City well placed to become gas hotspot, says expert Hydrogen hub hope
A LEADING expert in the emerging hydrogen industry says Townsville has the potential to become a hotspot for the industry in the future.
Gladstone has been touted as the first place in Queensland for the potential energy boom but Australian National University Energy Change Institute director Professor Ken Baldwin says Townsville is just as well placed.
“If there’s no special reason why Gladstone has any hydrogen advantage other than all the infrastructure, why couldn’t it be done elsewhere like Townsville?” he said.
Prof Baldwin spoke about the potential for the industry after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk flagged Townsville as the next key Queensland centre for hydrogen.
While in the city for parliament last week Ms Palaszczuk said Townsville had the “biggest opportunity” in Queensland to join Gladstone as a hydrogen producer.
“The world is moving towards hydrogen, and there are two key centres that they’re talking about as being potential for export hubs,” she said.
“The first is Gladstone, but I honestly believe that the biggest opportunity for the second one is Townsville.”
Countries like South Korea and Japan are looking at hydrogen as a clean alternative source of energy.
Hydrogen can be produced by running electricity through water at renewable energy farms which are in abundance around Townsville.
The only problem is the cost of exporting it because to liquefy hydrogen the temperature must be -252.87C.
“There’s a lot of really good renewable energy prospects near Townsville,” Prof Baldwin said. “There’s the Kidston mine, the Kennedy solar and wind project, there’s a whole range of them up there and they could potentially all produce hydrogen.
“That could potentially be transported out of Townsville, probably what would happen would be you would simply divert the electricity to Townsville, make the hydrogen there and put it in a shipping terminal.”
Prof Baldwin said hydrogen could be exported today but the research being done was about reducing the price.
Townsville Enterprise chief executive officer Patricia O’callaghan welcomed the potential. “Hydrogen could be one of the next big Australian growth industries, with significant research and development under way and substantial government support,” she said.
“However, we acknowledge that it’s early days and there is still much more work to be done to realise its full potential.”
Ms O’callaghan said Townsville Enterprise welcomed the opportunity to meet State Development Minister Cameron Dick last week to discuss the potential of this emerging industry, among other key priorities for the region.