Pilbara Hub

Overview

The Pilbara region is located in the north of Western Australia and is one of the largest regions in the State. The economy of the Pilbara region is dominated by mining (especially iron ore) and energy (especially natural gas), which contribute significantly to Australia’s economy.

Major settlements of the region are Port Headland, Karratha, and Newman, with key port facilities at Port Hedland, Dampier, and Port Walcott.

The Pilbara region has access to abundant renewable resources, and with its existing industrial infrastructure, is considered a location highly capable of supporting large-scale hydrogen production for use in regional applications and export.

Funding

The Australian Government, through its Regional Hydrogen Hubs Program – Hubs Implementation funding stream, has awarded up to AUD$70 million to the Western Australian Government’s Pilbara Hydrogen Hub initiative. The Western Australian Government has allocated AUD$70 million towards its Pilbara Hydrogen Hub initiative.

In February 2024, in a joint release, the Australian and West Australian Governments announced the finalisation of the (combined) AUD$140 million agreement to support the building of a hydrogen hub in the Pilbara.

Funding will focus on the provision of common-user infrastructure, skills development and future expansion works required to grow hydrogen opportunities in the Pilbara region. The Pilbara Hydrogen Hub initiative comprises, amongst other things, a hydrogen pipeline system with a transfer capacity equivalent to 2–5 GW of renewable energy, the facilitation of a Clean Energy Training and Research Institute (to provide vocational and university-level training), and the upgrade of key infrastructure at Lumsden Point (Port Hedland).

In June 2024, the Western Australian Government announced a call for applications to design the Clean Energy Training and Research Institute. In August 2024, the Western Australian Government announced that construction has begun on key Pilbara Hydrogen Hub road upgrades at Port Hedland.

The hub is anticipated to become operational around mid-2028. A planned pipeline could enable hydrogen production of around 492,000 tonnes per annum.

As regards hydrogen-hubs eligible programs, in the October 2022 2022-23 federal budget, the Australian Government included AUD$565 million to invest in enabling infrastructure in the Pilbara region of Western Australia to support emerging green industries and technologies.

Projects

The Pilbara region is host to several projects listed in HyResource targeting domestic and export uses.

 

Updated: August 2024