Western Australia’s state government has released its Renewable Hydrogen Strategy, intending to position itself as a major producer and exporter of the resource.

The WA government has recognised the potential of the renewable energy source and has established a $10 million Renewable Hydrogen Fund to facilitate private sector investment in the industry.

The WA region has an enormous land mass with considerable energy sources, existing energy export capabilities and close proximity to Asia, where key markets such as Japan and Korea have signalled a shift towards low emissions hydrogen for the future.

The strategy sets out four strategic focus areas:

Export

Applications in remotely located industries

Hydrogen blending in natural gas networks

Transport using fuel cell electric vehicles

In addition to close collaboration with Canberra and regulatory bodies to support reform and foster renewable hydrogen growth, the WA Government has established a dedicated unit to co-ordinate the State’s work on growing the industry, both domestically and for export.

Western Australian Regional Development Minister, Alannah MacTiernan, said, “Hydrogen is a means to export our world-class solar and wind resources.

“Helping our international trading partners to meet their emissions reduction goals, as well as supporting our industries to transition to a lower carbon future and driving a new job-creating industry for our State.”

This announcement follows the launch of the ATCO (Western Australian gas network operator) Clean Energy Innovation Hub, whose objective is to demonstrate the potential of hydrogen gas to support supply to the domestic market.

