World-first pilot for a hydrogen energy supply chain
At a glance
Creating a safe and efficient pilot plant trial for the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain project.The challenge
Enable hydrogen fuel to become commercially viable in Japan.
The Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) project aims to run a safe and effective pilot plant trial that demonstrates an end-to-end clean liquid hydrogen supply chain from Victoria's Latrobe Valley in Australia to Kobe in Japan.
As part of a consortium of Japanese companies involved in the HESC project, Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) engaged us to navigate the complexities of converting Victorian coal into hydrogen, transporting it by truck to a port terminal where it is liquefied, and loaded onto a specially designed ship for transport to Japan.
Our response
As the first pilot of its kind, we applied our technical knowledge and experience from several hydrogen projects across Australia to help KHI with:
- Site selection studies
- Approvals and permits, including works approval
- Stakeholder and community engagement planning and delivery
- Media relations
- Licensing
Safety systems design and Australian compliance including:
- hazard identification
- HAZOP facilitation
- Fire and gas detection design for the plants in the Latrobe Valley and at the Port of Hastings
- Process mass balance
- Detailed civil, structural, mechanical, electrical and control system design
- Procurement for the pilot scale plant in Latrobe Valley.
The impact
In January 2022, the world’s first liquid hydrogen carrier ship, Suiso Frontier, left the Port of Hastings with its cargo of liquid hydrogen. In February, it was safely unloaded at the receiving terminal in the Port of Kobe, Japan.
The pilot has created approximately 400 jobs across the Victorian supply chain, with the potential to create thousands more in the commercial phase.
In addition to delivering significant local economic benefits, this project will also contribute to global environmental goals by reducing CO2 emissions by 1.8 million tonnes per year.
Through close collaboration with industry partners and governments, we have helped provide an economically viable and environmentally conscious solution to safely produce and export clean hydrogen.
Australia is now well positioned to become a leading exporter of hydrogen.