Hydrogen Power Plant

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (15:14): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Mining. What work have BOC Linde, Epic Energy and ATCO Australia undertaken on the government's flagship hydrogen power plant, and how much have they been paid to date?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (15:14): Epic Energy obviously have been looking at a lot of work around the lateral and increasing capacity around the lateral that goes to Whyalla. That work will need to be accelerated now. We are very keen to see more gas supply to Whyalla. The first question is: why? Why would you need more gas in Whyalla? The current supplies to Whyalla are insufficient to operate a direct iron reduction facility for over a million—

Mr Teague: Answer the question.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I am answering the question. If you listen quietly and not panic—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Heysen! The deputy leader will come to order or will leave the chamber. It's your final warning. Stop interrupting the minister.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: As I said earlier, when the deputy leader was musing why he is not a KC yet, Epic Energy are doing work on whether or not the lateral can be expanded to increase compression. That is the work we have asked them to undertake for us. They have been looking at that. That work now needs to be accelerated. The reason it needs to be accelerated is for direct iron reduction facilities in Whyalla. When we are trying to market the steelworks, we want to make sure that any prospective buyer knows that coking coal is going the way of the dodo. It is going out of fashion fast.

In fact, even conservatives in New South Wales accept that BlueScope is undertaking its last realign of their blast furnace, because they will be moving to electric arc furnace and direct iron reduction, which will require natural gas and/or hydrogen. In fact, a number of companies have looked at how to get more gas to Whyalla. The work that Epic Energy and the Office of Hydrogen Power SA have been undertaking is about making sure we can get more gas production, more gas availability to Whyalla—that is point 1.

What has ATCO been doing? ATCO obviously were involved in the consortium as part of the generator. They were part of the consortium that operated the generator as part of the Hydrogen Jobs Plan. That now has been deferred, and the work that has been undertaken we will recoup through the sale of our generators. The thing about our generators is our generators are already in the queue. They have value—a good value. They will be under warranty and arriving in this state by the end of the year. That means we have a capacity to get that generation into the National Electricity Market very quickly.

As for the other parts of the question, we will have a holistic answer for the member at the budget, as we always do. But the most important thing about the work that Epic Energy have been doing with ATCO is giving us the expertise that we need and the engineering that we need to understand exactly the hydrogen life cycle when it comes to energy generation. It is exceptional work. It is work that will not be lost. It is work that we can continue to use going forward, and it will add value to the sale of the steelworks when it comes out of administration.