Australian independent Woodside Energy has signed a non-binding heads of agreement with Singapore’s Keppel Data Centres (KDC) in a push to deliver liquid hydrogen (LH2) shipments to the city-state by 2030.
Woodside said the heads of agreement provides a pathway for the parties to develop further commercial principles for an LH2 supply chain between Singapore and any of Woodside’s four proposed facilities across Australia, New Zealand and the US. The announcement follows a recently-concluded study into the feasibility of hydrogen imports from Western Australia (WA) to Singapore.
The heads of agreement references the potential purchase of approximately 1,000 t/day of LH2 by KDC as early as 2030, by which time the parties consider that production technologies and shipping systems will reach maturity. KDC’s planned Datapark+ is aiming to become an energy-efficient facility, in line with Singaporean government directives that new data centres use more sustainable energy sources to cool I equipment. Singapore is southeast Asia’s main data centre hub with 60pc of the region’s market share.
“Access to a stable supply of hydrogen to power our data centres in Singapore will accelerate our decarbonisation efforts as we transition towards net zero emissions,” KDC chief executive Wong Wai Meng said. “We look forward to deepening our collaboration with Woodside to explore ways to reduce emissions and make a positive environmental impact.”
Another subsidiary of the Singaporean conglomerate, Keppel Energy, plans to build the nation’s first hydrogen-ready power plant to begin commercial operations by 2026, designed to run on 30pc hydrogen-blended fuels or entirely on hydrogen. Keppel Energy recently agreed to a joint feasibility study to explore developing green hydrogen and green ammonia projects in Indonesia using geothermal energy. Singapore is also exploring options to to import hydrogen from Malaysia and Japan.
By Tom Major