The Japanese Government has awarded funding to Marubeni Corporation for a green hydrogen export project in South Australia.
The project will see hydrogen produced in South Australia exported to the Indo-Pacific region.
Japan’s Ministry of the Environment has selected Marubeni Corporation’s hydrogen production project as a pilot project, as part of a program looking to cooperate with developing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
South Australia’s Minister for Energy and Mining, Dan Van Holst Pellekaan, said, “For a number of years, we’ve been building relationships with key governments and companies who are interested in hydrogen produced by renewable energy.
“It’s wonderful to see these partnerships solidifying into investments.”
Marubeni will be procuring green hydrogen derived from renewable energy in South Australia and is working with the South Australian Government on project development, including site selection.
At the COP26 talks in Glasgow on 11 November, 2021, the project was showcased by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment in a presentation titled, Building global supply chain of green hydrogen to support the energy transition toward a decarbonised society.
Japan’s Minister of the Environment, Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, said, “(The project) is a great start to our bilateral cooperation between Japan and Australia to expand the green hydrogen market and build an international supply chain in the Indo Pacific area, including the island countries in the Pacific.”
South Australia’s Minister for Trade and Investment, Stephen Patterson, said he was delighted that South Australia and Japan are once again collaborating and working together to create a more sustainable future for their regions.
“South Australia and Japan’s partnership on green hydrogen projects continues to gather momentum and I’m delighted that we will be further collaborating on realising both Australia and Japan’s goal of creating a carbon-neutral society through the export of low-cost, green hydrogen, produced by renewable energy resources from South Australia,” Mr Patterson said.
“Marubeni is an important partner for the South Australian Government in supporting and showcasing that low-cost hydrogen production can be achieved right here in South Australia.”
Marubeni selected South Australia as its preferred location to capitalise on its available and high-quality natural resources, along with the state’s developed infrastructure.
Mr van Holst Pellekaan said South Australia is in a unique position with an abundance of wind and sun already being converted to renewable energy.
“It is an exciting opportunity for South Australia to showcase to the world that we are ideally located for low-cost, clean hydrogen production to help others to reach their carbon emissions reduction targets,” Mr van Holst Pellekaan said.
