A mammoth green energy venture in the east Kimberley could generate $3.8 billion for the state and create more than 2,000 jobs over its lifetime.
A mammoth green energy venture in the east Kimberley could generate $3.8 billion for the state and create more than 2,000 jobs over its lifetime.
The East Kimberley Clean Energy Project is moving toward a final investment decision in 2026 and would see a 2,000-hectare solar farm built to supplement energy from an existing hydrogen power plant.
That power would produce 50,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year, which would be converted into 250,000 tonnes of ammonia for export and use in the Ord Valley.
The project’s backers – impact investor Pollination, Kimberley Land Council, MG Corporation, and Balanggarra Ventures – are midway through a feasibility study to determine the project’s viability.
Among early data to come out of that study are findings the project would generate about $3.8 billion in value for the state and pump $743 million into the Kimberley economy.
About 1,640 jobs would be required to build the solar farm, hydrogen and ammonia plants, and connective pipes between Lake Argyle, Kununurra, and Wyndham.
Once operational, some 425 ongoing jobs would be required to run those plants and the lake’s existing hydropower plant which Rio Tinto no longer needs for its closed diamond mine.
Speaking at last week’s Developing Northern Australia conference in Karratha, Pollination managing director Rob Grant said the Traditional Owner partnership had derisked the project for investors
“The partnership model doesn't necessarily guarantee the success of the project… but certainly the project can’t be successful without the model,” he said.
“A lot of the design features and all the things that are important to Traditional Owners are embedded.
“There isn't the prospect of a long, drawn-out negotiation on Indigenous land use agreements, which is our history with resources and energy projects elsewhere in the country.”
The project in March this year gained $1.67 million from the federal government’s Australian Renewable Energy Agency to progress studies.
Mr Grant said the venture had sought more funding from ARENA to font the next stage of planning.
The full project is expected to cost $3.5 billion, with the next stage of planning tipped to cost about $50 million.
“If we are successful and if we stand this thing up, we will not have done much more than caught up with the rest of the world in terms of the agreement making and First Nations ownership of large infrastructure and energy and resources projects,” Mr Grant said.
“We are not going to get to that target of delivering those projects to meet our Paris agreements unless we change the model under which they are originated and developed.”
The East Kimberley project is among a host of Indigenous-backed renewable projects progressing across WA,
Others include the advanced Yindjibarndi Energy project, which Rio Tinto has flagged potential interest it, and a small-scale energy project from Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation which has also attracted Rio Tinto.
Theia Energy has recently held meetings with the Karajarri people between Broome and Port Hedland for its proposed Gingerah Energy Project and Pilbara Solar is progressing a small solar farm near Port Hedland.
On the south coast, the potential world-leading Western Green Energy Hub has investment from the Mirning people and was this week further backed by a Korean utility company.
And the Tjiwarl people have several active and in the works projects with Zenith Energy in the Goldfields region listed on the First Nations Clean Energy Network.
