Japan-Australia flagship hydrogen project stumbles
Japan wants to become a hydrogen fuel leader to meet its net-zero goals, but one blockbuster project is hanging in the balance over questions about its climate credentials.
The Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) is billed as a billion-dollar attempt to ship liquid hydrogen from Australia to Japan.
However, cold feet about the project in Australia means HESC will source hydrogen from Japan to meet a 2030 deadline for its demonstration phase.
Hydrogen sounds promising on paper: while fossil fuels emit planet-warming greenhouse gases, burning hydrogen creates only water vapour.
But it has not yet lived up to its promise, with several much-hyped projects globally struggling to overcome high costs and engineering challenges.
Hydrogen’s climate credentials also depend on how it is produced.
“Green hydrogen” uses renewable energy, while “blue hydrogen” relies on fossil fuels such as coal and gas, with carbon-capture technology to reduce emissions.
“Brown hydrogen” is produced by fossil fuels without any carbon capture.
The HESC project aims to produce blue hydrogen in the Australian state of Victoria, harnessing abundant local supplies of lignite coal.
With the world’s first liquid hydrogen tanker and an imposing storage site near Kobe in Japan, HESC had been touted as a flagship experiment showcasing Japan’s ambitions for the fuel.
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Japan-Australia flagship hydrogen project stumbles, source
