Millions of Australian households will soon be supplied with ”renewable hydrogen” instead of natural gas under a new initiative backed by the government and global wind and solar players Engie and Neoen.
The two renewable energy companies joined the government to help create a pathway to ‘100% transition‘ in the states of Victoria and South Australia. Together, they’ve established the Australian Hydrogen Centre (AHC), where they will begin replacing natural gas with hydrogen into the gas distribution networks of selected towns.
By the end of 2022, the AHC plans to be injecting up to 10% renewable hydrogen into the networks. Henceforth, it will be looking for ways to expand the 10% mix beyond those selected towns, into their broader natural gas infrastructure – such as to major cities like Adelaide and Melbourne. Their ultimate goal is to “develop a pathway to make the transition to 100% hydrogen networks [everywhere].”
The work by Australian Gas Networks at AHC has been funded (A$1.28m or USD$845,000) by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and backed by Engie and Neoen, both significant players in the country’s renewables sector.
The AHC will be located in South Australia. Last year the state announced its intention to become an exporter of green hydrogen to other nations in the Asia-Pacific region. The state said:
Considering South Australia’s enormous wind and solar resources, we have significant natural advantages that can be leveraged to produce, consume and export 100% green hydrogen.
The use of ”blended” hydrogen produced via renewable generation and natural gas is seen as one of the significant potential wins of the energy transition as a way to decarbonize heating. The strategy is a smooth path to an eventual direct replacement of fossil fuel in the existing gas network. Although, at the moment, there are still significant challenges that remain in terms of technology and cost reduction.
In Europe, some companies, including Engie, have pilot projects in the works with mixes of up to 20% hydrogen being used. Even the AHC’s work is building on a test program already underway at the Hydrogen Park South Australia (HyP SA), which will inject a 5% renewable hydrogen blend into a network of pipes serving 710 homes.
