Mining magnate steps on the gas to drive green hydrogen push for clean future
ONE of Australia’s wealthiest people, Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, turns up at his green energy headquarters with broken ribs suffered while mountain biking the day before.
The mining magnate, whose fortune was founded on taking on and beating giant resources firms at seemingly impossible odds, is betting billions on his next quest – green hydrogen – and won’t let anything hold him back.
On a sunny Monday morning at Fortescue Future Industries’ base near Perth airport, Dr Forrest declares that explaining the worldchanging potential of green hydrogen is more important than acceding to wife Nicola’s request to get his ribs seen to at a hospital.
Occasionally grimacing in pain, he proclaims his message that a green hydrogenfuelled future is “the reality and truth of employment”.
“Politicians call it jobs, jobs, jobs,” Dr Forrest said.
“What Australians want to know is that they’ve got solid, interesting careers in front of them; that they’re going to be able to send their own kids to school, pay off their own mort mortgages and d have an interesting life.
“Well, if you start hearing that and that is reality – and your political leader’s telling you something else – you’re going to vote with your feet, you’re gonna vote for someone else who’s going to tell you the truth,” he said.
“So we’re going straight to the people to say: ‘Hey, this is not about losing jobs. There are multiple jobs … to what you’ve seen in the coal sector, the fossil fuel sector’.
“These jobs are rising in number and quality – and in interesting careers. Whereas you know where yours are going, yours are in decline.
“You just don’t know when it’s going to end, but you know for sure it will end. Whereas, this you know will go on forever,” he said.
“Our message is to get straight through to the troops on the ground, straight through to the mums and dads on Struggle St to say: ‘This is the truth. Renewable energy is such a wonderful future for you, your kids, everybody – and it’s going to continue to grow for good’.”
Dr Forrest is matching his rhetoric by deploying the considerable financial re
sources of the mining firm he founded, Fortescue
Metals Group, along with the influence this generates.
His substantial ambition is already delivering results. On March 20 FFI took over an empty 50,000sq m warehouse near Perth Airport.
By June, 160 people were working on green hydrogenpowered mining equipment, locomotives and marine projects.
a Renewable energy is such wonderful future for you, your kids, everybody. Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest
Within 130 days they developed a hydrogen-powered mine truck – a gigantic machine with a 240-tonne payload. A two megawatt diesel engine has been removed and replaced by a hydrogen fuel cell with a battery hybrid power unit.
Dr Forrest and his FFI team demonstrate the truck by contrasting it with a diesel-powered model first.
“See the diesel fumes spewing out of it,” he said as he gestured towards the machine, its engine almost drowning him out. Then the hydrogenfuelled truck starts a lap of the warehouse yard, powered by a 180kw fuel cell system with a 300kw/hr battery. It’s almost silent apart from whirring fans that sound like a giant outdoor airconditioning unit. “Here is the sound of the future. No sound, no sound at all. That’s the green world I want to take you to,” Dr Forrest said. “Imagine when everything that moves makes no sound and no smell at all. There’s no pollution from anything that moves and you’ve got all the power you could ever want as a planet.”
Climbing aboard the truck via a ladder at its front, the exhaust water sprays over me – like the droplets from a misting fan. Riding in the passenger seat, the vehicle murmurs forward; this prototype is limited to 15km/h for safe operation at the Hazelmere test facility.
By late next year, Dr Forrest wants to have tested the hydrogen fuel cell truck and a battery electric truck uck – driven by units with power er equivalent to the two megawatt egawatt diesel engines that usually sually run the vehicles – at mine sites.
Prototypes of a giant mining drill, excavator r and locomotive that have ave been developed by y FFI would also be tested ted at mines. A ship enngine prototype is being developed as well.
On October 5 Fortescue announced a target of cutting emissions intensity levels from shipping the company’s ores by 50 per cent by 2030.
This will involve accelerating plans to convert ships, including the company’s fleet of ore carriers, so they are fuelled by green ammonia – which will be the standard for new vessel construction.
By mid-september, the diesel locomotive taken from the West Australian bush in March had been transformed to be 58 per cent powered by ammonia, a readily transportable by-product of hydrogen.
The remainder of the
train’s fuel is diesel, but FFI engineers are confident of transforming it to full ammonia power.
“Remember, it took 100 years to turn what was a dirty old steam engine using carbon fuel, timber and then coal, then it got really fancy and used diesel,” Dr Forrest said.
“Now it’s using hydrogen in the form of ammonia to 58 per cent. It’s unbelievable that happened so fast; less than a year.”