Coleman to chair hydrogen company

Perth company Infinite Blue Energy has achieved a recruiting coup, signing up former Woodside Petroleum chief executive Peter Coleman as its chairman.

Infinite Blue is an aspiring hydrogen producer, focusing initially on its Arrowsmith plant in the Perth Basin.

Chief executive and co-founder Stephen Gauld said the appointment underlined the significant opportunity available to IBE to produce green hydrogen for domestic and export markets.

“Mr Coleman is a respected leader in the energy sector who understands the challenges facing, and the opportunities available to the industry in being at the forefront of global decarbonisation,” Mr Gauld said.

Mr Coleman has spent several years advocating the benefits of hydrogen as a means of reducing carbon emissions.

“Hydrogen produced from renewable sources, in particular, has enormous potential to decarbonise economies in the future as investment levels increase, climate policies strengthen, and costs of production decrease,” he said.

“Hydrogen is a transport fuel of the future and can be used to decarbonise long haulage transport and remote operations and to reduce emissions in heavy industry and infrastructure.”

Mr Coleman will join Infinite Blue’s board as non-executive chairman effective 30th August 2021.

It will be his second board role since leaving Woodside in June.

He joined the board of global oil and gas services company Sclumberger in July.

Infinite Blue’s Arrowsmith plant will produce 265 tonnes per day of green hydrogen for domestic and export markets.

The plant will be powered using renewable energy from solar (65MW) and wind (90MW), hence the term ‘green’ hydrogen.

The company recently appointed Aberdeen-based energy consultancy Xodus Group to carry out initial phase one work.

The project has an estimated cost of $300 million.

The company said it will be the flagship in a portfolio of renewable hydrogen projects it aims to develop in Australia and internationally.