Western Sydney Green Gas Project
Western Sydney Green Gas Project
The project involves a trial power-to-gas facility to transform (surplus) renewable electrical energy into hydrogen gas for use in blending in a gas network, storage, power generation, and potentially mobility and industrial applications.
| Main proponents:
Jemena |
Main end-use classification:
Hydrogen in gas networks, power, mobility and industrial uses |
Status:
Operating – the project began blending hydrogen into the New South Wales gas network in November 2021 |
Estimated cost:
AUD$15 million |
| Other involvement:
|
Production details:
Up to 88 tonnes of hydrogen per year |
Location:
New South Wales, Australia |
Announced funding:
AUD$7.5 million – Jemena AUD$7.5 million – Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) |
Project description
The purpose of the project is to test and demonstrate power-to-gas technology in the natural gas distribution system and facilitate the development of commercially viable integrated hydrogen energy systems.
Jemena owns and manages significant gas and electricity assets in Australia, including a gas network that supplies 1.4 million customers in New South Wales.
The Project involves the construction and operation of a trial power-to-gas facility to transform (surplus) renewable electrical energy into hydrogen gas which is:
- injected at up to 2 per cent by volume into the Sydney secondary gas distribution network
- supplied to a microturbine and/or fuel cell to generate electricity for export back into the grid, and
- able to supply a hydrogen cylinder refilling station for use in offsite applications of renewable hydrogen (a future project extension opportunity).
The project comprises a power-to-gas & gas-to-power production facility and associated equipment, including:
- a 500kW electrolyser (including final water treatment, electrolyser stack, purification and cooling systems)
- hydrogen buffer store (buried carbon steel pipeline)
- hydrogen gas control panel
- hydrogen gas grid injection panel (to supply to Secondary Mains)
- site control room
- power grid connection, including high voltage transformer.
- Power generation units: hydrogen-fuelled microturbine and fuel cell
A 500kW Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyser, using purchased renewable energy for power, converts mains water and/or Reverse Osmosis (RO) quality recycled water into hydrogen and oxygen, with the latter being vented. The produced hydrogen is injected and blended with natural gas into the existing Jemena natural gas distribution network, at up to 2 per cent by volume via a dedicated injection control panel (which would support management of hydrogen gas pressures, temperatures and flow rates for injection).
The electrolyser, developed by Canadian-based company Hydrogenics (now Cummins-Hydrogenics), has a production capacity of 100Nm3/h or 10kg/h of hydrogen gas.
Maximum annual production could reach 87,600 kilograms (88 tonnes) of hydrogen gas if the facility was operating continuously at full capacity. At this volume the electrolyser would require approximately 3,245 litres of water per day (gross feed); by comparison, on average, each person in Sydney uses around 200 litres of water per day. A total of 5.5GWh of renewable electricity is also required to meet this annual hydrogen production level.
A buried on-site steel pipeline (buffer store) can store up to approximately 160 kilograms of hydrogen to aid in injection management into the gas network and power generation.
The project includes a hydrogen-fuelled generator (microturbine) (supplied from the buffer store). It also features a hydrogen-fuel cell that can operate at approximately twice the efficiency of a microturbine.
The project is located at the Jemena-owned Horsley Park high pressure gas facility in Western Sydney. The Horsley Park complex is connected to two major pipelines which supply natural gas to Sydney and New South Wales – the Central Trunk pipeline and the Eastern Gas pipeline. At the proposed blending concentration, no modifications to the existing pipeline infrastructure is required.
The project began blending of hydrogen into the gas network in November 2021 and is anticipated to operate for around five years.
Stakeholder and community consultation has been ongoing since the project was announced in 2018.
Milestones:
October 2018: ARENA announces funding of AUD$7.5 million for Jemena to build a demonstration scale 500 kW electrolyser at its facility in western Sydney.
August 2020: Development approval received under the Planning System Acceleration Program.
May 2021: Construction completed; commissioning commences.
November 2021: The project begins blending of hydrogen into the New South Wales gas network.
June 2022: Hydrogen has been produced at Western Sydney facility and blended into the Jemena gas network. Several tests have been conducted to test the performance of the facility, and the accuracy has been validated through gas sampling and testing. Testing of the facility is ongoing and still in progress.
August 2024: Another extensive series of hydrogen blending and validation tests have commenced, including ascertaining via sampling the blending consistency of the hydrogen as it is distributed along/within the local gas network.
Reviewed (reviewed by the project proponent): April 2025