The West Australian government wants to lure makers of electrolysers – essential equipment for producing green hydrogen – so the state offers more than sun, wind and land to proposed multi-billon dollar projects to produce the clean fuel.
Hydrogen Industry Minister Alannah MacTiernan said the government would help electrolyser manufacturers pay for studies into setting up a highly automated so-called gigafactory in WA.
WA Hydrogen Minister Alannah MacTiernan.Credit:Peter de Kruijff
Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue announced in October 2021 it would build Australia’s first electrolyser factory in Gladstone, bypassing the miner’s home state as a site to make the equipment that consumes renewable electricity and water to produce green hydrogen.
Forrest was reported as saying land availability in WA was the problem that caused the $114 million first stage to be built in Queensland.
“That was his comment,” MacTiernan said.
“He’d chosen to go around, do his negotiations in a particular way that made it a little bit challenging to know what was wanted.”
MacTiernan, who attended the world hydrogen summit in Rotterdam in early May, said already strong European interest in hydrogen “has just gone off the chart” since the invasion of Ukraine raised concerns about relying on Russian gas.
She said there was a strong preference at the summit for green hydrogen and not blue hydrogen made from gas.
“We’re not in any way opposing blue hydrogen, but it’s not going to ultimately be the thing that deals with our climate imperatives,” MacTiernan said of the WA government’s stance.
