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Oil and gas giant BP said Wednesday it had agreed to acquire a 40.5% stake in a massive Australian renewable energy project, which is expected to become one of the biggest producers of green hydrogen globally.
Key details
The British energy firm did not disclose the acquisition cost but said it would become the operator of the 6,500-square-meter Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH) in Pilbara, Western Australia, starting July 1, subject to approvals.
The project is expected to have a combined solar and wind power generation capacity of 26 gigawatts, far exceeding China’s Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Station. According to BP, the wind and solar power generation of AREH is equivalent to more than 90 terawatt-hours per year, which is about one-third of all electricity generated in the country in 2020.
Once reaches its full-scale operation, AREH is forecast to produce 1.6 million tons of green hydrogen or 9 million tons of green ammonia per annum for the domestic market and export to major international users.
Once the project is fully developed, BP expects to be provided a significant net renewable generating capacity as well as material contribution to its goal to achieve a 10% share in core hydrogen markets globally.
The other partner shareholders in the project, which was first proposed in 2014, include InterContinental Energy with its 26.4% stake, CWP Global with a 17.8% holding, and Macquarie Capital and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group with another 15.3% stake.
Crucial quote
“We believe AREH can be a cornerstone project for us in helping our local and global customers and partners in meeting their net-zero and energy commitments," Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, BP’s executive VP of gas and low carbon energy, said in a statement. "It will also serve as a long-term clean energy security contributor in the Asia Pacific, helping countries such as South Korea and Japan to decarbonize.”
Enhancing clean energy generation
The Western Australian government has also announced another project to develop a big battery and renewable energy hub in another town within the territory.
Australian energy firm Sunshot Energy is currently assessing the economic case for establishing a hydrogen electrolyzer in Collie, powered by renewable energy, which could also produce green ammonia and urea for agricultural and industrial uses, according to a government statement.
A funding of $1 million has been approved to kick-start a feasibility study of the Collie Battery and Hydrogen Industrial Hub project.
Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan said it makes sense to make Collie a renewable energy industrial hub as the territory joins the rest of the country in transitioning from the coal industry.
On Monday, the Western Australian government said state-owned coal power stations in the territory will be shut down by 2030. Later this year, Muja C’s Unit 5 will be closed, with the entire plant to be shut by 2029, while the Collie Power Station will exit the market by 2027.
Tangent
In October last year, Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) said it would build a massive plant to manufacture equipment to produce green hydrogen as it transitions from fossil fuels. The construction of the green energy plant, which will be built by its green energy unit Fortescue Future Industries (FFI), started earlier this year, with manufacturing targeted to begin in early 2023.
The six-stage project, which will be called FFI’s Global Green Energy Manufacturing (GEM) center, will be the largest electrolyzer, renewable industry, and equipment manufacturing center in the Australian state of Queensland, FMG said in a statement. It will have an initial capacity to make two gigawatts of electrolyzers a year.
Big number
Forrest has a real-time net worth of $18.1 billion as of June 15, 2022, according to Forbes estimates. |
