Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) will build the world’s largest green hydrogen manufacturing facility in Central Queensland, founder Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest announced.
According to ABC News, the first step in the project will be a $115 million manufacturing facility in Aldoga, west of Gladstone, which is expected to double the world’s green hydrogen production capacity and bring thousands of jobs to Queensland’s energy industry.
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The plant will manufacture green energy infrastructure and equipment such as electrolysers, cabling and wind turbines to create green hydrogen that will be exported across the world.
Forrest said the announcement marked the first stage of a “billion-plus dollar”, six-step operation, describing the proposed facility as a “breakthrough” for Australia’s green energy market that signalled the start of an industrial revolution.
“This is the future,” Forrest said.
“We will not allow the world to keep on cooking—we will not allow our children to inherit a much-less stable environment.
“I’m convinced we have thousands of times more energy available than we’ll ever need.
“The world absolutely can—and, therefore, must—move on from a polluting future.”
Forrest said the facility would double the world’s green hydrogen production capacity, with the first stage expected to produce 2GW of hydrogen electrolysers each year.
Forrest said he had spent the past 15 months travelling to 62 countries across the globe to determine the best location to build the facility.
“Queensland has the beautiful combination of wind and solar and you have a hard-working, educated people [and] a great government steering into a green hydrogen future,” he said.
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The first electrolysers are expected to be produced and ready to be exported by 2023.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the announcement secured Queensland as part of the “green renewably hydrogen energy revolution”.
“Hydrogen is part of Queensland’s future and [this] sets Queensland up to be an energy powerhouse in green renewable energy.”
