IBE estimates that the offtake agreements for its Project NEO will amount to over $7.5 billion.

Image: Horizon Power

Perth-based Infinite Blue Energy (IBE) has unveiled a bold plan to deliver Australia’s first green hydrogen baseload power plant that could change the electricity landscape in New South Wales (NSW). Project NEO is initially focused on providing 1000 MW of green hydrogen using solar, wind and hydrogen fuel cells for 24/7 electricity supply.

The project, which will commence with a feasibility study and detailed design over the next 18 months, aims to transition energy-intensive, fossil fuel-dependent industries in NSW to 100% renewables by 2027. To provide reliable baseload power, NEO will use solar and wind to produce hydrogen, a certain amount of which will be stored in fuel cells and available when there is no wind or sun, on cloudy days and at night. 

“The vision at IBE is to show the world, first and foremost, that Australia has the technology, skills and entrepreneurial mindset to be a true leader in the development of green hydrogen plants,” IBE CEO Stephen Gauld said. “We are currently in robust negotiations with major electricity users in the NSW Hunter Region that have confirmed their intentions to transition to green hydrogen baseload electricity this decade.”

Led by a team with substantial experience in the oil and gas sector, IBE has only recently appeared on the Australian energy scene. In April, the company unveiled plans for the first of its many green hydrogen projects in Western Australia (WA), announcing an initial $300 million investment for its first phase of construction. Other companies that have announced gigawatt-scale plans in WA include BP Australia, which is looking to develop around 1.5 GW of greenfield solar and wind projects for its green hydrogen and ammonia plans, and Siemens, which aims to produce green hydrogen for local industry and export to Asia from up to 5 GW of wind and solar capacity.

Another megaproject underway in WA is the Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH), which could feature up to 15 GW of solar and wind capacity with the goal to supply local energy users in the Pilbara region and develop a green hydrogen manufacturing hub for domestic use and export to Asia. Recently, AREH has moved forward after being recommended for environmental approval.

Fast-tracking NSW’s energy transition

Project NEO, which comes with a $2.7 billion price tag, is expected to feature 235 wind turbines and a PV array covering approximately 1,250 hectares of land. The cumulative renewable energy capacity will stand at around 3.5 GW and will be deployed at high-value sites for solar and wind production, in combination with a “distributed generation model”. “This allows the generation sites to blend in with existing land users with minimal impact,” IBE says.

Over 2 million NSW homes stand to benefit from Project NEO, the company says, in addition to other economic benefits. IBE anticipates that a significant proportion of the workforce required for Project NEO will be drawn from the existing coal-fired power stations in NSW, since many of the skills are similar.

“Project NEO will produce local and indirect employment, allow existing industries to decarbonize, and facilitate the establishment of new industries,” Gauld says. “It will localize manufacturing, give a 100% green supply of power to NSW, fuel the reduction of the state’s carbon emissions and can therefore play a pivotal role in ultimately helping Australia become leaders in carbon emission reduction.”

This article originally appeared on pv-magazine-australia.com and has been republished with permission by pv magazine (www.pv-magazine.com and www.pv-magazine-australia.com).

Providence Asset Group's Mr Llewellyn Owens, NSW Energy Minister Matt Kean, UNSW's Professor Kondo-Francois Aguey-Zinsou.

Image: UNSW

More than $15 million in funding from the state government’s Regional Community Energy Fund was announced on Tuesday to help regional communities in New South Wales (NSW) take control of their energy bills and benefit from the economic opportunities presented by the energy transition. The awarded projects will unlock nearly 17.2 MW in electricity generation and up to 17.9 MW/39.3 MWh of energy storage, leveraging approximately $36 million in private investment.

Six projects will install solar, four of which will collocate battery storage on site, and one will deliver a shared community battery scheme.  The list of approved projects includes 5 MW Bayron Bay Solar Farm alongside a 5 MW / 10MWh DC-coupled battery; 500 kW Gloucester Community Solar Farm; the Goulburn Community Dispatchable Solar Farm involving 1.2 MW of solar PV and 400 kW / 800 kWh of battery storage; 1 MW Haystack Solar Garden; Orange Community Renewable Energy Park with a 5 MW solar farm and up to 5 MW / 5 MWh of battery storage; and a 1 MW / 2MWh battery, which will be installed under Enova Community’s Shared Community Battery Scheme for regional NSW.

A project that stands out in the group for its combination of on-site renewable energy technologies is the Manilla Community Solar. The development will feature 4.5 MW of solar PV, 4.5 MW / 4.5MWh of battery storage and a 2 MW /17 MWh hydrogen energy storage system. It will be backed by a $3.5 million grant that has been awarded to the Manilla Solar Project, a partnership between Manilla Community Renewable Energy and green investment outfit Providence Asset Group.

Plans for the Manilla solar farm were announced in December as one of the first of up to 30 community solar initiatives to be rolled out across regional Australia. On Tuesday, it was confirmed that the development will feature an advanced hybrid battery storage system in addition to the solar and battery storage components. According to UNSW, solid-state hydrogen technology will be installed in 20-foot containers with an energy density of 17 MWh and will be a first of this kind in the world in terms of scale.

New generation of batteries

The technology was first unveiled last March when a team of researchers at UNSW headed by Professor Kondo-Francois Aguey-Zinsou said they had developed a unique system that allowed for cheap storage and transportation of hydrogen and could provide a new alternative for energy storage within two years.

Their research, conducted in partnership with H2Store, had been underpinned with $3.5 million in backing from Providence Asset Group. The funding was intended to help the team deliver phase one of a four-stage project that includes the creation of prototypes of their hydrogen energy storage solution for residential and commercial use, demonstration units, and testing and optimization that will enable full commercialization of the product.

Speaking about the first phase of the project, Professor Kondo-Francois Aguey-Zinsou said that he believed his invention would offer significant advantages over current power storage solutions for home solar systems, such as the Tesla Powerwall battery.

“We will be able to take energy generated through solar panels and store it as hydrogen in a very dense form, so one major advantage of our hydrogen batteries is that they take up less space and are safer than the lithium-ion batteries used in many homes today,” he said, adding that the system can actually store about seven times more energy than other that are currently available. Other advantages include a lifespan of about 30 years compared with under 10 for other systems and no fire risk.

On Tuesday, Professor Aguey-Zinsou said: “I am very excited to see the technology we developed in the lab here at UNSW scaled up and used in real-world applications. It will prove the feasibility of hydrogen storage at scale and position Australia to become a major player in transitioning to renewable energy.”

Construction will commence on the Manilla Solar Project in the second half of 2020 and is expected to be operational early 2021. The storage component will be installed during 2021.

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This article originally appeared on pv-magazine-australia.com, and has been republished with permission by pv magazine (www.pv-magazine.com and www.pv-magazine-australia.com.)