The Port of Newcastle Hydrogen Hub Feasibility Study

Summary

Need

If deemed feasible and eventually deployed, the hydrogen hub aims to progress the commercialisation of renewable hydrogen and renewable ammonia for the domestic market and, as the opportunity emerges, to realise the export opportunities for these and other green products produced out of the Port of Newcastle.

Action

Having already completed a pre-feasibility study, this project will support the feasibility analysis of the hydrogen hub concept, including concept design, costings and testing of offtake pathways for both an initial ~40 MW electrolyser deployment and scale up to a ~1 GW+ facility.

The project will be undertaken in two stages:

• Stage 1 is primarily a desktop feasibility investigation for both the 40 MW deployment and scale up to 1 GW+. If this high-level investigation provides sufficient evidence of feasibility, the project will continue to the next stage.
• Stage 2 will involve detailed investigations and costs with a focus on determining whether to proceed to Front-end Engineering Design (FEED).

The project will result in a publicly available report that includes the background, study method and findings of the feasibility study.

Outcome

The primary outcome of the project will be determining whether it is feasible to proceed to FEED and to help develop the vision for the hydrogen industry in the Hunter Valley. More broadly, the project will also:

• improve understanding of the key technical, commercial, and regulatory risks of large-scale electrolyser technologies to inform future deployment activities
• improve understanding of the opportunities to reduce the cost of renewable energy across the hydrogen supply chain
• increase knowledge, skills, and expertise in Australia’s renewable hydrogen industry for export scale hydrogen projects, including the use of ammonia as a vector for the transport of hydrogen.