Desert Bloom Hydrogen (Archived)

January 31st, 2024

Desert Bloom Hydrogen

The proponent is developing a large-scale renewables-based hydrogen project in the Northern Territory employing technology that captures water from the atmosphere in arid conditions.

Main proponents:

Axcentium Pty Ltd trading as Aqua Aerem

 Main end-use classification:

Export potential, domestic use

 Status:

Under development

 Estimated cost:

US$10.75 billion at full scale
Other involvement:

 

 Production details:

Targeting 20,000 tonnes per annum first phase, 410,000 tonnes per annum at full scale

 Location:

Northern Territory, Australia

 Announced funding:

 

Project description:

At full scale, the project is a 10 Gigawatt (GW) modular large-scale, stand-alone, off-grid system that would produce approximately 410,000 tonnes of hydrogen per annum, using renewable energy and its own source of atmospheric water.

The project would be developed in stages with the first stage targeted to produce 20,000 tonnes of hydrogen per annum.

Over the life of the project, it is anticipated that nearly 600,000,000 tonnes of carbon offsets would be produced.

The project would employ innovative techniques to generate renewable hydrogen without requiring access to a ground-based water source or the electricity grid, through an integrated water maker that extracts water from the atmosphere and its own electricity supply.

The project consists of a series of modular (and portable) 2MW Hydrogen Production Units (HPUs), with each HPU comprising:

  • a photovoltaic (PV) solar system.
  • a concentrated parabolic trough (CPT) solar thermal heater.
  • a water producing unit (WPU); and
  • an electrolyser.

At full scale, the project could comprise 4,000 HPUs at a total capital cost in excess of US$10 billion.

Each HPU would comprise all the components required to generate water, heat, electricity and hydrogen. Each HPU is a discrete unit that can operate independently of the other HPUs. The HPUs can be co-located or can be located separately.

The modular nature of the HPUs offers operational flexibility and individual HPUs can have their scale increased if there are efficiencies in doing so.

The project is being designed to provide feedstock to produce renewables-based aviation fuels, ammonia and urea for domestic and export markets.

Commercial negotiations are underway to finalise offtake arrangements following execution of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Territory Generation (the Northern Territory owned electricity corporation). A Joint Development Agreement has been entered into with Osaka Gas.

Major Project Status was granted by the Northern Territory Government in December 2021.

The project proponent has advised that a financial commitment for the overall development, construction and operation of Stage 1 of the project has been secured – subject to successful completion of technical and commercial milestones and a positive Final Investment Decision.

Further detailed information on the project and the water-from-air technology can be found at the Aqua Aerem Desert Bloom Hydrogen Project and related webpages.

There has been little/no publicly available information on the progress of the Desert Bloom Hydrogen Project in the Northern Territory for a considerable period of time. In the absence of any additional project information, the project is transferred from the Active listing to the Archived listing.  Should the project progress in same or mutated form, it can be transferred to the Active list.

 

Reviewed: January 2024