The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has granted $20m funding to Stanwell Corporation Limited to support a front-end engineering and design study for a large-scale renewable hydrogen project.

The project, worth a total of $117m, will be located in Gladstone, Queensland. It will finalise the development stage of the Central Queensland Hydrogen (CQ-H@) Project.

“Stanwell’s project represents a near-term renewable hydrogen production opportunity at a globally significant scale,” ARENA CEO Darren Miller said.

“The development of a renewable hydrogen hub in Gladstone could help decarbonise heavy industrial facilities in the region and create an export supply chain between Australia and Japan and Singapore.”

The project will involve the installation of up to 640 megawatts of electrolysers to produce hydrogen for commercial operations starting in 2028.

It is expected to produce 200 tonnes per day of hydrogen and ramp up in 200 tonnes per day increments. Its full scale is expected to reach up to 800 tonnes per day by 2031.

“We’re looking to gain valuable learnings around the current cost of producing hydrogen from renewable energy at large-scale,” Miller said.

“This understanding is critical to scaling up hydrogen production in Australia and developing both the domestic and export industry for renewable hydrogen in line with Australia’s ambitions.”