Australian privately-owned agricultural enterprise Sundown Pastoral and New Zealand hydrogen fuelling firm Hiringa Energy have agreed to build a 936 t/yr hydrogen facility as part of a green hydrogen and ammonia project.
The firms will form a joint venture to develop the facility in the town of Moree, located in New South Wales (NSW), Australia to decarbonise the local agricultural sector by producing “climate-positive and traceable cotton,” Hiringa announced on 3 August.
The Good Earth green hydrogen and ammonia project plans to integrate a 27MW solar farm with a 12MW hydrogen electrolyser near Moree, a major agricultural region 500km north of the NSW state capital Sydney. The project has received a A$35.8mn ($23.6mn) grant from the NSW government and targets a direct abatement of 17,000 t/yr of CO2 equivalent emissions.
There are also plans to build a 10 t/d ammonia plant to convert a portion of the green hydrogen into ammonia. This is part of a storage solution to manage variabl solar output and seasonal demand for ammonia, a key input for fertilizers used on local farms. The project aims to finalise planning approvals by April-June 2024.
The hydrogen produced will be used to decarbonise local transport systems and on-farm machinery, serving as an alternative for diesel and LPG in select scenarios. The joint venture anticipates that the project’s hydrogen output will replace more than 1.4mn litres/yr of imported diesel.
Operations will be co-located at the Wathagar cotton ginning facility site within the Keytah agricultural property, situated near Moree. The project’s water requirements for the electrolyser will be sourced from rainwater runoff from the gin.
“The project will prove the technical and commercial model for decarbonised agricultural systems and sets a precedent for the new frontier of farming and heavy transport industries — where net-zero and commercial viability are inextricably linked,” said Hiringa’s head of commercial and corporate develoment Cathy Clennett.
By Tom Major