Province hits pause on WA green hydrogen project

Plans for a 12 GW solar- and wind-powered green hydrogen project proposed for the Gascoyne region of Western Australia have been shelved with the developer citing waning investor interest amid a lack of “appropriate” state government support.

Province Resources has confirmed it has put an indefinite hold on its giga-scale HyEnergy green hydrogen production and export hub planned for Carnarvon in northwest Western Australia (WA).

The proposed HyEnergy project was to comprise up to 12 GW of co-located solar and wind energy generation that would be used to produce 600,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually for domestic use and export. The production facility would also include a battery energy storage system of up to 4.6 GWh.

Province, originally a gold and nickel exploration company, said it has been developing the project for the past three years and has secured local government support, signed land agreements with pastoralists, and submitted environmental studies and referral to the state environmental protection authority.

The Perth-based company said investors were however losing interest in the project due to significant time delays by the state government in granting appropriate land tenure.

“Due to the excessive amount of time taken by the state government to consider appropriate tenure for the HyEnergy project, the initial opportunity to advance the project has been lost,” Province said in a statement.

“These time delays have seen a significant reduction in investor interest in the sector and, ultimately, in many companies deferring their plans to develop their green energy projects.”

The WA government has denied Province’s claim, with a spokesperson telling the ABC that it was disappointing to see the company blaming the state for its own inability to raise funding or secure offtake for its project.

“The WA Labor government passed legislation last year specifically to enable renewable energy projects on Crown land in WA,” the spokesperson said.

“However Province Resources opted to ignore this pathway, instead making a number of unreasonable and highly complex requests around land tenure.”

Despite declaring the initial opportunity to advance the HyEnergy project has been lost, Province said it remains positive about the long-term prospects of green hydrogen.

“We also remain hopeful that, in time, market and investor interest will come back to the sector and that there is a bright long-term future for the HyEnergy project,” the company said, adding it will continue to seek enhanced government support for the development.

“We will aim to maintain the HyEnergy project in a state of readiness for when support is secured from a state government and the market for green hydrogen returns,” Province Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director David Frances said.

The decision by Province to shelve its HyEnergy project follows Woodside Energy’s recent decision to pull the plug on two green hydrogen projects in Australia and New Zealand with a combined capacity of 2.3 GW, citing inadequate renewable energy generation capacity, revised environmental demands and challenging economics.

That came after Fortescue announced a slowdown of its green hydrogen ambitions, which included a target to produce 15 million tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030.

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

Popular content

Click here to read original article

Leave A Reply

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More