Ampol has emphasised its commitment to pilot a green hydrogen production plant at its Lytton refinery.
Speaking yesterday during the Ampol Summit 2021, Matt Halliday, Managing Director and CEO of Ampol, highlighted the company’s plan to continue with its work in the hydrogen field.
“We’re looking at piloting a green hydrogen production plant up at our Lytton refinery, really highlighting the important role that existing infrastructure and manufacturing skills will play in supporting the energy transition.”
In May this year, Ampol executed a Heads of Agreement with Irish-based Fusion Fuel Green PLC to install the demonstrator plant at Lytton.
Jeffrey Schwarz, Chairman of Fusion Fuel, said earlier in the year, that Australia is in a great position to harness green hydrogen.
“Australia’s abundance of solar energy makes it among the absolute best geographies for our HEVO-SOLAR solution, which combines concentrating photovoltaic technology with our proprietary microelectrolyzer, allowing us to produce green hydrogen at costs comparable to grey and brown hydrogen.”
Schwarz also said the great distances Australians often must travel can prove challenging for battery electric vehicles given their range limitations and extended recharging times.
“Green hydrogen solves both of those problems, with range and refueling time comparable to gasoline or diesel vehicles, all while being completely carbon-free.”
Earlier in the year, Ampol displayed its continued commitment to find and develop new energy solutions, by partnering with Main Sequence and the CSIRO to support the launch of new Australian clean energy start-up Endua to develop a green hydrogen microgeneration and storage solution.
“This is really exciting. This technology has a very exciting potential to replace diesel generators used by many of our customers to power operations in remote locations,” said Halliday.
Paul Sernia, CEO of Endua, said that as the market moves to 100 per cent renewables, new solutions will be required.
“Hydrogen will play a crucial role in the energy transition and our hydrogen power generation and storage solution will offer a reliable renewable power solution in remote locations. Ampol, along with our other partners, will play a key role in helping to commercialise and deliver this solution to industries across Australia and globally.”