Australia’s Port of Newcastle will lean on Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) for support in developing engineering studies for its major hydrogen and ammonia production, storage and export project.
The Clean Energy Precinct (CEP) project plans to see a 220-hectare area of industrial wasteland on Kooragang Island near the New South Wales (NSW) port developed into a clean hydrogen hub.
Front-end engineering and design (FEED) studies are already underway – backed by an AUD $100m government grant – which MHI will now support following the signing of a formal advisory agreement.
It builds off a 2023 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the pair.
The studies cover electrical infrastructure, water services, general infrastructure, storage, berth infrastructure, and pipelines to berth.
With MHI having established its Takasago Hydrogen Park in Japan – made up of electrolytic hydrogen production, storage, gas turbines and more – Port of Newcastle hopes to lean on the Japanese industrial major’s experience.
“We will be able to utilise the knowledge MHI has in relation to chemical plant projects… to best position the CEP, the Port and the Hunter Region for success as a future global hydrogen hub,” said Port of Newcastle CEO, Craig Carmody.
While details on CEP’s planned production volumes remain undefined, the development is a collaborative approach between various Australian and Asia firms.
© Port of Newcastle
Explosives firm Orica, which is listed as a “clean energy producer” for the project, was set to develop a 50MW hydrogen project with utility Origin Energy for use in its 360,000-tonne Kooragang Island ammonia facility.
While the initial phase of the project was focused on meeting domestic use, “future phases, proposed to be located at the nearby Port of Newcastle, Clean Energy Precinct, are being designed with the potential for export development.”
However, in 2024, Origin pulled out of the project and halted all of its hydrogen work, blaming market development uncertainty, despite being shortlisted for Commonwealth funding, plunging the project into uncertainty.
Orica CEO, Sanjeev Gandhi, said the company remained committed to exploring “new” opportunities in hydrogen.
The only other producer noted under CEP is Korea’s Kepco, with companies like SK Ecoplant and Daewoo E&C identified as exporting partners.
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