Gippsland Hub

Overview

The Gippsland region of Victoria covers the south-eastern part of Victoria and includes considerable mining, energy, and agricultural activities and is within the Gippsland renewable energy zone.

Energy production activities include offshore Bass Strait hydrocarbons production and transportation to shore and (coal) mining and associated power generation activities in the Latrobe Valley area of the region.

The availability of very large coal resources in the Latrobe Valley, together with prospective options for carbon dioxide storage in depleted reservoirs in the Bass Strait, has led a consortium of Japanese companies to study opportunities for a commercial-scale clean liquefied hydrogen supply chain from Victoria to Japan (utilising fossil fuel conversion with carbon capture and storage technologies).

Infrastructure developed for such an enterprise could potentially support development of other hydrogen projects in region.  Gippsland is in close proximity to Port of Hastings, a deep-water port.

The Australian Government has declared a 15,000 square kilometre area of the Bass Strait of Gippsland as Australia’s first offshore wind zone, supporting offshore wind development in the region and potentially offering co-benefits to renewable hydrogen sector development.

The proposed Marinus Link, a 1,500 MW electricity and telecommunications interconnector between Victoria and Tasmania, offers opportunities to strengthen the region’s renewable energy resources (facilitating renewable hydrogen production opportunities).

Funding

The Australian and Victorian Governments each provided AUD$50 million in funding contributions in support of the construction phase of the (now completed) Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain – Pilot Project.

Japan Suiso Energy (JSE) has chosen to allocate the Japanese Government’s Green Innovation Fund grant of ¥220 billion Japanese Yen (approximately AU$2.35 billion) to the commercial demonstration phase of the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain Project. This injection of capital would enable it to design and build commercial scale facilities to liquefy and ship the hydrogen from the Port of Hastings to the Port of Kawasaki in Japan.

Projects

The Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain Project is the main project in this area.

 

August 2023