The South Australian Government has joined a Green Ammonia Consortium, a global energy consortium formed to boost renewable hydrogen production and exports.
South Australia’s Energy Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan said: “This is a major milestone towards developing a significant, clean and safe hydrogen value chain in South Australia,”
Established as an independent association under Japanese law, the global energy consortium is open for global entities with focus on developing green (renewable) ammonia, which is a chemical compound of nitrogen and renewable hydrogen.
In order to reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels, energy-hungry nations such as Japan and the Republic of Korea are considering using hydrogen as carbon-free fuel for transport, power and heating.
Claimed to be one of the most prospective chemical carriers of hydrogen, green ammonia can be used as fuel for large scale power stations, making it an attractive export opportunity.
More than 60 companies and institutions have been invited to join the consortium, for which Government of South Australia, Austrade and CSIRO have been invited as advisory members.
South Australia Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment David Ridgway said: “The activities of the Consortium will focus on promoting international collaborations between industry, government and academia, the commercialisation of ammonia utilisation technologies and supply chains, research, strategy and policy-making.”
According to estimates by independent Australian federal government agency, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CISRO), the hydrogen export industry will be worth A$1.7bn (£941m) in economic benefits as well as create as many as 2,800 jobs in the country by 2030.
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Pellekaan added: “South Australia has a fundamental competitive advantage in producing renewable hydrogen, arising from our abundance of low cost wind and low cost solar energy which can be harnessed to power electrolysers to make hydrogen from various sources of water.
“South Australia is interested in all forms of hydrogen carrier technologies including liquid hydrogen, liquid organic hydrides, as well as ammonia.”
