The first sod has been turned on one of Australia’s largest renewable hydrogen projects, Australian Gas Infrastructure Group‘s (AGIG) Hydrogen Park Murray Valley project.
At the centre of the $65 million Hydrogen Park Murray Valley project is a 10MW LONGi Hydrogen electrolyser that will generate around 500 tonnes of renewable hydrogen and eliminate upwards of 3,000 tonnes of emissions each year.
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The renewable hydrogen from the facility will be blended into the local network at up to 10% by volume to commercial and industrial gas users, and around 40,000 Albury-Wodonga homes and businesses.
Acting AGIG CEO Cathryn McArthur said, “This is a project of significant scale, which brings us one step closer to establishing a renewable gas industry in Australia and responds to the needs of customers for more renewable generation to support Australia’s energy transition.
“AGIG is committed to reducing emissions and we believe that renewable gases can play a critical role through the transition—this will be our third hydrogen project, following the success of our renewable Hydrogen Park facilities in South Australia and in Gladstone.
“We have been encouraged by the interest from community and industry in the Murray Valley project, which includes the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with North-East Water to explore the potential to use recycled water from its wastewater treatment plant as well as supplying it with surplus oxygen from the hydrogen production process.
“Importantly this project is demonstrating the potential for industry to have greater flexibility in how they reduce their emissions, either by using blended gas delivered through the network or by purchasing renewable gas through a certificate scheme.”
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Mars Petcare has become the first business in Australia to take this path to reduce its carbon footprint, securing all Renewable Gas Guarantee of Origin certificates allocated to production at Hydrogen Park Murray Valley for its important food manufacturing business under GreenPower’s Renewable Gas Certification scheme.
Hydrogen Park Murray Valley is financially supported by ARENA, the Victorian Government and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.