Australia’s Woodside Petroleum has partnered with Japanese companies IHI Corporation and Marubeni to explore exporting green hydrogen from the Australian state of Tasmania.
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Woodside revealed Thursday it had signed a heads of agreement with IHI and Marubeni to investigate the production and export of green ammonia produced from renewable hydro power in Australia’s southernmost state.
The study will initially focus on increasing the understanding of Japanese and Asian ammonia markets, with Woodside noting technical and commercial evaluations were already underway.
They will explore producing the green ammonia from a small-scale hydrogen electrolysis plant, with Woodside already involved in the proposed H2TAS project in Tasmania’s Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone, near Launceston.
H2TAS will initially be a 10-megawatt pilot project, producing 4.5 tonnes of green hydrogen per day, however Woodside noted Thursday the capacity of the proposed plant could eventually be scaled up to as much as 250MW.
Woodside was set to make a final investment decision on the pilot H2TAS project this year, ahead of first production in 2023. However, it is currently reviewing the concept and schedule of the project after it missed out on the recent round of funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.