South Australian Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis has told parliament the government will dissolve the Office of Hydrogen Power South Australia, a standalone body created to build a hydrogen power station and electrolyser near Whyalla.
With the $600 million Whyalla hydrogen project was mothballed after the Whyalla steelworks were forced into administration by the state government, Minister Tom Koutsantonis said the office would “cease to function” and that its responsibilities would be transferred to the Department for Energy and Mining.
Related article: Steelworks administration fuels doubt over Whyalla hydrogen
Office of Hydrogen Power SA CEO Sam Crafter has been appointed to the new role of state lead, Whyalla Steelworks Industrial Transformation, within the Department for Energy and Mining.
Koutsantonis said the government still intended to pursue a hydrogen production facility, despite the Opposition saying the plan had failed.
“Ultimately, one day you will need to have a hydrogen facility to decarbonise steel,” Koutsantonis said.
“That’ll depend entirely on who purchases the steelworks, what their time frames are for investment in direct iron reduction and electric arc furnace.”
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Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia told ABC News, “Today’s scrapping of the Office of Hydrogen Power and the Office of Northern Water Delivery confirms what is a complete failure of the government’s much hyped state prosperity plan and the breaking of a key election,” he said.
“The two major projects of the plan now, quite frankly, lie in tatters. There’s been an eye-watering amount of money, taxpayer dollars, wasted on this hydrogen hoax and also mismanagement of the Northern Water Project. This is now raising serious concerns.”
