Hydrogen Development through Geoscience

September 23rd, 2020

Geoscience Australia has developed the Hydrogen Opportunities Tool in support of Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy.

Geoscience Australia logoAusH2: Supporting Hydrogen Development through Geoscience

Geoscience Australia developed the Hydrogen Opportunities Tool (AusH2) in 2019, in support of Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy. AusH2 aims to attract investment in Australia’s clean hydrogen industry, providing high-quality, free, online geospatial analysis tools and data for mapping and understanding Australia’s hydrogen potential. It provides geospatial information on hydrogen production projects operating and under development around Australia. It also provides access to key national-scale datasets, such as the location of infrastructure (i.e. electricity and transportation routes), and maps of renewable energy resources to help policymakers and potential investors understand the potential for hydrogen production in different parts of Australia.

Interactive interrogation and analysis of the data are available to users with AusH2’s Hydrogen Mapper function. Policymakers and potential investors can examine hydrogen production methods outlined in Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy, which includes hydrogen production by electrolysis using renewable energy sources, and fossil fuel produced hydrogen coupled with CCS. This world-first tool enables users to customise the weightings and settings for different hydrogen production scenarios and produce their own, individualised maps of hydrogen production potential across Australia.

To further support investment in Australia’s clean hydrogen industry, Geoscience Australia is working with Monash University on a hydrogen economic fairways tool that will be added to AusH2. This tool will combine large-scale infrastructure and hydrogen-relevant datasets to conduct geospatial analyses of the economic viability of potential hydrogen operations across Australia. The hydrogen economic fairways tool will be available in early 2021 and aims to support policymaker and investor decisions on the location of new infrastructure and development of hydrogen hubs.

Geoscience Australia’s hydrogen work assists with the planning, investment, and establishment of a clean, innovative, safe, and competitive hydrogen industry in Australia, supporting the National Hydrogen Strategy.

For more information, visit www.ga.gov.au/hydrogen and AusH2.ga.gov.au

 

This Features post was prepared by Geoscience Australia
September 2020