HIF Tasmania eFuels Facility (Updated for new South Burnie location)

October 8th, 2025

 HIF Tasmania eFuels Facility

The project proponent is developing a synthetic eFuels production facility capable of producing over 200,000 tonnes of e-methanol per annum, to be located at South Burnie in Tasmania.

Main proponents:

HIF Global

 Main end-use classification: 

Synthetic eFuels (methanol-based) – facility capacity to produce approximately 208,000 tonnes of e-methanol per annum

  Status:

Under development – a Notice of Intent for the project’s South Burnie location was lodged with the Tasmanian Environment Protection Authority in September 2025

 Estimated cost:

US$2 billion investment noted on project website
Other involvement:

 

 Production details:

Planned electrolyser capacity of up to 280 megawatts (MW)

 Location:

Tasmania, Australia

 Announced funding:

 

Project description

Development of the project was announced in July 2022 with HIF Asia Pacific, a wholly owned subsidiary of HIF Global, noting that it had begun the approval process for the development of a large-scale Synthetic eFuels facility. Initial plans were for the facility to be located on a sustainable forestry plantation at Hampshire around 30 kilometres south of Burnie in Tasmania.

In September 2025, after project engineering and design work and site review, it was announced that the project was relocating and that the former Burnie Paper Mill site in South Burnie would provide better opportunities for cost-saving modularisation and port access.

In September 2025, a Notice of Intent for the project at its new planned location at South Burnie was submitted to the Tasmanian Environment Protection Authority. Key project features include:

  • Capacity to produce approximately 208,000 tonnes per annum of e-methanol using renewables-based hydrogen (electrolysis) and biomass for biogenic carbon dioxide extraction.
  • The e-methanol produced would be transported by pipeline to the Port of Burnie for export to international customers.
  • Electrolysis system installed capacity of up to 280 MW.
  • Utilisation of up to 170,000 bone-dry tonnes of biomass feedstock per annum, primarily received in the form of wood chips sustainably sourced from forestry waste/residue.
  • Up to 2.6 terawatt-hour (TWh) per annum of electricity demand, to be sourced entirely from renewable generation (Tasmanian grid) and delivered through upgraded transmission infrastructure provided by TasNetworks (as of September 2025, route options are under discussion with TasNetworks).
  • Water for the Project is proposed to be supplied via a new pipeline from the Round Hill (Burnie) Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), with an estimated 3.4 GL per annum of water required for the process.

In its September 2025 announcement, the project proponent noted that following the formal submittal of a Notice of Intent, a Development Application was to follow in 2026, and that operations could commence as soon as 2030. The project website also notes that pre-FEED was completed in 2025 and that the project includes US$2 billion of investment.

In August 2023, HIF Global announced engaging Technip Energies to assess technology options and initiate plant design for HIF’s Tasmanian eFuels production facility.

In October 2023, HIF Global and petroleum refiner ENEOS announced a co-operation agreement designed to encourage the sale of carbon neutral fuel in Japan. The agreement focuses on the supply of eFuels from HIF’s portfolio of developments in South America, the USA and Australia to ENEOS.

In 2023, this project was one of six applicants shortlisted by ARENA for the Commonwealth Government’s AUD$2 billion Hydrogen Headstart (Round 1) Program (from which two applicants were successful from Round 1).

In March 2024, HIF Global announced an agreement between itself and Japanese companies Idemitsu Kosan and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) that outlines how the companies will explore the potential for supplying carbon dioxide from Japan for use as a feedstock for the e-fuels production process in HIF facilities under development in the USA, Australia and Chile.

 

Reviewed (based on publicly available information): October 2025