The Queensland state government has approved Australian company Edify Energy’s plans for a 1 gigawatt (GW) hydrogen production plant in Townsville.
Edify has proposed to build and operate the hydrogen plant in the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct business district in the city. The company plans to generate green hydrogen from a 10 megawatts (MW) pilot scale facility of and then increase capacity in stages.
Hydrogen expert George Varma of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law, said: “Queensland continues to surge ahead with developing pilot projects in the region and the recent government funding to support these types of projects can only help. It’s great to see this level of investment and continued enthusiasm to continue to grow our hydrogen sector.”
The development application is the first to be approved by the Townsville city council over land in the Lansdown precinct.
The application was independently assessed by the council’s planning officers and approved with conditions in relation to development staging, roadworks and traffic safety upgrades, said Townsville’s mayor Jenny Hill.
Edify’s chief executive John Cole said the site was chosen because of its location close to the existing rail and road infrastructure linking Lansdown and Port Townsville.
Recently, the Australian government announced an additional A$150 million (US$110m) in funding for hydrogen hubs across seven prioritised regional sites. The Queensland government launched new hydrogen technology clusters in June, allocating A$100,000 to them.
