South Korean firms to build green energy hub in Australia

The hub will connect north Queensland to northeast Asia, according to a statement by the Queensland state government.

The project will focus on the development of Ark Energy’s new Collinsville Green Energy Hub project located south west of Bowen, Queensland which, once complete, will potentially be able to generate up to 3GW of renewable electricity. By 2032, the hub is expected to expert over one million tonnes of green ammonia, a byproduct of green hydrogen production, from Australia to South Korea each year.

The project was proposed by the Han-Ho Hydrogen consortium made up of Korea Zinc and its Australian unit Ark Energy, and Korean firms Hanwha Impact and SK Gas.

The consortium aims to make a final investment decision on the project in 2027 or 2028, with construction then anticipated to take about four years, according to a news report.

Renewables expert George Varma of Pinsent Masons said: “International investment in the Australian hydrogen sector is currently trending. The opportunities to develop ‘giga scale’ projects to produce mass amounts of hydrogen are being seen by many countries and companies as an avenue for them to achieve their own decarbonisation targets”.

“The Australian market offers a vast amount of potential for international collaboration for the export of green energy through hydrogen. This project is one example of this, and market trends suggest there will be many more to follow,” he said.