Zempilas unveils hydrogen fuel plan

City of Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas is confident the planned installation of the state’s first public hydrogen vehicle refuelling station on Thomas Street will have a domino effect across the city.

Mr Zempilas announced the city’s ambitious plan to install Perth’s first hydrogen refuelling station in West Perth under an in-principle partnership with ASX-listed Frontier Energy at a Committee for Perth lunch held as part of the World Energy Cities Partnership (WECP) this afternoon.

“State and federal government nous and muscle is going to be required for much of what needs to take place, but at the local level we can influence, and we will,” Mr Zempilas said.

“Hydrogen-fuelled cars are predicted to grow in popularity over the coming years, so having a city-based refuelling station forms an important part of our sustainability plan.”

The city plans to build the facility on council land near the petrol station at the corner of Thomas and Wellington streets. 

Cost was not disclosed, and the project remains subject to approvals and a final investment decision.  

Mr Zempilas said it aimed to improve the range of choice available to customers in Western Australia.

“We know that there is a real opportunity for hydrogen vehicles to add to the sustainability story here in Perth, but there isn’t the opportunity for members of the public to be able to purchase vehicles like this, that exist and are being manufactured, and then fuel them up to be able to get around,” he said.

“Hydrogen vehicles will now be able to be purchased and driven around our city and add to our sustainability story.”

The lord mayor expressed confidence that one charger in the City of Perth would be enough to encourage climate conscious consumers to invest in hydrogen fuelled vehicles.

“We know that there’s a section of the community who will put that goal of sustainability first, and they won’t mind, perhaps, driving out of their way to be able to fuel up,” Mr Zempilas said.

“What’s important is that there’s one that they can do it at.

“If there’s not a facility they can’t buy the car in the first place. It can’t be fuelled up.

“Now they have that option. I’m pretty confident this will trigger a domino effect.”

He denied the move was a comment on what state government was doing in the renewables space and said his conversations with leaders from cities across the globe as part of the WECP had given him confidence to back the plan.

Frontier Energy has been tapped to develop the station. Managing director Sam Lee Mohan told a press conference the company was excited to be involved with the plan.

“When the station is actually approved and constructed it will be the first of its kind in Western Australia publicly available for refuelling hydrogen-fuelled electric vehicles,” Mr Mohan said.

“All of the reports suggest that once we actually get it up to scale, hydrogen will be very affordable and competitive with existing fuels such as petrol and diesel.”

Frontier is developing the Bristol Springs green hydrogen project near Waroona.

A private renewable hydrogen refuelling station was built opened by ATCO and Fortescue Energy late last year, to fuel a fleet of Toyota Mirai as well as agreed third-party vehicles, including some from the WA Police.

The WECP runs through to the end of the week.