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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-06-06 Daily Xml
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Renewable Energy Projects

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (15:15): I rise today to talk about jobs in regional South Australia and especially the potential to grow a significant number of jobs from a new and emerging industry. Last year, the then state government delivered the Hydrogen Roadmap for South Australia. A lot of work had gone into the Hydrogen Roadmap, and since then a number of tangible commitments have been made to particular projects in regional South Australia.

When talking about hydrogen it is probably worthwhile reflecting on the front page of TheAdvertiser today, where there is yet another story about price volatility and high prices when it comes to fuel—diesel, petrol or aviation fuel. I know that out in country South Australia a lot of communities do not get the benefit from price cycles, and they do not get the benefit from real competition, so as a result we are often facing high diesel prices and high petrol prices. That has a real impact on businesses and on families and households.

One of the other, related, elements when it comes to fuel prices is another concern that is raised on a periodic basis, and that is fuel reserves here in Australia. We have 16 days of diesel in reserve, we have 21 days of petrol in reserve and we have 19 days of aviation fuel in reserve. That does not count what is in transit to Australia aboard ships, and the usual method of determining the reserves internationally does not take that into account.

So we are susceptible as a country to some real risks when it comes to the importation of petroleum products. Fortunately, though, as a country we do have massive resources, and that was part of the basis for the Hydrogen Roadmap being delivered here in South Australia. With hydrogen, you have the potential to do a whole range of things. It has industrial applications, it has thermal power station applications and it has fuel cell applications, both for mobile fuel cells and stationary fuel cells. So there are a lot of opportunities available to us as a state if we continue to pursue the Hydrogen Roadmap for South Australia.

The previous government had a 750-megawatt storage target as part of its 75 per cent renewables by 2025. Some on the other side are disparaging of that, but it is definitely the direction that we should be pursuing. While in government, we made a tangible commitment to Neoen, the big French company that is now in this state. It was to develop the world's largest wind and solar complex with battery with a hydrogen electrolyser, the electrolyser being a 50-megawatt plant. That will be, given its size, a world first.

As part of that potentially $600 million project, to be located near Crystal Brook, we provided $1 million to assist with a feasibility study in addition to a $4 million grant and a $20 million loan from the Renewable Technology Fund. We also provided assistance for a smaller $117 million project in Port Lincoln, in the member for Flinders' electorate. There were some constraints in Port Lincoln in developing a serious, hydrogen-based industry, not the least of which is the grid.

There are only two renewable projects on the whole of Eyre Peninsula—that is, two significant utility-size projects in the form of a wind farm at Cathedral Rocks and one at Mount Millar. However, there are massive opportunities in other parts of the state. One of the targets in the Hydrogen Roadmap was to generate 4,200 jobs over a period, and a lot of those jobs would have been in regional South Australia. I would call on the Minister for Energy and Mining to commit to the work that has already been done on the Hydrogen Roadmap and to demonstrate, in the way the previous government did, a tangible commitment to going in that particular direction.

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