Mapping Australia’s Hydrogen Future – release of the Hydrogen Economic Fairways Tool

On March 24 2021, Geoscience Australia, in collaboration with Monash University, released an open-source economic model that maps the economic viability of hydrogen operations across Australia – the Hydrogen Economic Fairways Tool (HEFT).

HEFT is designed to support implementation of the National Hydrogen Strategy. It will benefit policymakers and investors, supporting decision making on the location of new infrastructure and the development of hydrogen hubs in Australia. The tool has the ability to conduct detailed geospatial-financial analyses of future large scale hydrogen projects and assesses the quality of energy resources (such as wind, solar PV, concentrated solar power, hybrid wind and solar, and fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage) required to produce clean hydrogen. It also includes the associated rail and road transportation infrastructures, pipelines to export ports, and ready access to water in the analysis.

Preliminary results from HEFT show that economically viable regions for hydrogen production are located across Australia, with high potential regions found in all Australian States and Territories. The sample output below from HEFT shows the favourable locations (in red) of potential hydrogen hubs in 2030 with a targeted hydrogen market price of $4.5/kg (including delivery costs) by wind energy.

Economically favourable locations (in red) with hydrogen produced by wind (with a targeted market price of $4.5/kg and $570/kW of PEM CAPEX).

The multi-faceted and interactive nature of HEFT allows users to explore economic relationships within the hydrogen supply chain and to determine the key variables that will drive the cost of clean hydrogen production in Australia.

Geoscience Australia and Monash University are working to deliver the second iteration of HEFT later this year, through the Federal Government’s Exploring for the Future Program. This iteration will add hydropower, pumped hydro, and hybrid wind and hydro as energy inputs for renewable hydrogen production as well as underground storage options, such as salt and depleted gas reservoirs, for large-scale hydrogen storage.

How can I access HEFT?
HEFT can be accessed via Geoscience Australia’s hydrogen data portal AusH2.ga.gov.au. Through this portal you can not only map economic assessments of potential hydrogen operations in Australia, but can access over 7,000 geospatial datasets (including Geoscience Australia’s newly released renewable energy capacity factor maps).

The release of HEFT was supported by an online seminar presented by Laura Easton and Andrew Feitz from Geoscience Australia’s Low Carbon Geoscience and Advice Section. The seminar presented HEFT’s capabilities, its potential to attract worldwide investment into Australia’s hydrogen industry, and showcased Geoscience Australia’s future hydrogen projects. A recording of this seminar is available on Geoscience Australia’s YouTube channel via the following link:

Watch it here: Mapping Australia’s Hydrogen Future, March 24th 2021

As always, Geoscience Australia welcomes feedback on HEFT and AusH2 and we encourage you to contact Client Services (ClientServices@ga.gov.au) with your thoughts and questions at any time.