Total joins 8GW Australian green hydrogen study

Total Eren has agreed to work with an Australian mining company to explore the potential for a green hydrogen plant in Western Australia powered by 8GW of wind and solar capacity.

The renewable energy group part-owned by oil major Total signed a memorandum of understanding with gold and nickel miner Province Resources to carry out a feasibility study for the project.

They aim to sign definitive agreements on the HyEnergy project – initially unveiled in February 2021, using 1GW of renewable energy capacity – within four months of starting the feasibility study.

In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, Province Resources and Total Eren added that HyEnergy would be built in two phases. It is not yet clear how the 8GW renewable energy capacity would be split between different technologies or between each stage and no details of planned projects have been given.

Earlier this year, Province Resources announced plans to use the HyEnergy project to produce hydrogen and ammonia and blend the gases into the local pipeline and also export some of this output to Asian markets.

The developer also stated it may earmark a smaller proportion of output to local large energy users, including the owners of the Dampier to Bunbury gas pipeline – Australian Gas and Infrastructure Group.