The Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) Pilot Project will test the production of liquefied hydrogen from Latrobe Valley for use in fuel cell electric vehicles and power generation.
The project, worth approximately half a billion dollars across Victoria and Japan with half of that spend in Victoria, is being developed by a consortium of Japanese energy and infrastructure companies, led by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, with the full support of the Victorian, Commonwealth and Japanese Governments.
Hydrogen has been recognised as one of the clean fuels of the future and this project will position Victoria and the Latrobe Valley as leaders of the rapidly developing hydrogen industry which is expected to be worth $1.8 trillion by 2050.
The pilot project, hosted by AGL at their Loy Yang facility, will provide an economic boost to the Latrobe Valley and surrounds, and will test various elements of the supply chain before exploring the potential of progressing to a much larger scale commercial operation.
The commercial project would generate thousands of jobs in addition to providing a source of low emission hydrogen which can potentially be used in Victoria and around Australia.
Further information on the pilot can be found here.
The State Government of Victoria's support for this project is in line with its position on new brown coal projects outlined in the Statement on Future Uses of Brown Coal.
