Green hydrogen has received backing to get a guaranteed $50 million dollars in funding over the next ten years to help develop the green hydrogen industry in NSW.
‘These critical Greens amendments were achieved through good faith negotiations with the NSW Government to help kick start this critical 21st century energy industry,’ said The Greens in a press release on Thursday afternoon (19 November, 2020).
‘These critical Greens amendments were achieved through good faith negotiations with the NSW Government to help kick start this critical 21st century energy industry.’
Why is green important?
The importance of it being ‘green hydrogen’ is key as there is also grey, and brown hydrogen that use coal or methane gas as a source ingredient and blue hydrogen ‘in which the “brown” steam methane reforming method is used’.
As described in Echonetdaily’s Planet Watch series, ‘“Green” hydrogen uses electricity to break apart the hydrogen from the oxygen in water (H2O) in a process called water electrolysis. More energy is required to make hydrogen this way, but if the electricity used is renewable, this is a much more environmentally sound method of production.’
Renewable energy creates jobs
Greens MP and Greens Spokesperson for Regional Communities, Tamara Smith said, ‘These amendments will see real investment in green hydrogen over the next decade and they’ve come with cross-party support and the bulk of that investment will be in regional NSW.
‘The Greens know that we need to prioritise jobs for the regions and the surest way to deliver this is to build a credible pathway to renewable energy.
‘This $50 million investment coupled with the guaranteed supply of low cost renewable power will make green hydrogen projects economically viable from day one.
‘Targeted early investment in green hydrogen is critical to rebuilding our local manufacturing base while addressing climate change,’ said Ms Smith
The amendments also provide that the electricity used to make green hydrogen will be exempted from infrastructure charges making it cheaper to produce giving the industry an essential boost.
Focussing on the importance of the announcement for regional centers Greens MP and Energy Spokesperson David Shoebridge said, ‘These changes are particularly exciting for the regions because that’s where the renewable energy will be generated and that’s where the green hydrogen investment makes most economic sense.
‘Climate change is already impacting lives, livelihoods and communities, this investment in green hydrogen will supercharge the transition to renewables, make our climate safer and create local
‘This is the start of the exciting transformation needed to address climate change and the Greens will continue to push for large scale investment in publicly owned renewables so we all share in the benefits as these projects roll out,’ said Mr Shoebridge.
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