Grievance Debate

Hydrogen Sector

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (15:39): I would like to take this opportunity to speak in parliament today about the fantastic federal government announcement last Friday of the Marshall Liberal government's successful $146.5 million Port Bonython hydrogen hub bid. This is a huge win for South Australia that will create thousands of jobs and establish South Australia as a globally significant supplier of clean hydrogen. It really is a great initiative of the former Marshall government.

It is not surprising that this was chosen because South Australia has 69 per cent of Australia's quality wind and solar-generating land. This can generate large amounts of electricity, but of course we have seen the challenges with renewable energy being intermittent. The challenge is to match this generation capacity with the demand and, if that is not there, to look to store it as well. A way to do this is using grid-scale batteries that have been used at the moment. Also, pumped hydro is an option, such as the Snowy 2.0 the federal government is putting huge funding into.

But another way to store this energy is by using that abundant renewable energy created, that renewable electricity, to electrolyse water, which is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, and splitting that out to create hydrogen. There are significant amounts of energy that can be stored in even one kilogram of hydrogen gas. Effectively, we can use this renewable, carbon-free electricity generation provided by solar or wind to create hydrogen, which then becomes effectively a chemical battery like this and is referred to as green hydrogen.

Great opportunities are identified not only here in South Australia by the Marshall government but by so many other countries as well. This successful Port Bonython hydrogen hub bid was a partnership between the Marshall government, experienced global industry leaders and also the Morrison Liberal government. We will unlock upwards of $13 billion worth of investment and, in so doing, create thousands of jobs. I welcome the federal government's endorsement of the Marshall Liberal government's hydrogen plan for Port Bonython. As I said, it will be significant.

Some of the companies that I talked about in terms of being experienced global industry leaders to help in the development of this Port Bonython hydrogen hub bid are those with a domestic focus, significant companies such as Santos, Andrew Forrest's Fortescue Future Industries, Origin Energy and H2U. There are massive opportunities for this renewable energy to be converted to be hydrogen and used for domestic uses.

There are also many other countries looking to decarbonise their economies and use hydrogen as a fuel source. For example, Japan has a small landmass. It does not have the surface area to provide its own significant renewable energy resources and so, by capturing our energy as hydrogen, it can be exported. As I said, Japan is a country that has a highly prospective use, as is Canada. Companies involved from those countries include Chiyoda, AMP Energy, Eneos Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation.

They have all come together to build what is envisaged as a precinct of multiple hydrogen hubs. This will bring significant investment in their own right while also knowing they have the backing in their own country. For example, Japan has an organisation, the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, that is overseeing significant projects there.

The Marshall Liberal government, on top of already providing the $37 million as part of the Port Bonython EOI in May 2021, also provided another $30 million from the Jobs and Economic Growth Fund when this bid was put forward last year in November. This targeted investment by the Marshall Liberal government really helped establish Port Bonython as a domestic and international export hydrogen hub. The Port Bonython hydrogen hub will be a lasting transformational legacy of the former Marshall Liberal government that is going to set up South Australia to become a global renewable energy powerhouse.