THE Tiwi Islands, the traditional lands of the Munupi people, are the proposed site for a new green hydrogen export facility to be run by ASX-listed Global Energy Ventures.
The company plans to develop the facility off the coast of Darwin, with a phased capacity up to 2.8 GW, producing up to 100,000 tonnes per annum of green hydrogen for export into the Asia-Pacific region.
The Tiwi Hydrogen Project will deliver a fully integrated green hydrogen production and export supply chain, commencing with a fleet of GEV’s 430-tonne compressed hydrogen ships.
Selection of the Tiwi Islands location provides a brownfield site that can reduce development time and cost, as well as access to one of the closest Australian ports (owned by AusGroup Limited’s NT Port and Marine) to the future demand markets in the Asia-Pacific region.
The integration of GEV’s compressed hydrogen shipping system enables a phased development and construction timeframe, thereby benefiting from the continued decline of the capital and operating costs for solar generation, electrolysers and shipping.
The Tiwi Hydrogen Project has the support of key stakeholders, including the Tiwi Land Council, the Munupi Landowners, NT Port and Marine and the Northern Territory government.
Development milestones of the Tiwi Hydrogen Project will run in parallel to GEV’s ship engineering and class approval program, with a financial investment decision targeted for 2023 for the initial phase being 0.5 GW, allowing first hydrogen export to commence in 2026, subject to all commercial and regulatory approvals and customer offtake.
GEV’s managing director and CEO, Martin Carolan said, “The strategic rationale for GEV to develop a landmark upstream renewable energy and green hydrogen production project is to demonstrate the simplicity and efficiency of using compression for a pipe-to-pipe green hydrogen supply chain and to provide greater certainty in the commercialisation of our shipping solution.
“This project can transition GEV from a midstream service provider to an innovative hydrogen company.
“Our compressed shipping solution is highly modular and can therefore scale to match the advancement of electrolyser technologies and market demand for pure green hydrogen gas, and deliver a competitive cost of hydrogen as the project scales.
“The support of the Northern Territory government also demonstrates the Territory’s strategy and vision to be a world-scale producer and exporter of renewable hydrogen.”
Northern Territory minister for renewables and energy, Eva Lawler said, “With our world-class solar resources and our proximity to key export markets, the Northern Territory is an ideal place to generate renewable hydrogen to meet the future demand within our region”.
