Woodside floats $1bn-plus Perth hydrogen plan

Woodside Petroleum hopes to build a $1 billion-plus hydrogen plant near Rockingham, with construction targeted to start in 2024.

The project will be the first export scale hydrogen development in Western Australia firmly committed by a business which can self-fund the project. 

Woodside operates the Pluto and North West Shelf Venture LNG operations in the Pilbara, and is expected to soon announce a decision on a $16 billion project to pipe gas from the  Scarborough field to a new processing train at Pluto.

The company’s hydrogen development will be called H2Perth, and will be on a 130 hectare site spanning industrial land in Rockingham and Kwinana.

It will be built in phases, starting with 300 tonnes per day of hydrogen capacity and potentially scaling to be 1,500tpd for export as ammonia and liquid hydrogen.

Woodside said there would be an electrolyser capacity of 250 megawatts, potentially scaling to 3 gigawatts.

Those electrolysers could be used to soak up extra power supply when the network has excess production, helping stabilise the grid.

Kwinana was chosen because it is a key node in the state’s main power network.

Part of the production will be through steam methane reforming of gas, with abatements.

Woodside’s final investment decision will be made in 2024, pending regulatory approvals and commercial viability.

Chief executive Meg O'Neill said it would be a landmark project.

“Woodside has a proud track record as an Australian oil and gas producer and our LNG exports will continue helping Asia to reliably meet its energy needs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come,” Ms O'Neill said.

“Now, we intend to use our skills and financial strength to add new energy products and lower-carbon technologies and services to our portfolio, which can be scaled to meet customer demand.

“The land being leased from the state government in the Kwinana and Rockingham areas is ideally located close to existing gas, power, water and port infrastructure, as well as a skilled local residential workforce.

“These advantages will make a huge difference to cost of supply and schedule and help H2Perth deliver competitively priced hydrogen to customers.

“Building in this location is not just about hydrogen. 

“H2Perth will also facilitate substantial growth of renewables in Western Australia by providing to the grid a flexible and stabilising load that benefits uptake of intermittent renewable electricity by households and local industry.”

Premier Mark McGowan said H2Perth was an example of the renewable energy projects the government wanted to bring to Western Australia.

"Woodside will fully fund the construction and operation of this project to create one of the world's largest clean energy production facilities,” Mr McGowan said.

"My government will support the project by leasing Woodside approximately 130 hectares of vacant industrial land in the Kwinana and Rockingham Strategic Industrial Areas.

"Making hydrogen more affordable will accelerate the uptake of clean energy, and help our State move towards a renewable energy future and net zero by 2050.

"This project will boost manufacturing in the south metropolitan region and create thousands of local jobs within the construction, manufacturing and renewable energy sectors."