National Hydrogen Strategy Issues Papers

A GO should be in place by 2022 in view of commercial-demonstration projects in progress, such as the Collie Synfuels South West Sequestration Project which aims to export 125 tonnes H2 per day of H2 to Korea as Liquid Hydrogen via Large-Scale Liquid Hydrogen Tanker by 2025.

Best initial scope would be to “dovetail” with our trading partners in Japan, Korea and China with their requirements and preferences, and adopt a common CertifHy Program, which is evolving worldwide together with support from EU authorities, as a global international standard and methodology for GO for the new Hydrogen Economy.
Protos Consulting sees no need for a separate scheme for domestic requirements. In fact, this is strongly not recommended to avoid the creation of ‘barriers to trade’.

Consumers will want to know that their Hydrogen product is “CLEAN HYDROGEN” as defined in the Issues Papers as being: “produced using renewable energy or using fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage (CCS)”.
The market preference for Clean Hydrogen means consumers will also want to know that their FCV quality Hydrogen meets the SAE / ISO Hydrogen quality standard and that the Clean Hydrogen from Australia is delivered in a safe and efficient manner. Of course the market preference will also be for reliable bulk supply and low cost.

No

An independent body with experience in developing and managing a GO scheme, such as Hinicio, would be the most appropriate body to maintain, audit and administer certification.
A specialist consultancy such as Hinicio would be ideal, especially since the Asia-Pacific region is also engaged with this consultancy.
The CertifHy program can deal with any definition, including CLEAN HYDROGEN. For international Trade which is vital for the new Liquid Hydrogen Export industry from Australia - the following must be secured:
• GHG emissions should be measured the same way internationally to be able to compare apples with apples, and in this way ultimately to gain consumer trust
• Australia in this way will be able to keep the same GHG targets for the ‘long-term’ eg 40 years into the future – which will provide further confidence and foster investment.
• Where “application of Australian Standards” is considered these should be matched as far as possible “as is” with relevant ISO standards. Where international standards exist these should be adopted “as is” (possibly with some added notes if needed for the Australian market).
• For CCS it will be important to define a “sub-batch” in the situation where the capacity of the capturing unit - as compared to the size of the H2 plant - will increase over time.
• Industry in Europe sees large H2 plants initially will only be able to achieve partial Carbon Capture, which will increase over time as CO2 storage becomes more available and more acceptable to the public.
As an example, if we assume a Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) plant only initially achieves a CCS capacity of 10% of its CO2 emissions, this plant would not be eligible for Low Carbon H2 GOs as defined by the CertifHy program.
• To avoid this situation which doesn’t encourage investment, industry participants and the CertifHy program are considering allowing the fossil H2 production to be ‘split’ into two “sub-batches”:
o One for the fossil H2 without CCS which is termed grey hydrogen
o One for the fossil H2 batch with CCS that achieves the low carbon standard
• In Europe (as in Australia) initial capture rates may be low because CO2 sequestration is not ready, however capture rates over time from different industries will build, as there is the incentive to increase low carbon “sub-batch” H2 production with CCS, compared to the benchmark H2 production (in case of SMR) for the batch without CCS.