Hub concerns increase
A STATE minister has called on the federal government to make sure North Queensland’s emerging hydrogen centres are not being overlooked as locations for future hydrogen projects.
On Monday, federal Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor announced an additional $150m for a further two locations under the Clean Hydrogen Industrial Hubs program.
He said the program would enable the rollout of hydrogen hubs across seven priority regional sites, before naming Gladstone as Queensland’s prospective location.
The Queensland government’s Minister for Energy Mick de Brenni was concerned by the decision not to mention Queensland’s other emerging hydrogen centres, including Townsville and Mackay.
He wrote to Mr Taylor noting a “concerning pattern” appearing to emerge where NQ renewables and hydrogen projects were being excluded from federal government funding.
“I am concerned because of the signal this may send to investors about the Australian government’s posture towards projects in Northern Australia, and in this case particularly, Townsville,” Mr de Brenni said.
In the guidelines for the Hub Development and Design Grants, the federal government considered the seven locations to be “priority prospective hub locations, based on interest of industry and the location’s existing capability, infrastructure and resources”, before adding that applications weren’t restricted to these locations.
Mr Taylor said there were active industry players in Townsville looking to build up hydrogen capabilities.
“Developing a clean hydrogen industry in Australia could create around 8000 new jobs, many in regional areas, and generate over $11bn a year in GDP by 2050,” Mr Taylor said.
“The Clean Hydrogen Industrial Hubs program is open to any location in Australia, so we encourage groups across Australia to show the merits of their hub and apply, including those in Townsville.”
Federal Herbert MP Phillip Thompson said work was progressing well on Townsville’s bid to become a major hydrogen producer, with the region well placed to take advantage of the funding.
He met with representatives from Ark Energy, Copperstring 2.0 and Townsville Enterprise on Thursday morning to discuss hydrogen production opportunities.
“We are putting together a strong consortium with good governance to be able to enhance our ability to be a leader in hydrogen production, and will meet with key players tomorrow,” Mr Thompson said.
“Even still, applications for hydrogen hub grants don’t actually have to be from the nominated locations, so we’re not taking our foot off the pedal.”