Total Eren has built up a green-hydrogen project pipeline of up to 30 gigawatts in Australia, after a dedicated 40-strong team spent 18 months identifying potential developments, the company has revealed.
The renewables arm of TotalEnergies highlighted this business potential last week when it confirmed a decision to exit the HyEnergy green-hydrogen project in Gascoyne, Western Australia.
HyEnergy was to be powered by 8GW of wind and solar as part of a partnership with local developer Province Resources, as first announced in April 2021.
Last week, Province announced the end of the partnership saying it will move ahead with HyEnergy alone, and that the project’s feasibility study has been fully funded.
“While Total Eren had a good track record in developing renewables projects, the board’s view was that the objectives of Total Eren for the development of the HyEnergy Project were not fully aligned with the objectives of Province and that Province and Total Eren had not reached agreement with respect to the development of the HyEnergy Project prior to expiry of the term sheet,” Province managing director David Frances said.
TotalEnergies is the largest shareholder in Total Eren, with 30% ownership, but is due to take full control this year.
Total Eren’s 30GW hydrogen pipeline is spread across the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, and it is opening an office in WA.
“Australia is key in Total Eren’s global strategy. The continued growth of our team in Perth is a demonstration of our commitment to advancing our H2 pipeline in Western Australia and our collective global expertise to deliver the lowest cost of energy for the hydrogen future,” Total Eren chief executive David Corchia said.
Australia is seen as a potential world leader in the production of green hydrogen and ammonia, but the capacity of projects under discussion would a massive increase in renewable-energy capacity, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
Total Eren’s investments in Australian renewables currently include Kiamal Solar Farm in Victoria, stage two of which will feature Australia’s first DC-coupled inverters and up to 300 MWh of energy storage capacity.
(A version of this article first appeared in Upstream’s sister publication Hydrogen Insight on 10 March, 2023).
