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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-02-21 Daily Xml
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Hydrogen Power Plant

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (14:55): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Mining. Will the government's proposed hydrogen plant produce any carbon pollution? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr PATTERSON: The government's request for proposals shows that hydrocarbon gas could be used to power the generator; however, Labor's pre-election policy made no mention of this, instead promising that the plant will be powered by green hydrogen and that it will produce no carbon pollution.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:56): I understand the reason for that in the RFP was that there is some technology for thermal generation that requires a brief start using fossil fuels before operating entirely on hydrogen. So this is about the technology. We are very keen to make sure that the generation is carbon free.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: But I think, again, the member is misinterpreting the nature of the request for proposal.

Ms Pratt interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It is going to be state owned. I said that earlier in my previous answer.

The SPEAKER: The minister will not respond to interjections.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Hydrocarbons are often used in some green technologies to get things started and then they operate entirely on renewable resources like hydrogen.

Mr Cowdrey interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton! The minister has the call.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: What was that?

Mr Cowdrey interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The exchange will cease. The minister has the call.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I also understand that there are a number of proposals that we are seeking, but what we have attempted to do in our request for proposal is be as broad as possible to allow industry across the world to tender for this project which is gathering a lot of excitement and interest.

The difference between our project and everything else that is occurring in the country is that our project is actually funded. We are actually out to the market. We are putting all the approvals in place. There is financial close here. We are actually out procuring what is going to be the world's largest green hydrogen endeavour. There are other attempts around the world to do this but of course they rely on a form of government incentive or subsidy, and a lot of those projects have not received financial close and were refunded. Ours is funded and being built.

So what we have attempted to do in our request for proposal through our procurement process is be as broad as possible. The reason we were as broad as possible is that we want to see everyone's idea. What we ultimately choose will be a matter for (1) the cabinet, (2) the procurement processes and, of course, the entire process we went through.

The process that we are going through is trying to do what we did with the Hornsdale battery. When we built the world's largest grid-scale battery, we were mocked by Liberals across the country. We were told that this would be nothing more than a tourist attraction like a Big Banana. Here we are again attempting to push the envelope on the technology, to build one of the world's largest electrolysers, to operate a gas-fired turbine that operates on hydrogen, pushing that envelope to try to again push forward the momentum for the transition, and again we are getting this mocking, this disbelief that it could be even possible.

Throughout any transition there are failures and there are successes. I know from when we built the large-scale battery at Hornsdale that most of the questions I was receiving from the then opposition were about its duration—how long will it operate?—insinuating it was worthless, not worth the effort, because it wouldn't get us anywhere. Here we are again getting questions about the hydrogen generator and the electrolyser implying, or trying to imply, that it won't be successful or it's not real.

It is again because members opposite don't believe that there should be a transition. Look at their federal colleagues and look at the way their federal colleagues behave about the transition. There is a problem within the Liberal Party that goes to its core and that is that they do not believe that we should transition away from fossil fuels. They do not believe that we should be investing in public good. They do not believe in public ownership of electricity assets, and that is why they keep on doing this over and over again.

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