bp has today (June 15) announced it has agreed to acquire a 40.5% equity stake in and become the operator of the Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH), in Pilbara, Western Australia from July 1, 2022.
At full capacity AREH could produce up to 1.6 million tonnes of green hydrogen or nine million tonnes of green ammonia per year, utilising its position with access to abundant solar and wind resources.
The project intends to develop 26GW of onshore wind and solar power generation, to supply local customers an established mining region, in addition to green hydrogen and ammonia production.
It is hoped that the Pilbara hub could abate approximately 17 million tonnes of carbon in domestic and export markets annually.
AREH was first proposed in 2014 and has been developed to its current scale by partners, InterContinental Energy, CWP Global, and Macquarie Capital and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group, who will all remain partners in the project.
Read more: Intercontinental Energy expands team to support large-scale hydrogen and renewable energy projects
Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, Executive Vice-President of Gas and Low Carbon Energy at bp, said, “AREH is set to be one of the largest renewable and green hydrogen energy hubs in the world and can make a significant contribution to Australia and the wider Asia Pacific region’s energy transition.
“It truly reflects what integrated energy is, combining solar and onshore wind power with hydrogen production and using it to help transform sectors and regions. It also reflects our belief that Australia has the potential to be a powerhouse in the global energy transition, benefitting from both its existing infrastructure and abundant renewable energy resources.
“We believe AREH can be a cornerstone project for us in helping our local and global customers and partners in meeting their Net Zero and energy commitments. It will also serve as a long-term clean energy security contributor in Asia Pacific, helping countries such as South Korea and Japan to decarbonise.”
Under the agreement, bp will acquire its 40.5% stake in the project and assume operatorship from July 1, 2022, subject to approvals. The other shareholders will continue to be Intercontinental Energy (26.4%), CWP Global (17.8%), and Macquarie Capital and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (15.3%).
Frédéric Baudry, President of bp Australia, commented, “This is an incredibly exciting development, and we are looking forward to working closely with our partners, InterContinental Energy, CWP Global, Macquarie Capital and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group, as well as the Nyangumarta people.
“bp brings a broad range of capabilities to help bring the project to fruition, with extensive experience in constructing and operating facilities of this scale in remote locations in close collaboration with local communities and leveraging our global shipping and trading businesses. We also have the benefit of deep experience in working with customers looking for decarbonisation solutions and delivering low-carbon energy to the global market.”
North American Hydrogen Summit
H2 View is taking its events platform to America’s original clean hydrogen hub of California. Together with the California Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFCP), we will stage our North American Hydrogen Summit in San Francisco on July 14-15.
As our summit theme Building Bridges: Hydrogen hubs and investment suggests, the event will explore the $8bn of funding announced to create at least four regional hydrogen hubs in the US. These hubs will turbo-charge the nation’s progress toward heavy trucking and industrial sectors that run without producing carbon pollution – and they may just provide the path forward to a hydrogen-fuelled future.
With California and Texas vying to be America’s hydrogen capital today, where are the hubs of tomorrow? Further still, what can other states, and countries, learn from California’s success story? And how can we build bridges to a successful flow of international investment?
If you are a member of the CaFCP, be sure to grab your ticket at a discounted rate with a code that can be provided to you by the events team.
Full information about this event including attendance and sponsorship packages can be found here.