” opportunities in Australia and overseas, including a number of large-scale plants in Queensland.

International renewables developer, Elecseed, and Korean government-owned utility KOMIPO are also supporting the project through their investment to expand the existing 250kW Hills Foundation Solar Farm, Energy Estate said.

The plan is to expand that solar farm, which was commissioned in 2017, to 2MW to supply the hydrogen plant being developed by Energy Estate, which in turn will supply Hills Educational Foundation and Hills Golf Club with 24/7 renewable power, while also fuelling the campus’ coaches.

“This is a great opportunity to develop the use of hydrogen in south east Queensland in a practical, distributed environment,” said Energy Estate director of hydrogen, Kevin Peakman.

“We are also pleased to support the carbon neutral goals of the College and provide a meaningful, hands-on opportunity to share that knowledge with the College and its students.”

For the Hills Educational Foundation, the not-for-profit that runs the College, the project fits with its commitment to provide students with both theoretical and practical hands-on learning experience in renewable energy and hydrogen production.

“The Foundation has progressed towards a carbon neutral goal by establishing large ground based solar facilities, converting our diesel buses to run on hydrogen resulting in reduced diesel consumption, and are in the process of establishing a green hydrogen production facility and energy storage capacity,” said CEO Joseph Marinov.

“This multi-faceted project, that also includes potentially supplying oxygen to the adjacent wastewater treatment plant to reduce operational costs, demonstrates how the use of renewable energy to generate hydrogen can advance the hydrogen economy in Australia.”