CCS and Hydrogen | The Global Dimension Perth, Western Australia Future Energy Exports

It’s flattering to be asked to speak at the Future Energy Fenex conference this week hosted in Perth, Western Australia, as some of Australia’s most forward-thinking technologists, academics and advocates, join to discuss how to plan to decarbonise some of our hard to abate industrial sectors whilst maintaining highly effective economic industries.

The conference focuses on export opportunities in the energy sector and obviously geared towards the Australian market.

My company is upskilling stakeholders from the other side of this vast subcontinent at Sydney for Informaconnect over the last four years and the sparsely populated Western areas of Australia have featured often as both regional and global case studies.

There are challenges, the Perth grid is one of the most remote and the plant, bring both challenges – and opportunities, especially the region around the Pilbara.

Developments began in a disconnected manner around the Gorgon Carbon Capture and storage facility, adjacent ammonia facilities in WA and later hydrogen schemes.

These incumbents later joined by the Australian renewable energy hub megaproject, with BP involved as a partner – and which is making tangible progress.

As the ‘Future Energy Exports’ conference title hints the offtake is the key.  Eastern Australian population centres are thousands of miles away and difficult to reach – but so too are the industrial societies of Asia, Japan, South Korea, and others with direct sea access.

They have signed up to the decarbonisation agenda, need hydrogen and also somewhere to sequester the Carbon Captured from the Blue Hydrogen Steam Methane process.

The hydrogen exports are in the form of ammonia that carries hydrogen well and aimed at Japanese, South Korean and Far Eastern markets for the green hydrogen economy.

The newly coupled carbon capture and storage sector offers expertise – and of course storage. there is the opportunity. If a vessel could take ammonia out and return with sequestered carbon for safe storage off Western Australia it would be neat indeed.

The skills and experience learn have here project to Gorgon, indeed those coming up on the other side of the sub content in Gippsland where the offshore wind sector is also on the march and elsewhere.

Major project development exports are very much a part of the larger term value offer for such trailblazing schemes.

It’s nice to be able to share that and other developments around the carbon capture and storage, the renewables and energy transition in Australia.

Delivering the penultimate session offers a chance to bring things together themes highlighted by the experts present and an opportunity as at World Hydrogen, UK in London two weeks ago to bring the global dimension to the nascent Hydrogen, Carbon Capture and Storage sector.

Hydrogen Australia